WOMEN IN WAR

ANTIGONE & MARÍA ZAMBRANO

I. ANTIGONE. THE MYTH

ANTIGONE, THE DAUGHTER OF OEDIPUS

Oedipus was the son of Laius and Jocasta, the King and Queen of Thebes.

An oracle predicted that Oedipuswould kill his father and would marryhis mother.

Even though his parents tried toavoid this destiny, the foretelling wasfulfilled.

Oedipus and his mother Jocasta havefour children, two boys, Eteocles and Polynices, and two girls, Antigoneand Ismene.

THE END OF OEDIPUS

When it was discovered thatOedipus had killed his fatherand married his mother, Jocasta committed suicide.

Oedipus, after going blind, was banished from Thebesand sentenced himself towander far from Thebesuntil the end of his days.

THE CHILDREN OF OEDIPUS

Antigone and Ismeneacompanied Oedipus on hisexile.

Eteocles and Polynices agreedto alternate in the governmentof Thebes. Eteocles is the firstto rule.

When it came to Polynices’sturn, Eteocles refused to leavepower.

Polynices assembled an armyand attacked the city of Thebes.

THE DEATH OF ETEOCLES Y POLYNICES

To avoid killing more men, Eteocles and Polynices faced off to combat eachother and both died.

Creon, the uncle of both, gained power and decreed that Eteocles, who haddied defending Thebes, would be buried with all honors, while Polynices, whodied attacking the city, would not receive funeral honors .

ANTIGONE FACING CREON

Antigone decided to complete thefunerary rights for her brotherPolynices.

She is condemned by Creon to beentombed alive in a cave.

When Creon withdraws the harshpunishment imposed on Antigone, he goes to the cave, where he finds Antigone dead and his son Haemon, who’d been in love withher, dead.

II. LITERARY TRADITION OF THEMYTH OF ANTIGONE

CLASSIC GREECE. SOPHOCLES

In this work one finds the religiousduty (to obey the principles of thegods and of the customs), opposing the political duty(obeying the laws of the city).

THE ANTIGONIAN PHILOSOPHY. KIERKEGAARD

A philosophical essay in whichthe author, analyzing thetragedy of Antigone, tries to findthe common characteristicsbetween ancient tragedy and modern.

ANTIGONE IN WAR

Jean Anouilh and Bertold Brecht write their versionsof the myth regarding war: the Second World War.

ANTIGONE IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

Salvador Espriu and José María Pemán parallel thefraternal fight of Eteocles and Polynices with the Spanish

Civil War.

III. ANTIGONE’S TOMB BY MARÍA ZAMBRANO

MARÍA ZAMBRANO. HER CHILDHOOD

She was born in Vélez-Málaga in 1904.

Her parents were teachers in thelocal secondary school.

MARÍA ZAMBRANO. STUDIES

When she studied in late highschool, there were only twogirls in the class.

She studied philosophy at theCentral University of Madrid.

She met and established a friendship with Antonio Machado, León Felipe and Federico García Lorca.

MARÍA ZAMBRANO. THE EXILE

After the Civil War, she was exiled with her mother and sister, first to France, then Cuba, Mexico, and Italy.

MARÍA ZAMBRANO. THE RETURN TO SPAIN

After a life of economic scarcity and healthy prblems, she returned toSpain in 1984.

She died in Madrid in 1991.

ANTIGONE’S TOMB

PERSONAL EVENTS THAT INSPIRED THE WORK

• Failed love for her cousin, Miguel Pizarro.

• The pain that, along with hermother and sister, she sufferedfrom the exile after the Civil War.

• Personal tragedy of her sister, who lost her husband and wastortured in the Second WorldWar.

ANTIGONE’S TOMB

PREVIOUS WORK

Delirium of AntigoneAn essay published in the Cuban

magazine Orígenes in 1948

ANTIGONE’S TOMB

THE KEYS

Antigone represented forZambrano the symbol of sacrifice embodied in herself, in her own mother and sister, Araceli, three innocent victimsof the devastation of exile.

ANTIGONE’S TOMB

In the version by Zambrano, Antigone sacrifices her life as a woman to reject marrying Haemon, but, in return, “born fromeverything in life”, after havingbeen “enclosed in life”, nowentombed, returned to the “cradle” and “nest” at the same time.