Day 64: Antigone, by Sophocles (translation by Robert Bagg)

Having once again noticed the use of modern turns of phrase, and this time quite an obvious one ("you bet" for yes...) I did have a look at the notes and find that this was deliberate, but I also noticed that certain parts which felt more classical did so for a reason - they are written in verse which doesn't generally rhyme, but for certain characters is in iambic pentameter. This third installment in the cycle feels more lyrical in general, there were certainly large parts that felt like they should be sung (as suggested in the stage directions, and as they would have been in their original form) far more so than the previous two.

The actual plot line in this play is very short: Antigone buries her brother, against the mandate of the new king of Thebes, and this leads fairly directly to a triple suicide. Cheerful stuff, and without the politics and cliffhangers of the previous plays. It does rather feel like a devastating postscript to a story already dripping with tragedy. The new king seems to have a family as cursed by prophesy as Oedipus's was, but the difference is that he brought it, consciously, upon himself where Oedipus was following a path that seemed to be written for him at birth. There's a difference too in the way each of them copes with his respective downfall. Oedipus finds a renewed faith in his last days and dies mysteriously, vanishing without a trace on a sacred hilltop with at most a single witness sworn to secrecy. All this after living a life exiled for crimes of which he is guilty but couldn't possibly have known it at the time. Kreon, the new king, could be seen to inherit the curse through his association with the family, as it is Antigone's death which leads to his son's suicide, in turn triggering Kreon's wife to follow suit. It was mentioned earlier in the cycle that due to the curse of basically inbreeding, the daughters would never be considered eligible and were expected to die untouched. A more modern story might twist the ending in a more positive light and have Kreon make the right call to save Antigone's life and thus perhaps break the curse and give everyone (who's left by this point) a happy ending... but then, it wouldn't be a tragedy. Instead, he sticks doggedly to his belief that as rightful king his word must be law, and to his plan to see Antigone put to death. With his entire family dead, he realises too late that he has no other choice but to turn to his guards, and have them escort him away.

There are resonances in the final scenes of this play with the deposition scene in Richard II, but rather than stepping down to a usurping Lord as Richard does, Kreon is admitting defeat to prophesy and the Gods themselves. Both have an arrogant sense of right to rule, and both are struck low in a melodramatic way... and both have a strong thread of Faith running through their story. Finally, both seem ready to accept death at the end, seeing no life ahead of them after loss of leadership.