SOPHOCLES' ANTIGONE AND MARULIC'S JUDITH REBORN IN MILA GOJSALIĆ

Hello dear readers and fellow bloggers! In this post, I'll review a known classic, Antigone, a play by Sophocles. I'll also reflect on Judith, a heroic female character from the Book of Judith and a Croatian Renaissance epic poem Judita that Judith help inspire. 22nd of April is the Day of Croatian Book, and it is celebrated a day before the World Book Day. As I'm sure you know, World Book Day is celebrated on 23rd of April. World Book Day was first celebrated in Spain on the date of Miguel Cervantes birth, and then moved to the date of his death (23rd April) that coincides with Saint George's Day. The Spanish people have turned it into quite an event, and the world took notice. UNESCO must have decided to borrow this idea from the Spanish people, because in 1995, UNESCO proclaimed 23rd of April -World Book Day. Interestingly, besides Miguel Cervantes, William Shakespeare and a number of notable writers also died on the same day. Nowadays, World Book Day is celebrated worldwide. There is another annual event worldwide happening today and it is Earth Day. So, today we will talk a little bit about the environment as well. Books, environment and art are all on the menu on my blog today. So, business as usual you might say- just with a bit more festive feel. Happy Croatian Book Day! Happy World Book Day! Happy Earth Day!

*This blog post was written in English. Therefore, I'm not responsible for any mistakes in translation that might happen if you use machine translation to translate it or read it any other language. 

The location for the outfit and travel photographs I'll be sharing today is Jelsa, a charming little town (technically it is a municipality and does not have an official status of a town but you get my drift).  Jelsa is gorgeous and like every place on island Hvar, it is rich in history. Island Hvar is full of ancient, medieval and Renaissance churches, buildings and fortresses.  Speaking of history, Hvar is known for a number of prominent Renaissance writers such as Petar Hektorović (also known as Pietro (H)ettoreo) and Hanibal Lucić (aka Annibale Lucio). My hometown Split is also known for Renaissance writers, one of them being the author of Judith, an epic poem written to bost morale in difficult times.

 Judith has had a profound impact on Croatian literature. Croatian Book Day is a nice way to reflect on Croatian literature and tie it up with Croatian culture. It is nice that there is a official day dedicated to Croatian Book. Not that I need any prompting to read Croatian books or any books for that matter. It is sort of my job. Not just reading Croatian books, but books in general. It is also my job getting others to read, so reading my blog might have that effect on you. Perhaps my blog should come with a warning- Beware, you might want to pick up a book after reading my blog. I'm sort of joking, but since in some ways we do live in Fahrenheit 451 kind of society, this might not be a joke in close future. My blog might actually come with a warming- ' the author is trying to get you to read'.

So, let's talk about Judith, a  Renaissance epic poem completed on 22rd of April in 1501, and published in Venice in 1521.  Why is this story immensely important for the Croats of 16th century? Why do we consider Marko Marulic a father of Croatian literature on the basis of this epic poem alone? Why do we make students read it? The answer lies in the historical context of this poem. As much as the beauty of its poetry speaks for itself, to truly understand this poem and what drove the author to write it, you need to know a bit about the political and historical situation of the time. As the Internet and  will inform you, Marko Marulic was a Croatian national poet and Renaissance humanist, known as one of the most important figures of the Croatian Medieval Age. Considered by many as the father of the Croatian Renaissance (and even literature), Marulic was also the first who defined and used the notion of psychology (source). He was a many of many talents, but is best remembered for this poem. Why is that?

Imagine you are a member of the noble family living in a beautiful Renaissance city of Split, a former residence of Roman emperor. You're a humanist, poeta doctus, supremely educated and gifted. You wrote and published many texts in Latin and you're respected in Europe. Everything seems to be going well for you. There is just one problem. Outside the city walls you can see Ottoman army is advancing killing your people and burning your land. It sorts of kills the gusto of classical humanistic themes, does it not? So, what to do? You write a epic poem, one that celebrates a brave religious widow to bust the morale of the people a little bit. Perhaps also to boost your own morale. Marulic faced as a real danger of being impaled on a stick as any other habitant of Split town at that time So, write an epic poem he did. Instead of writing it in Latin (because you know that other Europeans probably do not care about your local situation), you write it in Croatian. That is what Marko Marulic did. He stepped outside his humanistic themes and created something relevant for his  time and people.

Literature is closely linked to history. Historical and social conditions often dictate not only whether there will be literature, but what kind of literature will be written and read. So it was in Marulic's times. Not all of Dalmatia burns. Love sonnets are written on the islands. Armies and pirates came and burn the Renaissance cities on Hvar and other islands, but they get rebuilt. Ottoman army retrieving from the battle of Lepanto burns Stari Grad  and Vrboska to the ground, only for them to be rebuilt soon after. Ottomans neither colonized nor invaded the islands, for it would make no military sense. Without capturing Croatian coastal cities, Ottomans would not. Much was dependent on Split town in this sense, and fortunately for Marulic and us (his descendents), Split never fell to Ottoman hands. It resisted both Eastern and Western colonialization all the way until Napoleon. Yes, the French captured Split briefly but that is  a story for another time.  Back to Renaissance history and a surprisingly tale of diplomatic relationship of one Croatian city state with the expanding Ottoman Empire. 

Simultaneously as the fields around Split are set on fire with Croatian independence at stake, another Croatian Republic was on first name basis with the Ottoman Empire.  The city of Dubrovnik (at that time an independent Republic of Dubrovnik) is true to their motto: We do not sell freedom for any gold. But buying freedom from Sultan is pricey, extremely pricey. Much gold is needed. Dubrovnik is the only city on Dalmatian coast that can afford it, that is so ridiculously wealth they can just pay the Sultan not to attack them. Possibly the only city in the known world who could afford it at the time for at the high of their power, the Republic of Dubrovnik was the wealthiest country in Europe, surpassing even Venice. The Republic of Venice and The Republic of Dubrovnik were two economic superpowers of their time. On the basis of their brilliant diplomacy and their gold, people of the Dubrovnik enjoy their freedom. So, instead of epic poetry, their poets write sonnets. There is no epic poetry in Dubrovnik, for you can afford to write love sonnets when there is nobody trying to kill you. The situation is different in Split that is nowhere as wealthy as Dubrovnik.

My art (acrylic paintings) inspired by Jelsa!

Let's get back to Split and the birth of this curious thing we can call Renaissance epic poetry. People in most of Croatia (with the exception of Dubrovnik) need some encouragement and being a religious fellow that he was Marulic advises them to be like Judith, to trust in God and be brave. One Croatian girl did just that, only unlike Judith she did not survive the ordeal.  

Art imitated life and a real Judith was born at the same time when this poem was written!

 Interestingly, this story adapted from the Bible actually happened in Croatian history not too long following this epic poem Judita (Judith) written by Marko Marulić. A Croatian girl Mila Gojsalić (date of birth unknown, died in 1530)  from Republic of Poljica (another historical Croatian Republic) practically single-handedly defeated a Turkish army of Ahmad pasha, numbering ten thousand man. Mila burned the whole Turkish camp up (herself included). The death of most officers and Ahmed pasha himself lead to the defeat of Turkish army in 1530.  Has Mila got the idea from the epic poem of Judith? Who knows? That kind of historical context is important in understand this epic poem. Basically, Croatian literature is heavily influenced by 500 years long war against the Turks. Except when it comes to Dubrovnik, but they as I explained were impossibly wealthy diplomatic geniuses who got along with everyone, including the sultan. You cannot study diplomacy seriously without studying Dubrovnik for this Republic really set the standard. The amicable relationship between the Ottoman Empire and Republic of Dubrovnik goes beyond the money, for when Dubrovnik was struck by horrible earthquakes, the Sultan did not attack them. By then, the Republic of Dubrovnik established a stable diplomatic relationship with the Ottomans. The surrounding areas did not. Do old enemies make for good friends? Sometimes they do. The scale of war between many Slavic countries and Turkish Empire is hard to imagine for anyone not well versed in history. This resulted in a lot of cultural contact, meaning that Slavs often get along really well with the Turks. Now, back to the epic poem Judith (Judita) and its author Marko Marulic.

A night seascape inspired by Jelsa

The following text (in quotation marks and cursive is cited from paper The Remake of Judita: A Modern Translation of the First Croatian Literary and Artistic Work Vuk-Tadija Barbarić, Marijana Horvat ( from Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics, Zagreb, Croatia)

"Marulić lived in the historic core of the City of Split, and was a prominent citizen. Similarly to his noble peers, aside from writing and family affairs he was equally preoccupied with public and judicial matters, and engaged on resolving local concerns. Marulić was an intellectual in his own right on a European scale and the most venerable member of the Split Humanistic Circle. 

He was erudite, a bibliophile who developed interests far more than in literature only. Marulić was a scholar, publicist and civil servant, very keen on music, painting and sculpture as well1. Even during his lifetime Marulić’s literary work and versatile humanistic background earned him great reputation in his home city, homeland and far beyond. 

The period in which Marulić lived and worked was pivotal for both general history and regional history of this poet. In 1420 Split came under the rule of the Republic of Venice, with a population of 6000 to 8000, ascending economically, demographically, and culturally. By contrast, social differences and struggles between commoners and patricians were becoming more noticeable, Venice was striving to undermine the city self-government, and the Ottomans were lurking behind the city walls. During the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia (1463) and Herzegovina (1482) Marulić was worryingly attuned to the looming threat to Dalmatia and other Croatian regions, especially in the aftermath of the terrible tragedy suffered by the Croatian army in the Battle of the Krbava Field (1493). 

The invasion of Italy (1494) by King Charles VIII of France brought an abrupt end to peacetime that had sustained the growth of the Renaissance putting Italy at the heart of extremely intricate conflicts6. Those events must have affected Marulić’s literary development and coloured his work. The history of Croatian literature remembers Marulić as an author of poems in Croatian and Latin, prose works and translations. His literary oeuvre is predominantly written in Latin. Marulić’s book De institutione bene vivendi per exempla sanctorum [Instruction of How to Lead a Virtuous Life Based on the Examples of Saints] (Venice 1506) was particularly held in high regard. His Evangelistarium [Evangelistary] (Venice, 1516 – the first edition reliably attributed to Marulić, but supposedly issued even earlier) was immensely popular too. 

Marulić’s works synthesize classical achievements, the Bible and Christian teachings as well as the fruits of his home country’s literary and linguistic tradition, suggesting how great a poet he was, departing from the Middle Ages to embrace the newly arisen humanistic thought and Western culture. Marulić was an advocate of Christian morality, who eagerly castigated church dignitaries whenever his admonishments were duly justified. Whilst absorbing knowledge from ancient sources and creating extraordinary works in Latin, he revered his mother tongue without fail. Quite like Dante, whom Marulić greatly admired and rightfully bears comparison with

....

Judita is the cornerstone of Croatian artistic and literary authorship. It paints Marulić’s portrayal of completeness of the Croatian language and its preparedness to embrace the challenges and norms of the elevated humanistic style. Judita is very picturesque and provides realistic descriptions and scenes from life. It is recounted in double-rhymed dodecasyllabic verses that emulate an exceptional melodiousness. This epic poem impacted on the later development of Croatian artistic poetry, both directly and indirectly. Marulić’s contemporaries evidently had great regard for this work as Judita was issued three times in his lifetime: the first edition (Venice, 1521) prepared for Split, the second (1522) for Dubrovnik, and the third (1523) for Zadar. All the three editions are remarkable and truly representative of the uniformity of older Croatian literature and the unity of language such literature was written in (3). 

The final verses of the epic herald the ground breaking significance Judita was to assume: Trudna toga plova ovdi jidra kala plavca moja nova. Bogu budi hvala, ki nebesa skova i svaka ostala. (Umorna od te plovidbe moja nova lađa ovdje spušta jedra. Neka bude hvala Bogu, koji je stvorio nebesa i sve ostalo.) [Exhausted from its journey, this new boat of mine Lowereth {lowers}a now its sails: Praise be to God Who crafted {created} the heavens and everything else.]b Metaphorically, Judita is a boat, and the attribute 'new' suggests a departure from the Croatian poetic tradition of the time1. 

The language of Marulić’s Croatian works, including Judita, derives from the Chakavian vernacular of Split in the fifteenth and the sixteenth century. The Chakavian basis was reinforced with words from Church Slavonic, Dubrovnik vernacular and some general Shtokavian elements. More specifically, Judita is a Chakavian stylization of the early sixteenth literary language. Quite a lot of distinctive features of this language indicate linguistic responsiveness to the developments at the time, whereas some linguistic facts display literary qualities of older Croatian literature. 

Be that as it may but the language of Judita was an apple-of-discord in the light of the most recent amendments to the Croatian language curriculum for primary and secondary schools leaving Judita dismissed from the compulsory and complete reading list for secondary school with an argument that its language and style are extremely difficult, impenetrable, incomprehensible and very detached from contemporary young readers (10). 

There are many reasons why this work should be on the list. Judita is the first epic written in Croatian and hence an important part of Croatian history, culture and identity, which earned its author the title of the father of Croatian literature. Besides, the personality of this biblical heroine could be extremely encouraging and invaluable for contemporary readers to look to. Judith is resolute, venturous, emphatic, self-sacrificing, honest, brave, willing to face danger for community wellbeing, whilst simultaneously being simple and humble. 

She is the epitome of imperishable and desirable values, suggesting all the more reasons for which Judita could appeal to twenty-first century readers. To mark the five hundredth anniversary of its publication the Croatian Parliament declared 2021 the Year of Marko Marulić.

 For the occasion and to bring Marulić’s masterpiece closer to current generations of readers, i.e. average Croatian language speakers, the Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics issued a modern Croatian adaptation of Marulić’s Judita. This rendition was prepared to respond to the complaints “that Judita is unintelligible, barely penetrable without the help of a dictionary/glossary and a reader, and hence uninteresting and remote in the twenty-first century” and “to bring {Judita} back, metaphorically and literally, to a wider readership it was initially dedicated to 500 years ago” but also to foster better responsiveness of contemporary society to this work.

"*

Cited from: https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/416370

To conclude, Judita (Judith) is a great epic poem in every sense. In particular, the writing is brilliant. It is easy to see the poet's genius in the complex rhyming scheme. The end rhyme of the first couplet is transferred to the central position in the next couplet, achieving a quadruple assonance. The metrical scale is raised to the highest level. Moreover, the poem itself is easy to read. The descriptions are very descriptive. Finally, the protagonist Judith is simply wonderful. It is indeed wonderful to see such a brave and kick-ass female protagonist in a work of literature that was written in 1501 and published in 1521.

If you really read, you know that female heroines are absolutely a part of literate. Historically, women have often been portrayed as the ideal. In Renaissance, a woman is often what inspires the writer to be a better person and often leads him to God. In Renaissance, we will find many flattering portrayals of women, both in art and in literature. The ancient Greek also had many tragic heroines in their plays.

What is the link between Judith from the Bible, Judita (Judith) by Marko Marulić, Mila Gojsalić and Antigone? Well, they were all amazing brave women, both fictional and real ones. Bibical Judith went to an enemy camp risking her life but came out alive. So, did Antigone and Mila Gojsalić. Unlike the biblical and literally Judith women, Antigone and Mila pay for their bravery with their head. Art imitates life and life imitates art. What is our life without art? 

Now, let us dive into Antigone, a play by Sophocles!

 There is a reason why this ancient Greek play continues to haunt our imagination centuries after it was written. How many centuries exactly? Well, Antigone was written approximately five centuries BC. So, that makes it twenty five centuries old. Imagine that! So many generations have been born and died, without this play losing its relevance. It is truly timeless. Will there be people reading and performing plays written today twenty four centuries from now? What will make them relevant? What makes a work of art stand the test of time? I would answer: it's ability to capture the spiritual reality in material form. Every true work of art, be it a play, a painting or a photograph, captures a higher reality, shows us what is  we humans carry within ourselves, in our hearts and minds. 

On a more serious note, why do we need to read?

Why do we need to read? We need to read because we are human. We need to think, ponder and ask questions. We need to appreciate art in order to appreciate life. Life is complex and complicated always. Life is difficult always. Art helps us with it. Not in the most obvious of ways because it is so subtle, but art helps. Art can help heal us. It can help us become more emotionally aware. Literature often gives us insight into the human soul. It is something that is being lost when we lose reading. Recently I saw an example online of someone using AI to answer someone's text about their parent dying. It was a frightening sight because people do not realize what they are doing. Imagine how that person that received that AI  text must have felt like.  People are throwing away their humanity this way. By not reading, by not writing, and letting the machines decide things for them. New generations are being brought up dependent on AI. Sometimes even the school system does not see the fault in it, seeing AI like some kind of progress. Seeing young generations being reliant on AI as something good. It is hard to explain to someone who does not have any general education and culture, why AI when applied to art, literature and cultural studies is such a horrible idea, but we must try. So, I do, and I have written on this topic on my blog more than once. 

The reality is that you and me, all of us, we need to build relationships in our lives. We have to be able to navigate through them in times of loss. We have to make our own decisions if we are to be more than a bot. Like it or not, people in your life will die. You will have to deal with it. AI is not going to help you with it. People in your life will lose their family members. You will have to be there for them. If you want to call yourself a human being, you will have to face death and help others face it. You will have to mourn and grieve. We are all going to die. It is just a matter of decades. This culture we live in likes to pretend we won't, but the reality is something else. 

So, read. Read real books written by real people. Read works of art written two, three or four thousand years ago to understand that the human conditions does not change that much. We are built by the choices we make. Leave those choices to AI, and you lose your humanity. Turn your life into a pursuit of material interest, and lose your soul.  You can choose. To became less than Sophocles and the others were, to know less than our ancestors knew. You can also chose to be like them, to think critically and to reflect on the world around you.  Read. Write. Think. Read the books that enrich your mind. Write in a way that will help you develop your own critical thinking. Think about your life and your duties. Ask questions. Do not ask AI. Ask yourself. If your mind does not have answers, ask those who know more. Ask them with humility. Be ready to learn. Or accept that you have already lost your humanity. 

A little break for sustainable fashion and fashion talk, and we'll get back to book reviewing.

Besides, discussing early works of literature, I'll also show you some sustainable transitional outfits and take you for a walk around Jelsa on island Hvar, a destination you have gotten to know over the years. Firstly, my Jelsa posts were travel posts because sustainable travel means I revisit locations and all that.  Secondly, I posted a lot about Jelsa because I got a job there in 2019.  Now, I got a job here again, but I also have other jobs off the island. The life on blog continues as usual. Life's been busy lately, and Spring has brough on its challenges. Moreover, my blog posts sometimes take a long time to prepare and tend to be quite long. There is a lot to pack in, from my love for art and literature to locations, fashion and all that.

I will return to add sustainable fashion links tomorrow. 

Based on the myth of Oedipus, Antigone is a play that puts into focus the strength of love. The protagonist of this play is a young woman, and the antagonist is her uncle. The ways Sophocles portrays Antigone is simply ingenious, both in this play and in the other plays where her character appears. The Oedipus myth was there, but Sophocles genius is in making all the characters from the myth truly come to life. Sophocles' plays show us the psychological development of its characters. This is especially the case in his Antigone play. Antigone declares herself 'born for love' in contrast to the antagonist Creon who chooses the path of hate. The exact translation varies from edition to edition, but Antigone's love for her family is always stressed in these lines. 

 The play is simply ingenious in every way. It opens with a scene of two sisters conversing.  The sisters are contrasted one to another, Antigone the brave, and Ismene the more timid one. 

Antigone.

My own, my sister, O beloved face,
Tell me—of all the curses of our race,
What curse shall God not heap on thee and me?
Surely there is no pain, no misery,
No vileness or dishonour, that we two
Have not already seen; and now this new
Edict, proclaimed by our new Prince's word
On all our people . . . knowst thou? Hast thou heard?
Or is it hid from thee? There comes a fate
On one we love meet for the worst we hate.

Ismene.

No word, Antigone, of tidings new
Touching our house, hath reached me, since we two
Were left deserted, and our brothers twain
Both in one day in mutual fury slain.
Last night, I know, the Argives fled; I know
Nought further that hath passed for weal or woe.

Antigone.

I knew it; and for that I summoned thee
Beyond the gate alone, to speak with me.

Ismene.

What is it? Some dark cloud is o'er thy thought.

Antigone.

'Tis for our brothers. Hath not Creon wrought
Honours for one, on the other foul despite?
'Tis told that, with all customary rite,
He layeth Eteocles in earth, full fed
With honours, like a prince among the dead;
But Polynices' corpse, cast out in shame,
No man in Thebes—so hath he made proclaim—
Shall give him tomb nor tear; there he shall lie
Unwept, unburied, lovely to the eye
Of staring vultures, hungry for their prey.
Such law on thee doth our good Creon lay,
Aye, and on me, on me! And soon, I hear,
He cometh hot-foot hither, to make clear
His will to them that know not. Nothing light
He counts it. Whoso disobeys ere night
Shall die the death . . . by stones, without the wall.
So runs his order. Now thou knowest all.
Now is the day to show thee nobly brave,
Or born a princess but at heart a slave.

Ismene.

If it has come to this, unhappy one,
What is there I can do or make undone?

Antigone.

Think. Wilt thou share my labour and my deed?

.....

 a little gif with my burgundy and yellow transitional styling!

Sophocles' Antigone is an emotional rollercoaster and a testament to the genius of its writer. Every character that steps on the scene captures our hearts and makes us think. 

Antigone.      [Strophe 1

Behold, O Land of Thebes, O ye
My countrymen; I go my last
Journey; and never more shall see
The sunlight. All is past.
Hades, the Sleep-compeller, goes before[Pg 57   vv. 811-836]
To guide me, living, to the lifeless shore;
No chant of trooping comrades leads me here,
No music for a human bridegroom's ear;
The bride of Acheron I for evermore.

CHORUS
Therefore in glory and high praise
To yon dead vault thou goest thy ways;
No wasting sickness shalt thou fear,
No wages of the sword are here.
Alone and mistress of thy fate
Thou walkest living to the gate
Of Death, from all men separate.
ANTIGONE 

I have heard how perished piteous
That Phrygian stranger, once our own,
'Gainst a high crag on Sipylus.
As ivy climbs, the stone
Climbed and subdued her, and there wasteth she—
So still abides the ancient history—
And the rains never leave her, nor the snow,
And the dim crown weeps on the breast below;
To stone go I, most like to Niobe.*
.....


*

*Cited from Gutenberg

When life gets hard, a stray cat appears to provide emotional support. This is my emotional support stray cat. I think I will name it Coco no.2. If you remember, there was a stray named Coco at my summer job. 

I think she loves me. What do you guys think? 

Antigone.      [Antistrophe 2

That stirs my bitterest thought,
My thrice-told aching sorrow for the lot
Of mine own father and all the travail-fraught
Line of our ancient kings.[Pg 59   vv. 862-882]
Alas, alway the memory clings
Of evil to my mother's bed,
Of ignorance sent from heaven, and infamy
Wrought on her own son—and my father he . . .
How can my thought endure it? . . . Am I not bred
And born from them? Away to them I go,
Childless, accurst, to share their homes below.
O brother, not unloved but most ill-wed,
Thou hast slain me, thou has reached me from the dead.*

*Cited from project Gutenberg

Introduction cited from project Gutenberg

Title: Antigone ["The Antigone"]
Author: Sophocles (ca. 496-406 B.C.)
Translator: Murray, George Gilbert Aimé (1866-1957)
Date of first publication [this translation]: 1941
Date of first performance [original play]: ca. 441 B.C.

INTRODUCTION

The Antigone, like other Greek plays, has suffered from being constantly interpreted and commented upon by critics whose main interests were not in the drama nor even in the poetry but in something quite different, such as grammar, history, philosophy, or the stemmata of MSS. Of course for any adequate understanding of the play much preliminary study of those subjects is necessary; but a time comes when all that scaffolding must be cleared away and attention concentrated on the two elements that matter most; on the poetry, with its severe form, its delicately exact metre, and its conventional poetic diction, quite different from the language of everyday prose, qualities which to the Greek artist seemed absolutely essential; and secondly, on the drama as drama, the play as an acting play.

Of the first I will not speak; I happen to like the Greek convention, and the method of my translation is a dutiful attempt to represent it. On the second some comment may be useful to English readers. Sophocles, as compared with the other two tragedians, was more of a dramatist and less of a prophet. He loved the clash of characters and the clash of moods inside a character. Also he had a wonderful gift for the coup de théâtre, the sudden flashing line that transforms a situation. One may think of the ironic answer to Jocasta's prayer in the Oedipus (l. 924), or to Clytemnestra's prayer in[Pg 6] the Electra (l. 660); of the announcement in the Electra of Orestes' death to the two women, to whom it means respectively deliverance and despair (El. ll. 674, 675); or in this play of Ismene's unexpected "Yes, I did it" (l. 536). Such effects remind one not of Aeschylus nor even of Shakespeare, but of the great French dramatists. The very first scene of The Antigone, with its secret hurried opening, and the eager trust of Antigone in her sister, followed by its swift reversal, plunge us into the heart of the drama with an impetus quite foreign to the stately exposition scenes of Aeschylus and Euripides.

Again, Sophocles always keeps in his tragedies the atmosphere of a dark heroic past. He likes to have themes with a touch of the mysterious and unearthly about them. In The Antigone the plot centres upon a point where, according to tradition, the Theban custom roused horror in the rest of Greece. The other Greeks after a battle always allowed the enemy to collect and bury their dead. If necessary they even buried the enemy dead themselves. The Thebans buried their own dead, but if they were masters of the field, deliberately prevented the burial of their enemies. In The Antigone, Creon proclaims Polynices an enemy, and follows the barbarous Theban custom in leaving his body to dogs and birds. What happened to the other dead is not directly mentioned in the play (see, however, l. 1080), but in Euripides' Suppliant Women we hear that Theseus first interceded with the Thebans and at last made war on them in order to[Pg 7] recover the bodies of the Seven and give them religious burial in Attic soil.

Any ill treatment of the dead rouses strong feeling even now. It certainly did so among Sophocles' contemporaries. But the horror was far graver and more awful in earlier ages, which attached superstitious sanctity to these last rites. The natural human horror at a barbarity is projected, as it were, on to Zeus or the Gods of the Underworld. It is they, it is the powers beyond death, who condemn and abhor such impiety. When Creon accuses Antigone of wasting her pains in "thinking always of the dead," it does not mean that she likes thinking about graves and corpses. She is caring for things beyond this world.

The character drawing is admirable. Critics have complained that both Creon and Antigone behave with some inconsistency. The answer is that all real people do, and the good dramatist likes them for it. As for Creon, it was of course preposterous of Hegel to suggest that he was as much in the right as Antigone and that our sympathies should be evenly divided. Creon is a tyrant; but a good playwright makes even his tyrants intelligible and Creon has a case. His first speech is excellent on the sacredness of public duty, but he shows the tyrant's temper in his interpretation of it. Polynices is an enemy and, though a king and Creon's own nephew, must be treated as an enemy. Anyone disobeying this order is a rebel and shall be treated as a rebel. So far so good: but the exposure of the body and the punishment of death for anyone who attempts to[Pg 8] remedy that outrage are "tyrannic." Yet as soon as Creon has pronounced this judgement he is trapped. He cannot unsay it merely because the rebel proves to be his own niece. His rage and threats are in character; so is his obstinacy; but I think one can see more than once that he would escape from the necessity of carrying out his sentence if he could do so without loss of face. Perhaps if Antigone were contrite and begged for pardon there might be an opportunity; but she is utterly defiant and hostile. At one moment he thinks he has pledged himself to put Ismene to death also; and shows undisguised relief at finding that he has not. He will spare Ismene; but even so everyone is against him; unless possibly his son, always so dutiful, and now so urgently wanted, will stand at his side? But Haemon, after a would-be tactful opening, leaves the stage threatening either murder or suicide. Creon can never yield after that, but his inward trouble increases. Perhaps at the last moment, when death actually stares her in the face, this insane girl may give way. She was to have been stoned; but that can be changed. She shall be left in a rock chamber, with a little food and drink, to die, no doubt, in the long run, but not immediately. That will give her a chance to think again.

It seems curious that he does not at once yield to Tiresias, whose counsels he had always followed. But Sophocles gets an added effect from the last flare of Creon's obstinacy and suspicion. These prophets! It is his unknown enemies at work again, bribing guards, bribing corrupt "medicine men." He must add to his[Pg 9] other offences this blasphemy against the Prophet, just as Oedipus did, before his cup is full. But his inner mistrust of himself has deepened. The surrender was bound to come, and when it comes it is as sudden and impulsive as his bursts of fury were. It is worth noticing that, if he had gone straight to Antigone's prison, he might still have saved her; but the prophet had said little about her. He was entirely occupied with the unburied corpse, the ritual pollution of altars, the sins against the Gods of Death. So naturally Creon goes first to remedy those.

Antigone herself is a very Sophoclean figure. We may compare her with Electra, the most ferocious of his heroines, and at the same time perhaps the most tenderly loving. Electra loses all self-restraint, and knows it. When Clytemnestra cries shame upon her, she answers (ll. 616 ff.): "Do you think I am not ashamed? Do I not know that I am behaving horribly and unlike myself?" And so she is. Sophocles cares more for the real and faulty human being than for the ideally sympathetic heroine. He has no character like some of Euripides' heroic virgin martyrs, such as Macaria or Polyxena.

Antigone is confident of her sister's love, and claims from her the same devotion as from herself, but at the first sign of refusal she turns fierce. She "hates" Ismene, and would not accept her help if she offered it. In the later scene, where Ismene only begs to be allowed to die with her, she is cruelly scornful except for one moment of softening and self-blame (l. 557). On Creon[Pg 10] she declares immediate war. She expects no mercy or understanding and will show none. She treats the Elders as mere enemies, since they are not clear and wholehearted friends. One is surprised by her verse (l. 523): "It is not my nature to join in hating, only to join in love." She had shown herself such a good hater. But Ismene thought much the same of her. She was τοῖς φίλοις ὀρθῶς φίλη, "A true friend to those she loved" (l. 99). It is that very quality that makes her so fierce. The loving, generous, but not quite heroic, Ismene forms a splendid foil to her.

Critics have suggested that she is very young. That would explain her vehemence and her changes of mood, from love to anger, from readiness to die to lamentation over all that she is losing. And certainly there seems to be some emphasis laid both upon her youth and upon Haemon's.

Acute characterization of this kind, if carried far, heightens the intellectual interest of any play at the expense of its emotional intensity. But the religious atmosphere of Greek tragedy is strong, and Sophocles' own inspiration overcomes his critical observation of character. In her greatest moment Antigone rises above her moods, above even her personal love for her brother, above mere rituals and taboos about dead bodies. She puts her faith simply in that eternal law of right of which Greek thought, from Aeschylus to Plato, is so abidingly conscious; a law whose ordinances are beyond death, beyond man and his anthropomorphic gods, unwritten and never failing. Through this scene[Pg 11] Antigone has become, almost against her creator's wish, the most famous ideal virgin martyr of Greek tragedy.

The Guard is admirable. A man of the people, racy and half comic, he reminds one of the Nurse in the Choëphoroe but of no other character in our extant Greek tragedies. The Chorus of Elders remains for the most part impersonal. Their lyrics are among the finest in Sophocles, often difficult and enigmatic, yet with a strange untranslatable magic of language and rhythm. Only through the spoken words of the Leader does the Chorus express itself as a character in the play, and then it is a somewhat characterless character. The Elders venture twice a tentative protest against Creon, but are promptly crushed, and afterwards are afraid to champion Antigone or Haemon. They think her ἄβουλος "unwise," as by ordinary standards she undoubtedly is. Their failure to give her open support adds to the dramatic value of her last appearance, innocent, friendless and alone against the world. I think, however, that in certain passages (particularly ll. 853 ff., 872 ff.) where their words seem intentionally obscure one is bound to choose the interpretation which favours the condemned prisoner; had they meant to support the tyrant there would have been no need for obscurity.

What can Antigone teach us? What can Judith teach us? First of all, that women were heroes of literature from Ancient Greece to Renaissance Croatia. 

I'll add in more of my thoughts about Antigone when I manage, and in the meantime - take care everyone!

Outfit details to be added tomorrow. 

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