Tragedy Journal #12

Yes vs. No


In the recent section of the play, Anouilh implements many combinations of ideas that are conflicting. For example, the distinction between yes and no is shown to be important. The culmination of the conflict and tension is mounted in the following quote by Creon.


"It is easy to say no. To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows. It is easy to say no, even if saying no means death. All you have to do is to sit still and wait. Wait to go on living; wait to be killed. that is the coward's part. No is one of your man-made words. Can you imagine a world in which trees say no to the sap? Animals are good, simple, tough. They move in droves, nudging one another onwards, all traveling the same road" (Anouilh 37).


Creon sides more with saying yes than saying no. This improves his side that he has a duty to fulfill. He only became king because he felt obligated. There is a metaphor that he uses, as if a ship is in chaos due to a storm. The ship is representative of the city of Thebes, and Creon grabbed the wheel in order to save the ship. He would have felt cowardly had he said no. Since Creon is connected with yes, therefore Antigone must be connected with no. Indeed, Antigone is against yes. Because Creon said yes to the offer of becoming king, she feels Creon is trapped into killing her. The effect of having the conflicting ideas of yes in the play is twofold. Firstly, it characterizes both Antigone and Creon. Creon's motivation is first and foremost the progress of the city. He wants to provide order if at all possible. Antigone's motivation is unclear, but it could possibly be to challenge authority or to act on her own desires. Secondly, the tension caused by the conflict contributes to the plot. Due to their argument, Antigone is taken off by Creon's guards, supposedly to be killed. This is followed by Haemon entering, providing a rising action as there is another argument, this time between father and son.

Tragedy Journal #11

At the start of the play, the chorus' main objective is to inform the readers. As was discussed in class, there is a great amount of background that is needed to understand the story. All of the characters have something that needs to be known. The story has to start somewhere, and 'the beginning' is not that place due to the background knowledge necessary. The Chorus also provided a level playing field on which the story was built upon. One of the elements of a tragedy that we have learned so far through the Interactive Oral and other discussions is that there should be reasons to side with both sides of the play. This is one of the reason's Anouilh's Antigone was able to be shown in theaters in Nazi occupied France. The Germans were able to see what they wanted to see and could connect with that side. Starting at page 23, there is a noticeable change in Chorus. It starts using more metaphorical language instead of giving relevant and necessary information. "The spring is wound up tight. It will uncoil of itself. ... The machine is in perfect order; it has been oiled ever since time began, and it runs without friction" (Anouilh 23). Through this shift in the language, the role of the chorus begins to tell of tragedies in general. There is a focus on the differences between a tragedy and a melodrama. Perhaps Anouilh was fed up with people thinking the two were one and the same. I feel through the Chorus, the author is able to put in his own opinions. The tone seems to stay somewhat the same despite this shift in language however. The atmosphere of the piece remains consistent. "No gravestone is to be set up in his memory. And above all, any person who attempts to give him a religious burial will himself be put to death" (23). The quote from the first section is dark and depressing in nature, just as later on. "Death, treason, and sorrow are on the march; and they move in the wake of storm, of tears, of stillness" (23). 

Tragedy Journal #10

List of events:

Antigone is sitting alone, while Haemon and Ismene are dancing

Haemon proposes to Antigone

Eurydice is seen knitting

Etocles and Polynices kill each other (? it is told that this happened, but the timing is unclear)

Creon orders that Polynices will not be given a burial, the body is shown, and anyone who buries him will be a traitor.

(Unclear amount of time in between events)

Antigone goes to see Haemon in the nighttime, they have an argument

Antigone buries her brother

Reflection:

Jean Anoulih does not tell the events of the play in the chronological order. For instance, the audience is only informed that Antigone buries Polynices after learning that she has been out for the night and has been with Haemon, and even after there is a dialogue between Antigone and her sister about whether or not the body should be buried. The effect of using this technique muddles the perception of the events, and to a lesser extent the motivations of the characters. It resembles taking a photograph. At first, some of the images are in the picture, but it is all fuzzy and unfocused. I am guessing that throughout the story, the lenses will be shifted so to speak, and the picture will become sharper and more focused. Most of the images, or in this case characters, are somewhat present, but it is hard to discern what is actually being seen.  

Topic Sentence

In Blood Wedding by Frederico Lorca, the character Maid exhibits a longing for worldly possessions such as wedding gifts, and by commanding others she also has a certain level of power.

Tragedy Journal #9

• Wealth isn't everything
• The two wealthiest families in the play end up the most hurt

• People can have power without being from money
• Maid in the scene where the wedding reception is being set up has great power. She orders others around and she appears very controlling, but in a way that is not malignant but proper and justified

• Societal standards should not be blindly followed
• The youth in the play highlight how bad of an example Bride is. She is supposed to be looked upon as a role model, but her actions go against what society has deemed proper. 

• Violence among humans serves no purpose and only leads to unhappiness
• Killing is the biggest conflict of Blood Wedding. There is no positives to it, and it rips families apart, creates sentiment against others, and has lasting effects.

• Family feuds should not continue
• Mother holds grudges against the Felix family. She keeps on bringing this up throughout the play and it irritates her son and possibly others. Bride could have picked up on these feelings and been a contributing factor in her decision to run away.

• Control in a certain amount is a good thing (?)
• Mother tells Bridegroom to have control over Bride and that will lead to a lasting marriage. But Leonardo has too much control over his wife, and that is shown to be a bad marriage. If there is some perfect balance, it is unclear what it would be.
• Honestly, I am not entirely confident that Lorca was trying to get this message across in Blood Wedding. 

Tragedy Journal #8

Journal #8: How does the set change between acts and what effect does the set have on the atmosphere? 


The stage starts off being yellow. Lorca chose to pick a solid color, and not include a pattern. This does two things. Firstly, it lets the audience or the readers use their imagination more. You could say it is more whimsical. Also, having a yellow backdrop highlights the characters more. The bright yellow color may lead the audience to think that the first scene is in daytime, which is in stark contrast to the second scene. At the start of act two, the play is at Bride's house, the door is visible and it is nighttime. Not only is the time of day different, but the background is different too. The scene is filled with common objects that are recognizable. The atmosphere is more like reality than before. This may add to thematic elements that Lorca creates throughout the play indicating the difference between misconceptions and what is actually true. Act three opens to a forest at night with great moist tree trunks visible. This creates a murky atmosphere. The description of the set reminds me of a swamp in movies where there is an alligator under the mud waiting to attack an innocent creature baby or something of that nature. Lorca may have the set like this to highlight the conflict that has been rising. The atmosphere also seems to be foggy and unclear. This uncertainty may lead Bride to second guess her rushed action of running away. 

Tragedy Journal #7

There are a variety of youth in the second act. Why? How does Lorca use the youth to affect the themes of the play?


Lorca may have used the youth in such a great manner for multiple reasons. Firstly, Lorca's character Mother throughout Blood Wedding has made references about past events where her family and the Felix family have had a quarrel. By having youth appear in the novel, although they are not from one particular family, continues the generational elements that Lorca has established. Seeing as the feud went on in the current generation and continued to worsen, Lorca is saying that family feuds are not good. For society as a whole, he could be expressing that people need to move on and forgive others if they harm another person in some way. Holding grudges won't solve any of the problems.


Also, the youth appear in scenes that surround the wedding. Bride and Bridegroom are looked upon as good examples, and the youth are there to learn from them. However, Bride in reality is not a good example as the society dictates, because her actions to run off were looked down upon by the others, and it resulted in great amounts of unhappiness. Lorca demonstrates that just because a society deems something or someone a good example, that it is not always wise to follow it. This reveals that questioning society can lead prove to be beneficial.

Tragedy Journal #6

Which characters appear to be miserable int he play and why?  When and how do the characters express their misery? What do the characters desire and what stops them from going after what each desires? 


In Frederico Lorca's Blood Wedding, the most miserable character is Mother. There are a couple reasons as to why she is so unhappy. Firstly, past events in her life have made her gloomy. It was referenced that both her father, and at least one of her sons, but most likely more, were murdered by a member of the Felix family. Mother recalls this, holds grudges and seems to not let it go. The first scene is evident of this, as she rants on about the knife, and does not want her only son left alive to go out. Although the past events were tragic, the real reason for Mother's hopelessness is because of her inability to move on with her life. Something that is missing from all family feuds, including this one, is forgiveness. Moreover, Mother becomes increasingly depressed because of the loss of Bridegroom, her last relative. She expresses her misery at the beginning of the book in her outburst, again with Father when she sees Leonardo, but mostly at the end of the novel. Her misery is shown in the scene with Bride. The misery is expressed in almost a way of hatred, aimed toward Bride. This may be because Bride partially stopped Mother from obtaining what she truly wanted. Mother wanted Bridegroom to stay and home, and just sleep. She wanted to keep him safe so that he too would not die. One could say that the love between Bride and Bridegroom caused Bridegroom to venture out. This venturing out actually was harmful. The following events lead Bridegroom and Leonardo to kill each other.

Tragedy Journal #5

Journal #5 Examine how Lorca characterize the archetypes of the play.  Does Lorca embrace or reject the archetype?  What is the effect of the characterization? 


The primary archetype that I found in Blood Wedding was one that deals with gender roles. Lorca establishes the set standards of how women are supposed to act: to be in the house primarily, not doing physical labor, among other things. Furthermore, it is established that the women is supposed to be faithful and be there for her husband. Honestly, this is not unheard of. It was very common in Lorca's time and many other eras for women to have those responsibilities. Answering the next question is difficult, because there is evidence that could support both embracing and rejecting the established archetype. Firstly, by analyzing the information present about why Lorca rejects the archetype. Through the interactive oral, it was learned that Lorca was homosexual, something that was against the normal archetypes of the time. This was something that struggled inside of him, and one would think it would be hard to write about something that goes against many fibers of a person's being. However, there are strong points that might lead someone to believe that he embraces the archetype. The main woman character in the story goes against the societal norms by running off with another man soon after she gets married. This major plot point indicates that the societal norms are broken and rejected. Alas, in the end, it does not seem to be worth it. The repercussions for these actions show pain and sorrow. But a character who embraces the societal norms, the mother, is also unhappy. Who is more unhappy in the end? And does that indicate something as to what Lorca is trying to say?

Tragedy Journal #4

Journal #4: Choose any two symbols that emerged in this scene and discuss their significance.  While you are certainly welcome to connect that significance to the entire text, I want you to focus on the details of how they are used in these first 12 pages.  Look at the stylistic choices surrounding their use and build up to a discussion on the role they play or will play in developing theme/character/setting/tension...


Knives:
In the first scene, Lorca uses the symbol of the knife frequently. The knife is almost entirely used by the mother, who has a fear of them. The knife and the Mother are connected in my mind. The way she sees the knife is similar to how she sees other things. She only focuses on the bad aspects of the knife. When the Bridegroom has to use a knife in farming, his mother gets upset. This shows that she focuses on the painful memories associated with the knife instead of being rational. To clarify, The painful memories are because someone of the Felix family killed her husband and children. By having the knife appear so early in the story, Lorca establishes tension. This tension is between the two families, as well as emotions about the mother's son getting married. It also establishes a possible theme that violence and the knife itself cuts the community. 


Textiles:
Linens and lace and other little lovely things are associated with women. In the first scene, Mother talks about how she wants a girl, so they could embroider linens together (Lorca 7). Lorca implements this symbol as a way to highlight gender roles. Right before Mother talks about that, her son talks about how he needs to go to the field and do his work. This juxtaposition reveals what obligations were prevalent during the time period. Lorca establishes these guidelines early, so that later they can be broken. Not only does the Bride not seem to make linens, but she breaks other societal norms and runs off with another man. In the text, Lorca surrounds embroidery with being at peace. By doing this, he connects when one follows the societal norms, then a person will be happy. Again, the inverse is shown again later in the novel when the Bride does not do such and makes herself and others significantly unhappy. A thematic element has formed, but for some reason I do not know yet, I feel that Lorca disagrees with societal norms.