Journal Entry 5 Anouilh Antigone

One theme that was central to the story of Anouilh's Antigone was how family is important, for it can leave to a kind and stable life. However, in all of the Greek tragedies that I read, this is not the case. In Oedipus, he kills his father and marries his mother, who kills herself. In Medea, Jason forsakes Medea and his children, only to have it come back and hurt him in their deaths and Medea's treachery. In Antigone, Creon shows no emotion of heart break or sorrow for killing Antigone, and also loses both his son Haemon and his wife Eurydice. each of those stories, the families break up ever since the beginning of the play: Oedipus was almost killed when he was a child and killed his parents; Medea killed her brother and a king, only to then be cast aside by Jason for another; and Antigone, with her father, mother and brothers dead, doesn't listen to her sister and kills herself. Anouilh's Antigone is the only one that emphasizes the importance of family at all. This can be seen in how Anouilh included a scene of romance between Haemon and Antigone, and when Creon told Antigone about her 2 brothers. In both of those, the people showed that the other were important to them, Antigone is important to Haemon because he loves her, and important to Creon since Haemon loves her.

There is also this theme of equality of the sexes in Anouilh's Antigone. In Anouilh's Antigone, women are given a more equal part, which can be seen in how Antigone is given more lines in the play, as well as having the main focus on her. Though it also includes Creon a good deal as well, and Haemon a little more as well. So there is a more equal gender roles. In all the other plays, either one gender or the other is more domineering. In Oedipus, Oedipus was the main focus, in Medea, Medea was the main focus, and in Antigone, Creon was the main focus. All of those plays appealed more to feminism and men instead of equality of gender.