Antigone Article 13

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Guide to Sophocles)

ANTIGONE

A Student Edition with Commentary)

Grammatical Notes) & Vocabulary

/3

Southern ILLinois lJniversity Press, ,

c : : . c : R B O N D ~ N D EDWARDSVILLE

Feffer & Simons, Inc.

LoNDON AND AMSTERDAM

The Creon-Haemon Debate

INTRODUCTION

THIS SCENE IS indeed a debate. even anr:;;;iJa contest or struggle

for supremacy between rather and s o n . ~ . probably docs not

realize that this is a contest of wil ls unt i l its disastrous conclusion

an d surely does not wanl,itJo. But for Cr. , the whole p lay is just

such an ngon. H i s J \ ~ ~ ~ n : 1 downfall is so total and ~ iliable

because he values h imse lr an at lcrs on y In terms of power. He

understands nothing of t h e co mp l emen tar it y of relationship that

Hac. and An. might have achieved were it not for his own weak

strength.Th e gentle but firm Hac. might have provided an adrnira-

ble balance for the strong passion of his intense spouse. Th e whole-

ness of the androgynous An. and of the "gynccandrous" Hac. J

escapes his comprehension. Certainly, if anyone could reach the

uncomprehending king, it is his doc ile son. In fact , by disposition

and his unique r ~ t i , o n s q t . g as spouse of one antagoni st and son

of the other,2f hc'\ls ~ g ' ' \ j ' t s T \ h o p c of reconciliation between these

intransigent personalities. The railun: of his v.iljant attempt is thus

the turning point in the pl'!Y.

LThree t J ~ ~ e m c s of the play are central to an understanding of

the struggle 10 this scene. They arc cmptiness vcrsus isolation, piety,

and obedience. Th e first two primarily continue Cr . 's struggle with

the absent An., while the third reflects as well upon the cr nanci pa-

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Guide to Sophocles' ANTIGONE /

lion of the son from his father. An examination of these themes

will show how Soph. unmasks Cr. qua human being in this scene L

(Episode I already unmasked him qua king) and how the playwright A ~ s · .thus underlines the contrastin full hum anity of the absent heroine.

nreuTlTh e words krnos. " e mp t y ," a n d g1lomE. JU gmcnt, are In Ices \:.

ofHac.ts

changing altitude toward his father. Whereas Hae. 'sopening remarks contain the confident promise that he will follow

his father's good counsels ( ~ n a m a i 635). a short hundred lines later

he characterizes those judgments as empty aphorisms, kenas gnomiis

(735). Kenos was usually reserved for objects l ike houses or hands.

Thus. Ihe son's earlier fear' has become reality: Cr. is as hollow

3., a writing tablet that is opened up an d found to be devoid of

contents (709 and n.). When Cr. retorts that Hac. is t he empty

one, devoid of wisdom (754). the spectator recognizes hollow rhet

oric. But Hac. shrinks from the realization: " I f you Were not my

father." he pleads. "I would have said you were not wise" (755).

The fathe r then irrevocably breaks the family tie not so much

by c a l l i ~ g h im ."the woman 's c h . a t t ; ) , ; ' ( . l . ? : 5 . ~ ) h ~ by d i a b ~ l i c a l l ythreatening to kill "the h a t ; . ~ l thl13g" ( 7 ' 1 f o ) ~ t o r e hIS sons eyes.

Th e mild. conciliatory y o u t l i " F s l h ~ s forced to the realization that

there is no accommodation possible with a madman (765). His

last words. only slightly veIl ing his threat of suicide. are ironically

couched in his father' s vocabulary of physical s ight . as though he

still nurtured a residual hope of reaching the t yran t who had been

his father.

So the words kmos and gnoml reflect Hac.ts movement from

faith in his father and confidence that their differences can be

overcome to recognition of his father's vacuity. In the closing lines

of the play, even Cr. realizes th.is when he calls himself a "c ipher'(1

no more than nOlhing" ( '322 ), The tragedy, thus, docs not a n i f ~ nJ\?nihilate a great man b ut simply reveals a hollow rnan.?

-r Another word for "empty" resonates througHout the p lay. It

Is erimos, "bereft," "isolated," and it is An.1s word for the spiritual

1\ (:r.. isolation that is the ironic outgrowth of he r own loving act. Her

t:;\,,\,J\ decision to act on behalf of her philos, Polvnices, results. she later

\il\'l''J, realizes. in her being "bere ft o f loved ones" (almos pros phitan).·

\\)'>l However. in th is sc en e, Hac. applies this word to his father in

I l ' i \ . ~ one of his most effective rejoinders. When Cr. claims absolute power

. , O'f\e.. ;r h .3-s Q j f . > I ' ; ; Q l i " ' ~ C r w ~ s 'le.mf1ntss ll i 5 J ; - f f e ~ ( \ l

The Creon-Haemon Debate

over the polis. Hae, counters: "You would be a fine monarch ruling ()

over a desert" (i.e.• a n empt y l and , almls gls, 739). Hac . might \ . . . ~ Ohave called t he l an d kenandrcs, empty of men. as Theseus d id \)5

(Oedipus at ~ a l a n o : 917!, bu t his choice of An. 's word serves to A,J{,contrast her ISolatIon WIth his. Hers, stems from the fu II ness of her

love. Cr.'s from his emptiness.VO$o\...

Of\""JTh e second theme. that of pietro is the subject of much o f the

debate between father an d son. an d keeps recurring throughout

t he p lay.s Th e theme is present from An.'s first mention of he r

ac t of holy criminality in the Prologue (74) unt il the last sentence

of the play (1350). The issues are sharpened and defined especially

in t hi s episode and in A n.' s la st speech. Earlier. Cr. Was obsessed

with equating religion with his acts as king. In this episode. his

desire for the mantle of piety surfaces again. How can he "reverence

the lawless" (730) and still reverence his Own kingly powers (744),

he asks. Hae, tries to correct his father's error: "I t is no t reverence

to t r.ample on divine prerogat ives" (745). The king's tyrannicalrespon:c reveals his legalistic and scrupulous conception of piety: 6

he decides to reduce the death penalty for An. to a living death,

providing her with enough food to rel ieve him of legal responsibility

for her death (771-76). while still leaving her to the care of Hades.

"the only god she reveres" (777). In An.ts final speech, her own

painful grappling with her relation to the gods (see Intro., Chap.

6) leaves the audience to judge the winner in the contest for piety.

Th e thIrd theme. that of obedience an d submission to authority

reveals Hae.'s growth from his opening remarks to his final choice-

of A ~ . · s principle instead of blind obedience to the king. In his

open,lng statement, his.submissiveness is almost but not quite ob-

sequious (see 635-38 n.). In Bilingual Selections, I consider Hae.'s

sensitive but mature conduct in this scene as he progresses from t/tUt.qualified obedience to a necessary rejedion of his father's immoraC

stance,7 But here I wish to examine obedience from the king's pointof View.

In an elaborate double personification of obedience and anarchy

(672-76). Cr. lectures his son on the necessi ty for obedience as

an antidote to anarchy. Th e two personified forces form a "frame

a n t i t ~ e s i s " B around the passage in which the king contends that

obedience to command (perth*arch'-a) preserves society whereas 'a!¢'-

75



Guide Co Sophocles' ANTIGONE /

lessnCS5 (all-arclll'a) destroys its Fabr-ic. There are two examgles of

l awle ssnes s tha t he -rails to perce ive: his own, s ince he exempts

, himself from t he rul e of law (see 667), and the s ta te 's , s ince its

L(1!-,,"50 council of elders is afraid even to mention th e anarchic of the chief

\A r;.o.\e- executive (see 211-14). It is quite apparent therefore why he could

~ i J ) ' " not understand An.'s argument that obedience to an unwritten

law might demand the appearance of lawlessness (450-70). Theking reduces the polit ical process to two contradictory f o r c e s ~good one identified with hi s own will a nd the evil one identified

wIth those who would defy h im. (The striking parallel between

this and the "Watergate mentality" needs no commcnt.)

The imagery that Cr. uses in this episode is appropriately

military and hierarchical. His son will succeed when posted behind

his father-leader (640). Order is seen as military order (cf. tassein,

63 , prostassein, 670-71, epitassein 664, akosma 660; also 677 and 730

and the notes on these l ines) . jf all men and objects are not in

proper order, kosmos, there is chaos. Everyone has his proper rank

in Cr.'s h ierarchy. First there is cr.. identical, sometimes, even

superior to Zeus (657); then mature men who must never be

schooled by young men (726-27); then young men; finally women,

slaves, and animals all seemingly on a par. Much of Cr. 's indigna-

lion stem s from disruption of this order: his son becoming a

"woman's chattel,' a woman daring to discourse on the meaning

of law; or acting in defiance o f h er uncle-king, women ranging

at large outside the women's quarters (578-80), a son not realizing

that a woman's body is of no more value than a field bought for

cultivation (569).

We have examined three of the issues in the debate between

father and son. As Hae. angrily runs off stage, his departure signals

\\d.\{1\() 'l \ his decis ion to stand with An. against his rigid f at her. In their

next choral ode on Eros' invincible power. the elders probably mean

to stand with th e king against the apparently mindless passion

of the youth. Cr.'s mil itary and hierarchical arguments do, after

all, derive from a persistent strain in Greek thought. But the poet's

deeper meaning shines t h r o u g h : ~ i s not the bewitching, playful

spiri t of lyric poetry bu t is endowed by Soph. with a new majesty

in this ode. Eros is pictured as a moral force that sits enthroned

as a pee r a longside the eternal laws (797-99). Eros enables Hae.

The Creon-Haanon Debate

to share the heinous fate of his innocent fiancee.- Thus, although

the elders have not repudiated the king their words in rh od. . Iceunwltllngly do. q..::r-

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Antigone Article 13