Sunday, March 22, 2020

Antigone On Women Essays - Operas, Antigone, Civil Disobedience

Antigone On Women Although ancient Greece was a male-dominate society, Sophocles' Antigone, portrays women as being strong and capable of making wise decisions. In this famous tragedy, Sophocles uses the characters Ismene and Antigone to show the different characteristics and roles that woman are typical of interpreting. Traditionally women are characterized as weak and subordinate and Ismene is portrayed in this way. Through the character of Antigone, women finally get to present realistic viewpoints about their character. The sexist stereotypes presented in this tragedy address many perspectives of men at this time. Creon the arrogant and tyrant leader is, the very character that exemplifies this viewpoint. Antigone's spirit is filled with bravery, passion and fury; which allow her to symbolize the very essence of women. She is strong enough to do what her conscious tells her despite the laws of the land. Many examples in the play prove that Antigone's character is very capable of making her own decisions in the name of justice. First, Antigone opposes Creon's law and buries her slain brother; because in her mind it was immoral not to. She does this because she is compassionate and loves her brother very much. Creon, however, believes that his laws must be upheld and would do anything to prevent any type rebelling. He is even more infuriated when he learns that a woman has broken his laws. He tries to show Antigone who's in charge by sentencing her to a life of imprisonment. Secondly, Antigone shows how determined she is by accepting her consequences with pride. She does not try to hide that she is responsible for breaking Creon's laws, moreover, she takes all the credit. All the while she maintains her strength because she truly believes in her actions. These sorts of actions ultimately prove that Antigone is courageous and willing to stand up to men, which was completely against the norm at this time. Her spirit refuses to submit to the role of a helpless woman like her sister Ismene's character does. Ismene is a coward and refuses to help her sister because she feared men. This fear propels her to turn her head to the disrespect that is been shown to her brother, Polyneices. Her character is a close representation of the viewpoints of the male gender regarding women. She is subordinate and weak-willed. She refuses to stand up to Creon even though in her heart she knows that his laws are morally wrong. This type of demeanor in famous works of art is very common for women to behave like, according to the position of men. Ismene proclaims, "We are only women, we cannot fight with men, Antigone!" (Sophocles, pg.187) Proving that she is unwilling to do the right thing if it means standing up to a man. Another example of how spineless Ismene is portrayed is when she tries to take credit for burying her brother with Antigone. She is so scared that she will be left all alone with out Antigone that she is willing to die with her. Creon demonstrates his lack of respect for women again when he tries to accuse Ismene of aiding Antigone. Then when he realizes she had no part in the crime does he describes her as, "....she never had a mind at all." (Sophocles, pg.208) The play is also filled with instances of a sexist male viewpoint. Creon is the leader of the Theben throne a position he highly regards. He believes that he has a divine rule and therefor his laws are just and fair. He rules the kingdom with an iron fist and demonstrates his prejudices towards women throughout the play. First, Creon is so upset that his laws are broken by Antigone that tries to hurt her as much as possible. He tries to act as prideful as possible, he states, "No woman shall seduce us. If we must lose, Let's lose to a man, at least. Is a woman stronger than we?" (Sophocles,pg.212) This is proof that Creon does not see women as equal to the authority of men. He feels that women have no common sense and, therefor, must be punished for their irrationality. He eventually realizes that he has offended the Gods with his actions as ruler of Thebes. It is not until his own wife kills herself because of his tyranny against humanity does he realize his mistakes. This of course is way too late to redeem his lost loved ones or take back his contempt toward women. The Greek tragedy Antigone by Sophocles is

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Free Play essays

Free Play essays The title of the second section in the book Free Play appropriately called The Work. The word work has several meanings, for most it is some act of labor or some skill they perform for money. To others work could be an artistic term, a final product of creativity. Not only could a work be a painting or a sketch but it could also be a score or in this case a dance, choreographed or not. In everyday life one always hears practice makes perfect. Lately in Improvisational Structures class we have been practicing improvs for Winterdance. However in this case we are just getting used to structures and we are also still growing closer as a group. According to Free Play, Competence that loses a sense of its roots in the playful spirit becomes ensconced in rigid forms of professionalism. There have been several improvs when the group became too serious or too focused on making the improv look good. Usually as a group we feel different after those improvs and realize that we need to let our playful side show through again. Even though there are structures for the improvs, the structures changes every time and are not dead set. That is the beauty of improvisations there is no dead set path that one must follow. Structures ignites spontaneity. If someone is feeling flowing and soft, not everyone has to feel that way. The next chapter of the book The Power of Limits explains how there are different types of limits, personal limits, limits from your body, limits from the group. As in the case of the body, many rules and limits are God-given in that they are inherent not in styles or social conventions but in the art medium itself: the physics of sound, of color, of gravity and movement. Limits can grow and expand as one pushes them. For instance my bodys limit has increased tremendously from the beginning of the semester. Anothe ...