Anouilh's Antigone Character Analysis
Antigone Character Analysis 2
Your analysis of Anouilh’s Antigone depends a lot on how YOU interpret the thoughts and desires of the main characters.
Unlike Sophocles’ original version, which is both morally and narratively straightforward, (Antigone the obvious hero—sacrificing her life for love of family and religion,) Anouilh’s play is full of holes and ambiguity. His characters are flawed. His questions are not satisfied by easy answers.
Sophocles’ play leaves no room for the reader—the meaning of the story is found within the text itself. The ambiguity in Anouilh’s play, however, provides space for the reader to create their OWN meaning in collaboration with the text.
Today’s asynchronous assignment invites you to create your own meaning from the text and asks you to identify the key moments that illustrate and support your interpretation.
In short, I would like you to answer the following questions for both Antigone and Creon. Please provide at least one quote from the text to support each answer.
1. What is the character’s main desire?
2. Why?
3. What does she/he want from life?
4. How does she/he define happiness?
5. Are her/his expectations of life and/or happiness realistic?
6. What is the character’s fatal flaw? (Or biggest hypocrisy? Or biggest weakness?)
One last question: Do you think Anouilh’s play has a hero? If so, who is it and why? If not, why not?
Professor
Course
Date
Antigone Character Analysis
1. What is the character’s main desire?
Antigone: For Anouilh’s Antigone, her main desire is to bury her brother, Polynices, because of her sense of loyalty and duty to her brother, despite his traitorous acts. From this, it seems that Antigone is defiant because she disregarded the orders Creon not to bury her brother because of what he did.
Creon: Creon’s main desire is to keep the well-being of Thebes intact as a whole.
2. Why?
Antigone: I viewed Antigone’s actions as selfish because it is apparent that she only did it to defy Creon and Ismene. She seems to have a notion of what she and her family’s life should be after the many tragic losses from their father’s curse.
Creon: Creon views himself as a just, authoritative figure who can keep events in control. This also leads audiences/readers to view Creon as analytical.
3. What does she/he want from life?
Antigone: She wants other people to see her as a person who has the right sensibilities and that she is different from common views of women, such as in her dislike for Ismene’s views. From this, I gathered that she wants to be seen as a hero.
Creon: He wants to maintain the welfare of Thebes by following protocols and adhering to the State’s rules so that the good of the many prevail rather than his own family’s individual desires. For me, Anouilh’s Creon is less cruel than Sophocles’ Creon, and I think Anouilh’s Creon is pragmatic. He has expectations that are based on what he thinks will be for the better and he wants to dedicate himself to those expectations. His desire to help Antigone after her burial of Polynices also reflects that he values his family.
4. How does she/he define happiness?
Antigone: From what Antigone does and says, it seems that she defines happiness as contentment from being seen as “right” and “with pure intentions.”
Creon: He seemingly defines happiness as a good outcome for keep...