《希腊悲剧》课程参考资料：Gibbons and Segal 2003 Sophocles Antigone

NTRODUCTION in the role of supplicant (1313/123o), not an all-commanding father, Kreon begs his son to leave the cave; but the boy, looking "wildly at him with fierce eyes, "spits in his face, lunges at him with drawn sword, and, after he misses, stabs himself. He then falls in a dying embrace on Antigone's lifeless body, matching, as bridegroom, her role as a bride Antigone's defiance of Kreon is now fulfilled in Haimon's, and it is a defiance that utterly undoes Kreon's authority over his son, over An- gone, and over his city, Kreon prided himself on his patriarchal au- thority, his good sense, his rational approach to life, and his superiority to women. Haimon overturns all these principles. He rejects the fath for the promised bride, surrenders to the wild passions surrounding love and death, and chooses the cave's Hades-like prison of a condemned woman over the polis-world where he should succeed his father in ruling the city The two houses, Kreon's and antigone ', are joined together by a fearful marriage-in-death; and it is as if with Antigone, the heiress, transfers to the house of Kreon all the in the house of Oidipous: the suicide of the mother, the death of two sons, and the fulfillment of a terrible prophecy The Messenger concludes with a generalization about the dangers of foolish behavior, bl ike makes no reply. She slips away in lence, like lokaste in Oidipous turannos, and it is a silence that strikes both the Messenger and the chorus as ominous. But before they can absorb its meaning, Kreon enters with the body of Haimon, either actually in his arms, as the chorus says(1344 /1258), or on a bier or wagon that Kreon accompanies with his arms around his dead son. It is a mournful tableau, and the contrast with Kreon's first entrance is shocking. Instead of making authoritative civic pronouncements in the proud bearing of a victorious ruler, he utters cries of lament and misery Instead of generalizations about statecraft he sings a funeral dirge, the traditional task of women, punctuated by sharp cries of grief, indicated in the Greek text by aiai aiai, oimoi, or pheu pheu(1354/1267, 1358 1271, 1362/1276). This is also the frst time in the play that he sings extensive lyrical passages, accompanied by the aulos, the double wind instrument(probably with a reed, like a clarinet or oboe)tha by the Greeks of Sophokles'era to be particularly emotional. This change of musical and emotional registers marks his shift from absolute Prior to this passage, Kreon has only two short anapestic exchanges with the chorus about sending Antigone into the cave(999-1000/9 1-32, 1003-4935-36) otherwise, he speaks only in iambic trimeter

INTRODUCTIO N in the role of supplicant (1313 / 1230), not an all-commanding father, Kreon begs his son to leave the cave; but the boy, looking "wildly at him with fierce eyes," spits in his face, lunges at him with drawn sword, and, after he misses, stabs himself. He then falls in a dying embrace on Antigone's lifeless body, matching, as bridegroom, her role as a bride of death itself (1317-23 / 1234-39). Antigone's defiance of Kreon is now fulfilled in Haimon's, and it is a defiance that utterly undoes Kreon's authority over his son, over An￾tigone, and over his city. Kreon prided himself on his patriarchal au￾thority, his good sense, his rational approach to life, and his superiority to women. Haimon overturns all these principles. He rejects the father for the promised bride, surrenders to the wild passions surrounding love and death, and chooses the cave's Hades-like prison of a condemned woman over the po/is-world where he should succeed his father in ruling the city. The two houses, Kreon's and Antigone's, are joined together by a fearful marriage-in-death; and it is as if with that union Antigone, the heiress, transfers to the house of Kreon all the pollutions in the house of Oidipous: the suicide of the mother, the death of two sons, and the fulfillment of a terrible prophecy.45 The Messenger concludes with a generalization about the dangers of foolish behavior, but Eurydike makes no reply. She slips away in silence, like lokaste in Oidipous Turannos, and it is a silence that strikes both the Messenger and the chorus as ominous. But before they can absorb its meaning, Kreon enters with the body of Haimon, either actually in his arms, as the chorus says (1344 / 1258), or on a bier or wagon that Kreon accompanies with his arms around his dead son. It is a mournful tableau, and the contrast with Kreon's first entrance is shocking. Instead of making authoritative civic pronouncements in the proud bearing of a victorious ruler, he utters cries of lament and misery. Instead of generalizations about statecraft he sings a funeral dirge, the traditional task of women, punctuated by sharp cries of grief, indicated in the Greek text by aiai aiai, oimoi, or pheu pheu (1354 / 1267, 1358 / 1271, 1362 / 1276). This is also the first time in the play that he sings extensive lyrical passages, accompanied by the aulos, the double wind instrument (probably with a reed, like a clarinet or oboe) that was felt by the Greeks of Sophokles' era to be particularly emotional.46 This change of musical and emotional registers marks his shift from absolute 45. On hearing the cry from the cave Kreon had exclaimed, "Am I a seer?" (1291 /1212; cf. 1252 / 1178). 46. Prior to this passage, Kreon has only two short anapestic exchanges with the chorus about sending Antigone into the cave (999-1000 / 931-32, 1003-4 / 935-36); otherwise, he speaks only in iambic trimeters. 24

NTRODUCTION power to total helplessness, and he continues to sing in lyrics to the nd of the play More suffering lies in store. The messenger retums from the royal house to announce the death of Eurydike. The manner of her end intensifies Kreon's pain, for she has killed herself in a particularly hor rible way, stabbing herself at the household altar in the courtyard,curs- who died earlier, here called Megareus, who is left obscure but is ssibly to be identifed with the Menoikeus of Euripides'Phoinikian ho leaps from the walls of Thel only the voluntary death of a descendant of Thebes'autochthonous inhabitants could save the city. 7 Eurydike's curse turms the two generative roles in the house, mater who has interfered with the basic ties of family in Antigone's house The messenger calls her pammetor nekrou, literally"the all-mother"of the fullest sense of the word(" Also, Eurydike's final, suicidal lament recalls the cries of Antigone over the body of Polyneikes at the moment when she was caught, and in fact Sophokles uses the same verb of both womens cries(468/423, 1389/1302). Again like Antigone, Eurydike combines lament with curse (473/427 and 1391-92/1304-5). The close verbal parallels bring Taking full responsibility for the deaths that he has caused, Kreon no ees himself as "no more than nothing"(14o8/1325). The man who ke in metaphors of keeping things straight and upright now finds MYTHS AND ODES he six odes of the play are among the most poetically elaborate of those in the main action on the ambiguities of Kreon's controlling power and the atmosphere of doom surrounding Antigone. #B The parodos, as we have noted, celebrates the city s victory over its enemies and so sets the 387-92/1301-5 Eurydike's accusatory epithet

INTRODUCTIO N power to total helplessness, and he continues to sing in lyrics to the end of the play. More suffering lies in store. The messenger returns from the royal house to announce the death of Eurydike. The manner of her end intensifies Kreon's pain, for she has killed herself in a particularly hor￾rible way, stabbing herself at the household altar in the courtyard, curs￾ing her husband as the killer of both his sons—Haimon and an elder son who died earlier, here called Megareus, who is left obscure but is possibly to be identified with the Menoikeus of Euripides' Phoinikian Women, who leaps from the walls of Thebes to fulfill a prophecy that only the voluntary death of a descendant of Thebes' autochthonous inhabitants could save the city.47 Eurydike's curse turns the two generative roles in the house, mater￾nity and paternity, toward death, the appropriate punishment of one who has interfered with the basic ties of family in Antigone's house. The messenger calls her pammetor nekrou, literally "the all-mother" of the corpse, the mother in the fullest sense of the word ("mother ab￾solute," at 1368 / 1282). Also, Eurydike's final, suicidal lament recalls the cries of Antigone over the body of Polyneikes at the moment when she was caught, and in fact Sophokles uses the same verb of both women's cries (468 / 423, 1389 /1302). Again like Antigone, Eurydike combines lament with curse (473 / 427 and 1391-92 / 1304-5). The close verbal parallels bring Kreon's suffering into direct causal connection with his actions in a way that is expressive of the retributive justice that the Greeks call dike. Taking full responsibility for the deaths that he has caused, Kreon now sees himself as "no more than nothing" (1408 / 1325). The man who spoke in metaphors of keeping things straight and upright now finds his whole world awry: he says, "everything is twisted in my hands" (1425-26 / 1342). MYTHS AND ODES The six odes of the play are among the most poetically elaborate of those in the extant Sophokles and provide a commentary parallel to the main action on the ambiguities of Kreon's controlling power and the atmosphere of doom surrounding Antigone.48 The parodos, as we have noted, celebrates the city's victory over its enemies and so sets the 47. See Griffith's note on 1302-3 and our Note on 1387-92 / 1301-5. Eurydike's accusatory epithet for Kreon, "killer of sons," may refer only to the death of Haimon, but the passage can also be read as implying that Eurydike holds Kreon responsible for the deaths of both sons. 48. For the place of the odes in the rhythm of the action, see my Tragedy and Civilization, 197- 206. 25

INTRODUCTION stage for Kreon's entrance Yet its Dionysiac language and the all-night ivic choruses return with very different meanings in the last ode, when something of the emotional violence and frenzy that also belong to Dionysos make their The first stasimon sometimes called the ode on man is one of the most famous passages of all Greek literature(377-416/332-75) #Its triumphant list of the achievements of human civilization is often read a hymn to the confidence, humanism, and rationalism of the Per- hich saw so many advances in the arts and sciences. Yet the opening words, "At many things-wonders, terrors -we feel awe. but at nothing more than at man, " are deeply ambiguous, as the trans lation of the word denon implies, for denon means"wonderful"br also"fearful, ""strange, ""terrible, " uncanny. Antigone uses it, for le"suffering that she is ready defying Kreon(14/96)and the Guard of the"terrible"things he fears beginning of a famous ode of Aiskhylos' Libation Bearers on the de structive passions and crimes of evil women( Libation Bearers 58sff. It is tempting to associate with Kreon the Ode on Mans attitude of proud, rationalistic domination of the world. Yet both he and Antigone, in different ways, embody the quality of the "wonderful/terrible"with which the ode begins; and both protagonists ambiguously shift between being"high in his city "and"outside any city"(412-13/370). Many of the items listed as the proud achievements of humanity return late with their meaning reversed. The human conquest of earth, sea, and the birds of the skies retums later as a human failure to control. The quest of disease, for example, comes back ominously in the disease of pollution with which Kreon's acts afflict the city (1079/1015: cf 121 1141 and 467/421). The juxtaposition of"inventive"(literally"all- devising")and"without invention"or "device"401-2/36o points to the paradoxical collocation of the human strength and weakness en- ted by both protagonists. The qualification of human power in the next line, " Only from Hades will he not procure some means of cape"(403-5/361-62), looms large in a play so much concerned with the underworld and the ways in which the dead destroy the lives of the living. Kreon's tragedy in particular follows a trajectory from his confident assertion of authority over love and marriage("It's Hades who will stop this wedding for me, " 626/575)to his miserable cry that his house is a"harbor of Hades"whose pollution he cannot cleanse(1371 1284). The odes insistence on human cleverness and intellect con- 49. For further discussion and references, see my Tragedy and Civilization, 152-54

INTRODUCTIO N stage for Kreon's entrance. Yet its Dionysiac language and the all-night civic choruses return with very different meanings in the last ode, when something of the emotional violence and frenzy that also belong to Dionysos make their appearance. The first stasimon, sometimes called the Ode on Man, is one of the most famous passages of all Greek literature (377-416 / 332-75).49 Its triumphant list of the achievements of human civilization is often read as a hymn to the confidence, humanism, and rationalism of the Per￾iklean Age, which saw so many advances in the arts and sciences. Yet the opening words, "At many things—wonders, terrors —we feel awe, but at nothing more than at man," are deeply ambiguous, as the trans￾lation of the word deinon implies, for deinon means "wonderful" but also "fearful," "strange," "terrible," "uncanny." Antigone uses it, for example, of the "terrible" suffering that she is ready to undergo for defying Kreon (114 / 96) and the Guard of the "terrible" things he fears from Kreon (278 / 243). The ode's opening, furthermore, echoes the beginning of a famous ode of Aiskhylos' Libation Bearers on the de￾structive passions and crimes of evil women (Libation Bearers 585ff). It is tempting to associate with Kreon the Ode on Man's attitude of proud, rationalistic domination of the world. Yet both he and Antigone, in different ways, embody the quality of the "wonderful/terrible" with which the ode begins; and both protagonists ambiguously shift between being "high in his city" and "outside any city" (412-13 / 370). Many of the items listed as the proud achievements of humanity return later with their meaning reversed. The human conquest of earth, sea, and the birds of the skies returns later as a human failure to control. The conquest of disease, for example, comes back ominously in the disease of pollution with which Kreon's acts afflict the city (1079 /1015; cf. 1215 / 1141 and 467 / 421). The juxtaposition of "inventive" (literally "all￾devising") and "without invention" or "device" 401-2 / 360 points to the paradoxical collocation of the human strength and weakness en￾acted by both protagonists. The qualification of human power in the next line, "Only from Hades will he not procure some means of es￾cape" (403-5 / 361-62), looms large in a play so much concerned with the underworld and the ways in which the dead destroy the lives of the living. Kreon's tragedy in particular follows a trajectory from his confident assertion of authority over love and marriage ("It's Hades who will stop this wedding for me," 626 / 575) to his miserable cry that his house is a "harbor of Hades" whose pollution he cannot cleanse (1371 / 1284). The ode's insistence on human cleverness and intellect con- 49. For further discussion and references, see my Tragedy and Civilization, 152-54. 26

NTRODUCTION trasts,of course, with the bad judgment of the ensuing action. In their losing lyrics, the members of the chorus blame the absence of "good ense "for the tragic outcome(1427 /1348, 1431/1353) The taming of"Gaia, the Earth, forever undestroyed and unwe ing, highest of all the gods"(382-83/337-39)by agriculture comes arly in the ode, paired with the conquest of the sea. However, it is not Earth as highest but as it is associated with both the realm of the dead below and with the dust of burial that determines the course of the tragedy. When Antigone is apprehended performing burial rites for Polyneikes'body, a mysterious whirlwind, as the Guard describes it, lifts the dust from the earth as a"storm of trouble high as heaven, which"flled up the whole huge sky "so that those watching the body suffer a"supernatural plague"(462-67/415-21), as if some divine power were inverting upper and lower realms. The next ode describes the he house of Oidipous in the bold the"blood-red dust of the gods under the earth"(if we can trust the manuscript text)reaching up to"reap""the last rootstock of the House of Oidipous"(647-50/599-6o2). This second stasimon begins by ociating the dark sand stirred from the depths by violent storms at sea with the doom of the house of Oidipous(633-44/582-95)and then contrasts that submarine turbulence with the immutable radiance of Zeus high above on Olympus(651-57/604-10) At the peripeteia or reversal, Teiresias traces the spread of pollution to Kreon' s inversion of what belongs above and below the earth(133-48/ 1064-76) s0 In fact that of the first stasimon. The Ode on Man begins with the conquest of the sea: but the second stasimon as we have noted, uses the sea as a metaphor for exactly the opposite meaning, associating the dark, stormy Thracian sea with the irrational sufferings that have afflicted Antigone's family. Taking the affictions of the ancient house of Oi- ipous as its paradigm, this ode dwells on the irrational aspects of mor tal life, Its tone proves justified for the chorus immediately introduces Haimon(673-77/626-3o), who is now the bearer of the uncontrol- lable passions in Kreon's own house the odes rallel to the and physical violence of the action. The third stasimon(fourth ode), on the invincible power of Eros, forms the transition between the fatal quarrel of Haimon and Kreon and Antigone's final lament with the chorus. It thus joins the two destructive forces operating in the back- ground, Eros and Hades, love and death. The complex fourth stasimon so. For the upper/ower axis in the play, see my Tragedy and Civilization, i70-73, 178-29

INTRODUCTIO N trasts, of course, with the bad judgment of the ensuing action. In their closing lyrics, the members of the chorus blame the absence of "good sense" for the tragic outcome (1427 / 1348, 1431 / 1353). The taming of "Gaia, the Earth, forever undestroyed and unweary￾ing, highest of all the gods" (382-83 / 337-39) by agriculture comes early in the ode, paired with the conquest of the sea. However, it is not Earth as highest but as it is associated with both the realm of the dead below and with the dust of burial that determines the course of the tragedy. When Antigone is apprehended performing burial rites for Polyneikes' body, a mysterious whirlwind, as the Guard describes it, lifts the dust from the earth as a "storm of trouble high as heaven," which "filled up the whole huge sky," so that those watching the body suffer a "supernatural plague" (462-67 7415-21), as if some divine power were inverting upper and lower realms. The next ode describes the murderous curse in the house of Oidipous in the bold metaphor of the "blood-red dust of the gods under the earth" (if we can trust the manuscript text) reaching up to "reap" "the last rootstock of the House of Oidipous" (647-50 / 599-602). This second stasimon begins by as￾sociating the dark sand stirred from the depths by violent storms at sea with the doom of the house of Oidipous (633-44 / 582-95) and then contrasts that submarine turbulence with the immutable radiance of Zeus high above on Olympus (651-57 / 604-10). At the peripeteia or reversal, Teiresias traces the spread of pollution to Kreon's inversion of what belongs above and below the earth (1133-48 / 1064-76).50 In fact, the mood of this second stasimon is virtually the reverse of that of the first stasimon. The Ode on Man begins with the conquest of the sea; but the second stasimon, as we have noted, uses the sea as a metaphor for exactly the opposite meaning, associating the dark, stormy Thracian sea with the irrational sufferings that have afflicted Antigone's family. Taking the afflictions of the ancient house of Oi￾dipous as its paradigm, this ode dwells on the irrational aspects of mor￾tal life. Its tone proves justified, for the chorus immediately introduces Haimon (673-77 / 626-30), who is now the bearer of the uncontrol￾lable passions in Kreon's own house. From this point on, the odes run parallel to the increasing emotional and physical violence of the action. The third stasimon (fourth ode), on the invincible power of Eros, forms the transition between the fatal quarrel of Haimon and Kreon and Antigone's final lament with the chorus. It thus joins the two destructive forces operating in the back￾ground, Eros and Hades, love and death. The complex fourth stasimon 50. For the upper/lower axis in the play, see my Tragedy and Civilization, 170—73, 178—79. 27

INTRODUCTION (fifth ode), as we have already noted, narrates myths of passion and violence that are applicable, in different degrees, to both protagonists Finally, the Dionysiac themes of the last ode, suggesting a possible fusion between the city and the natural world, are different from the iews of both the parodos(the first ode, on Thebes' victory)and the Ode on Man. Dionysos'maddened female worshipers here(1222-24 1150-52)also anticipate the release of dangerous female passion in th play's closing movement, the suicides of both Antigone and Eurydike If Kreon implies that he sees the sisters as something like maenads, maddened or running wild(see 542-43/491-92 and 63o/579), Antig. one on the contrary sees herself as a bride of Hades, that is, as Kore, the Maiden, who is also called Persephone, carried off to the under- world. 1 Young women who die before marriage are conventional rded as "marrying"Hades. For Antigone, however, the motif of wedding Hades is part of a dense network of associations. She will no just wed Hades figuratively, for by the manner of her death she will actually go underground, entering Hades while alive. And there in fact a marriage of sorts will be enacted in Haimon's bloody embrace of her corpse as he dies from his self-inflicted wound. Her death as a bride of Hades makes horribly literal what is only a convention of speaking She is being sent to her Hades-like cave, moreover, because she ha valued the dead and their gods above her life on earth; and, as we have observed, she is vindicated by Teiresias accusation of Kreon's ence with the relation between upper and lower worlds As a bride of Hades, Antigone is a Persephone carried off by the god of the lower world. Yet she is a Persephone who will remain unmarried and will never return to the upper world in the seasonal alternations of winter and spring that are essential to the Demeter- Persephone myth, as told in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Go set the girl (kore)up from her deep-dug house, "the chorus advises Kreon when he finally gi Teiresias(1175-76/1100-1101). Their word, end up, "evokes the motif of Persephone's ascent when Hades must return her to demeter with the return of the earth's fertility in the spring. "2 Yet the Kore/Persephone that Antigone envisages is a goddess sephone and Demeter in the mythical background of the play, ragedy and Civilization, 179-81. For the fusion of marriage and death in tragedy, see Richar Wahrhaft, Dangerous Voices: Women's Laments and Greek Literature(London and New York, 94), especially 5o-? 52. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter the verb "send up"describes DemeteT's allowing the grain to grow on earth(lines 3o7, 332, 471)

INTRODUCTIO N (fifth ode), as we have already noted, narrates myths of passion and violence that are applicable, in different degrees, to both protagonists. Finally, the Dionysiac themes of the last ode, suggesting a possible fusion between the city and the natural world, are different from the views of both the parodos (the first ode, on Thebes' victory) and the Ode on Man. Dionysos' maddened female worshipers here (1222-24 / 1150-52) also anticipate the release of dangerous female passion in the play's closing movement, the suicides of both Antigone and Eurydike. If Kreon implies that he sees the sisters as something like maenads, maddened or running wild (see 542-43 / 491-92 and 630 / 579), Antig￾one on the contrary sees herself as a bride of Hades, that is, as Kore, the Maiden, who is also called Persephone, carried off to the under￾world.51 Young women who die before marriage are conventionally regarded as "marrying" Hades. For Antigone, however, the motif of wedding Hades is part of a dense network of associations. She will not just wed Hades figuratively, for by the manner of her death she will actually go underground, entering Hades while alive. And there in fact a marriage of sorts will be enacted in Haimon's bloody embrace of her corpse as he dies from his self-inflicted wound. Her death as a bride of Hades makes horribly literal what is only a convention of speaking. She is being sent to her Hades-like cave, moreover, because she has valued the dead and their gods above her life on earth; and, as we have observed, she is vindicated by Teiresias' accusation of Kreon's interfer￾ence with the relation between upper and lower worlds. As a bride of Hades, Antigone is a Persephone carried off violently by the god of the lower world. Yet she is a Persephone who will remain unmarried and will never return to the upper world in the seasonal alternations of winter and spring that are essential to the Demeter￾Persephone myth, as told in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. "Go send the girl (kore) up from her deep-dug house," the chorus advises Kreon when he finally gives in to Teiresias (1175-76 / 1100-1101). Their word, "send up," evokes the motif of Persephone's ascent when Hades must return her to Demeter with the return of the earth's fertility in the spring.52 Yet the Kore/Persephone that Antigone envisages is a goddess 51. For the role of Persephone and Demeter in the mythical background of the play, see my Tragedy and Civilization, 179-81. For the fusion of marriage and death in tragedy, see Richard Seaford, "The Tragic Wedding," Journal of Hellenic Studies 107 (1987), 106-30; Gail Holst￾Wahrhaft, Dangerous Voices: Women's Laments and Creek Literature (London and New York, 1992), 41-42; Rush Rehm, Marriage to Death (Princeton, 1994), especially 59-71. 52. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter the verb "send up" describes Demeter's allowing the grain to grow on earth (lines 307, 332, 471). 28