Thursday, May 17, 2012
Antigone #3
I am caught on both sides of the "yes v. no" argument. Both Antigone and Creon have very valid points that make a lot of sense. Antigone seems to think that saying no gives a person power because through doing so they are asserting their own desires, which I believe to be true. I also agree with Creon when he says that saying yes is a lot harder than saying no because, to say yes, a person has to take into consideration what other people want in addition to their own desires. Sometime, the popular opinion has to win out and a leader like Creon has to take a step back to placate and rule his people properly. Creon is a good king, I think, he's just trying to set an example for his people. The whole thirst for power thing is another issue, but as far as saying yes I think that Creon is just as right as Antigone. The two characters' different views create a lot of tension between the ideas of being selfish and thinking of others. At times, it is appropriate to get what you want if you think is right, but at the same time it's bad to be selfish? Gosh, I don't know. I think I'm having trouble forming an opinion because both Creon and Antigone seem right to me. This is one of those tragedy elements we were talking about. If I could I would hashtag "literaryconnections", but I don't think that would look to great on an english assignment. #academicallyprofessional
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Antigone #2
Chorus has gone from factual to straight-up philosophical (word). He is introducing a view (perhaps the author's) on tragedy in a way that encourages the audience to adopt the same view. He takes things people can relate to, like ordering a cup of coffee, to help people understand tragedy a little better. I feel like in this scene, Chorus is a lot more personal with the audience than in his first long speech. He uses words like "you" so that members of the audience can put themselves into the situations he is describing and better understand the subject of his monologue, which is tragedy. By saying "you" so much, the author might be going as far as to say that eveybody's lives have little elements of tragedy in them that are much like the events Chorus describes to the audience.
Antigone #1
TIMELINE (I'm not sure if this all happened within 48 hours, probably not, but I'm doing this for my own understanding)
1)Haemon Proposes
2) Eteocles and Polynieces duke it out, both of them die
3) Creon issues his proclamation
4) Antigone sneaks out to see Haemon.... or bury her brother?
5) Nurse finds an empty bed
Annouilh uses Chorus, a rather interesting character, to explain the events that lead up to the play actually getting underway. Chorus speaks in a less formal way than the other characters in the play do. I think this is a way of connecting with the audience that one normally wouldn't get if they were just seeing the characters aside from Chorus. The way Chorus speaks is almost comparable to the style we saw in The Stranger. It is kind-of-sort-of dry (but a lot more captivating than Meursault's narrations- I really love how Chorus speaks) and very factual. He tells simply what happened, but the way he does it makes it very interesting. I can't get over how much I love reading Chorus' lines. He has an almost sarcastic, cynical voice that I can relate to because I'm a teenager. He does get a little bit philosophical at one point when he's talking about Antigone in his very first lines. It would make sense that he would reserve some special kind of speech for her, since she is the tragic hero of the play. He speaks about Creon like he doesn't think he should be king. The way Creon "rolled up his sleeves" and stepped up to the thrown makes it sound like that Creon had no desire to be king, but took the job because he had to. Chorus makes Haemon's motivations unclear as far as proposing to Antigone goes. He makes it sound like Haemon has it all backwards and that Ismene was the one he should have gone for.
1)Haemon Proposes
2) Eteocles and Polynieces duke it out, both of them die
3) Creon issues his proclamation
4) Antigone sneaks out to see Haemon.... or bury her brother?
5) Nurse finds an empty bed
Annouilh uses Chorus, a rather interesting character, to explain the events that lead up to the play actually getting underway. Chorus speaks in a less formal way than the other characters in the play do. I think this is a way of connecting with the audience that one normally wouldn't get if they were just seeing the characters aside from Chorus. The way Chorus speaks is almost comparable to the style we saw in The Stranger. It is kind-of-sort-of dry (but a lot more captivating than Meursault's narrations- I really love how Chorus speaks) and very factual. He tells simply what happened, but the way he does it makes it very interesting. I can't get over how much I love reading Chorus' lines. He has an almost sarcastic, cynical voice that I can relate to because I'm a teenager. He does get a little bit philosophical at one point when he's talking about Antigone in his very first lines. It would make sense that he would reserve some special kind of speech for her, since she is the tragic hero of the play. He speaks about Creon like he doesn't think he should be king. The way Creon "rolled up his sleeves" and stepped up to the thrown makes it sound like that Creon had no desire to be king, but took the job because he had to. Chorus makes Haemon's motivations unclear as far as proposing to Antigone goes. He makes it sound like Haemon has it all backwards and that Ismene was the one he should have gone for.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Topic Sentence
Lorca gives Bride a strong aversion to elements of adult life, such as marriage and sex, to show that she is an immature girl who is not prepared for marriage.
Blood Wedding #6
Marriage should be out of love, not passion or obligation.
The bride does not truly love the groom, but rather feels obligated to marry him because of the pressure placed on her by her father, the maid, and the groom's mother. She has a preconcieved notion that marriage means being locked away behind a six foot wall for one's entire life. This idea isn't appealing to her, so she runs away with a man that she lusts after but can't have. She ends up losing both of her options here, because neither of them give Bride feelings that constitute a marriage.
Young people often don't think before they act, and this leads to their downfall.
When talking to the little girls before running away, both the bride and the children admit that they "don't know anything"(68). This stood out to be because it put the bride, who is supposed to be a mature woman now that she is married, on the same level as the girls she is talking to. The bride had no desire to be married, so she acted selfishly and ran away with Leonardo. Her running away caused the death of her husband and her lover, and she felt much guilt after running away and after the two men died. Her guilt (and even a desire for her own death) is a consequence of her actions that would not have happened if she had thought things through and not gotten married in the first place. Maid told Bride that she could get out of the marriage if she had wanted to, but she was blinded by her immature desire to please her elders.
Control over others cannot bring happiness.
The marriage felt like something of a transaction between Mother and Bride's father with the two children not getting a say in anything that went on. Mother asserted her control over Bridegroom in act I scene three when she didn't allow him any wine. Father showed that he is controlling over Bride by telling her to seem happier, and speaking of her like she was an animal ready to be sold to the mother. I think that this control is part of the reason that the marriage didn't work out. Bride was unhappy with the whole situation, which is why she ran away. Her running away contributed to Mother's unhappiness because it was the event which indirectly killed her son. Control was Mother's downfall, in this case.
The bride does not truly love the groom, but rather feels obligated to marry him because of the pressure placed on her by her father, the maid, and the groom's mother. She has a preconcieved notion that marriage means being locked away behind a six foot wall for one's entire life. This idea isn't appealing to her, so she runs away with a man that she lusts after but can't have. She ends up losing both of her options here, because neither of them give Bride feelings that constitute a marriage.
Young people often don't think before they act, and this leads to their downfall.
When talking to the little girls before running away, both the bride and the children admit that they "don't know anything"(68). This stood out to be because it put the bride, who is supposed to be a mature woman now that she is married, on the same level as the girls she is talking to. The bride had no desire to be married, so she acted selfishly and ran away with Leonardo. Her running away caused the death of her husband and her lover, and she felt much guilt after running away and after the two men died. Her guilt (and even a desire for her own death) is a consequence of her actions that would not have happened if she had thought things through and not gotten married in the first place. Maid told Bride that she could get out of the marriage if she had wanted to, but she was blinded by her immature desire to please her elders.
Control over others cannot bring happiness.
The marriage felt like something of a transaction between Mother and Bride's father with the two children not getting a say in anything that went on. Mother asserted her control over Bridegroom in act I scene three when she didn't allow him any wine. Father showed that he is controlling over Bride by telling her to seem happier, and speaking of her like she was an animal ready to be sold to the mother. I think that this control is part of the reason that the marriage didn't work out. Bride was unhappy with the whole situation, which is why she ran away. Her running away contributed to Mother's unhappiness because it was the event which indirectly killed her son. Control was Mother's downfall, in this case.
Blood Wedding #5
In act II, the setting is either the bride's veranda in scene one or the exterior of her home in scene two. Everything is "as hard as a landscape on a piece of ceramic folk art"(58). I find it interesting that Lorca refers to the Bride's home as a cave. I have a hard time believing that she really does live in one, and I'm thinking that part of Lorca's intentions may have been lost in translation with this. Either that, or Lorca is trying to make the situation just a tad bit unbelieveable in order to make the whole thing more surreal. The shift between act II and act III is interesting because the setting in the first scene of act III is very organic. It's a murky forest, which creates something of a gloomy mood in the play. The setting being almost eerie works here because it adds to the craziness of the moon and death plotting to spill blood onto the earth. I also feel like it gives an almost surreal, romanticized atmosphere. We learned that romanticism plays a lot in to nature when we were researching Ibsen, and considering that Lorca was trying to rebel against Ibsen's views by writing this play I think the use of nature would make sense here.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Blood Wedding #4
Leonardo is miserable because he feels tied down by his wife and child. He refuses to ride in a carriage with his wife to the wedding because, I think, that the small space in the carriage represents confinement and he would rather be free to ride around on his horse. Leonardo doesn't care much about his child, either. In act I, he wakes it up with his yelling, and in act II he goes as far as to forget that the child even exists. As mentioned by the bride's father and the groom's mother, children take much time to grow and mature. I think that Leonardo doesn't wish to give that time committment because, again, that would be confining himself to 18 years with the same family. His desire to rekindle his old relationship with the bride is what is driving him to be so miserable. What's stopping her from getting his lady is the fact that, 1) He's married 2) She just got married 3) Society thinks it's bad to cheat.
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