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Antigone Quotes

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Antigone Quotes

“This consideration takes us very close to what it is that makes Greek tragedy “tragic.” A play about an unambiguously heroic young woman, someone’s mother or sister or daughter, squaring off against an unambiguously villainous general or king, a man greedy for military renown or for power, would not be morally interesting. What gives Antigone and Agamemnon and other plays their special and unforgettable force is that they present the irresistible spectacle of two worldviews, each with its own force, harrowingly locked in irreducible conflict. And yet while the characters in these plays are unable to countenance, let alone accept, their opponents’ viewpoints, the audience is being invited to do just that—to weigh and compare the principles the characters adhere to, to reflect on the necessity of seeing the whole and on the difficulties of keeping the parts in equilibrium. Or, at least, to appreciate the costs of sacrificing some values for others, when the occasion demands.”

AudienceTragedyStorytellingHeroesGreek TragedyAntigoneAgamemnonAncient GreeksAncient Greek Tragedy
Author:Daniel Mendelsohn
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“how is a Greek chorus like a lawyer they’re both in the business of searching for a precedent finding an analogy locating a prior example so as to be able to say this terrible thing we’re witnessing now is not unique you know it happened before or something much like it we’re not at a loss how to think about this we’re not without guidance there is a pattern we can find an historically parallel case and file it away under ANTIGONE BURIED ALIVE FRIDAY AFTERNOON COMPARE CASE HISTORIES 7, 17 AND 49 now I could dig up those case histories tell you about Danaos and Lykourgos and the sons of Phineus people locked up in a room or a cave or their own dark mind it wouldn’t help you it doesn’t help me it’s Friday afternoon there goes Antigone to be buried alive”

AntigoneAntigonickSophokles
Book:Antigonick
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“Antigone emerges as a figure of pure desire precisely because, with her words and actions, she incites in others this tenacious question: What does she want? She states what she wants from the outset, yet there is no one in the play who is not baffled at one point or another by this question: OK, she wants to bury Polyneices, but what does she actually want?”

PsychoanalysisAntigoneLacan
Book:Let Them Rot: Antigone's Parallax
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“Love, unconquerable, Waster of rich men, keeper Of warm lights and all-night vigil In the soft face of a girl: Sea-wanderer, forest-visitor! Even the pure immortals cannot escape you, And mortal man, in his one day's dusk, Trembles before your glory.”

MenLoveLightFacesNightGirlRichSeaOne DayPureGloryWarmForestsMortalsAll NightVisitorsRich ManKeepersDuskWanderersUnconquerableAntigoneUnconquerable Will
Book:The Oedipus Cycle: An English Version
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“What does it mean to be a used white wife, a mother, a tragic girl writing poems? Sandra Simonds gets into these messy words and then tears them apart. Sometimes with the words of others. And sometimes with poems made from scratch. They aren't all bad, these words. But they aren't all good either. And that is where Mother was a Tragic Girl gets its power. You will at moments be laughing but then you will also at moments just as much be crying. If Antigone was alive and decided to write some poems about the nuclear family, she would write them like Sandra Simonds. These are tough.”

IfsWritingMeanDoeMadeSometimesMomentsUsedMotherGirlWhiteLaughingAliveWifeCryTearsToughDecidedNuclearTragicScratchesMessyAntigoneWriting PoemsNuclear Families
Author:Juliana Spahr
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“Miss Havisham is an important feminine literary figure in the tradition of Antigone (though it's significant that Antigone is fighting to bury something and Miss Havisham refuses, as it were, to bury the corpse). Like Hamlet, she's focused on what everyone would rather not know or would like to forget, and she seems crazy / stuck as well as bitter, but she's also a perfect prototype of a performance artist. She's intentionally hard to deal with inviting the audience to remain with the violated body, the evidence of violence.”

KnowsWellsImportantHardBodySeemsArtistFightingPerfectForgetDealsAudienceViolenceCrazyMissingFiguresEvidenceTraditionPerformancesRefuseFocusedStuckSignificantBitterFeminineCorpsesInvitingPrototypeAntigoneHavishamMiss Havisham
Author:Laura Mullen
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“The problem with Antigone is that she stood up to the despot Creon, but in such a way that she ended up dying. So she bought her defiance with her death. The real question I ended up asking was, "What would it mean for Antigone to have stood up to Creon and lived?" And the only way she could have lived is if she had had a serious social movement with her. If she arrived with a social movement to take down the despot, maybe it would have taken 18 days only, like in Egypt. It's really important to be able to re-situate one's rage and destitution in the context of a social movement.”

IfsWayMeanImportantRealProblemAbleSocialTakenDyingMovementSeriousAskingRageEgyptDefianceStood UpSocial MovementsDespotsReal QuestionsAntigone
Author:Judith Butler
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“Don't let anyone tell you that the truth can't disappear. If I believe in anything, rather than God, is that I am part of something that goes all the way back to Antigone, and that whatever speaks the truth of our hearts can only make us stronger. Can only give us the power to counter the hate and bigotry and heal this addled world. Just remember: You are not alone.”

IfsWorldWayGivingBelieveHeartRememberHateSpeakI BelieveStrongerI Believe InDisappearHealBigotryNot AloneSpeak The TruthRemember YouRemembers YouAntigone
Book:Last Watch of the Night: Essays Too Personal and Otherwise
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