Integrity in Jean Anouilh’s Antigone
The distinctions between young and old, naïve and wise are very clear. There is a fiery passion for life often embedded in the young, and a sense of bittersweet reflection set in the aged. The age gap between the two is often a cause for conflict. The young want to hurry up and live only to eventually die; the old want to slow down their rate of living and postpone death. With such divergent circumstances, conflicts are almost impossible to avoid. The question of how one can grow old while keeping youthful idealism and integrity seems to be the source of most conflicts. Jean Anouilh, in his version of the Greek classic play Antigone, firmly captures and reflects the disparity between old and young through the use of the characters of Antigone and Creon.
The play opens, after the introduction by Chorus, with Antigone rushing in from a night that the audience can take only to be a night of living fully. She describes her nocturnal adventures with detail, proclaiming excitedly that she had been out enjoying the world as it lay untouched before morning. "The whole world was breathless, waiting," she tells the Nurse (7). She evades the questions put to her by the Nurse, and it becomes apparent to the audience that she has been out doing something she should not have been. This in itself immediately presents Antigone as a girl who wants to live at all costs. It seems that living, to her, means breaking rules and seeking out danger. When Antigone's sister Ismene enters the play, the audience is given the explanation for Antigone's breathless nighttime escapades. The Nurse exits, allowing the girls to talk, and Ismene begins to speak of the possibility of a death sentence being issued for the two of them.
Creon, the king and their uncle, issued an edict to the people of Thebes that the rebel Polynices, brother to Ismene and Antigone, should not be buried on pain of death. Antigone explains in what seems to be a rational tone that she and Ismene are bound, as by duty, to bury Polynices and face the execution. She makes it clear to Ismene that there are no two ways about it. "That's the way it is. What do you think we can do to change it?" she says (11). She also tells Ismene that she is not eager to die, but it seems to the audience otherwise throughout the progression of the play.
[ANTIGONE] That must be your excuse, I suppose. But as for me,/I will bury the brother I love. [ISMENE] Antigone, I am so afraid for you! [ANTIGONE] You need not be: You have yourself to consider, after all.” (Sophocles, Prologue, Lines 62-69) Though morally Ismene completely agrees with Antigone, her willpower gives an impression more on the lower side than Antigone’s. Even if like her sister, she values divine laws more than the state laws, Ismene contrasts with Antigone on the courage to commit such an act of burial behind the backs of Thebes’ royal court. Ismene’s silence breaks when she exclaimed in questioning her sister, “[ISMENE] Do you refuse me, Antigone? I want to die with you:/ I too have a duty that I must discharge to the dead. [ANTIGONE] You shall not lessen my death by sharing it. [ISMENE] What do I care for life when you are dead? [ANTIGONE] Ask Creon. You’re always hanging on his opinions.” (Sophocles, Prologue, Lines 437-441) Antigone’s pride caused her to become stubborn and not listen to any other opinion about the
For centuries hypnosis has been around, however many people till this day do not know much about it. Most still believe hypnotist carry around big clocks using them to swing back and forth in someone’s face, controlling their every action. As the one being hypnotized remains unaware as they proceed to act like a chicken with their head cut off. But for the most part, the truth is most hypnotists can be your average doctor, therapist, dentist, psychiatrists, and friend. It doesn’t take much to hypnosis someone as long as a deep state of relaxation is created, where the unconscious mind is “listening” and the conscious mind is “resting”. The meaning of “conscious and unconscious are really just shorthand terms to describe the general characteristics of the human mind. The “conscious mind” is the bit where we tend to “live” – the bit you might think as “you”. If there’s a little voice reading these words out loud in your head, that’s the conscious mind talking. The unconscious mind is everything else” ("About hypnosis"). In fact some doctors don’t use the word trance when describing the relaxed state because the person is very aware in their so-called unconscious mind. They feel that the word trance implies a different mind level or mental lapse and sends out the wrong idea to people who don’t know the subject.
In Sophocles' most famous Theban play consisting of two parts, "Oedipus the King" and "Antigone", both parts are necessary in understanding some of the things that happened around them, and what type of man had raised Antigone. She is the main character in the play of “Antigone”.
Montgomery, G. H., Boybierg, D. H., Schnur, J. B., David, D., Weltz, A., & Schechter, C. R. (2007). A Randomized Clinical Trial of a Brief Hypnosis Intervention Control Side Effects in Breast Surgery Patients. Natl Cancer Inst, 99, 1304-1312.
Hypnosis has many practical uses, and these days it is becoming increasingly popular as a method of behavior modification. The Internet contains many advertisements for self-help programs that use hypnosis to reduce stress, quit smoking, or lose weight. In the area of hypnosis and weight loss, there are many web sites for both products and services for sale that promise to help anyone lose weight. Hypnosis uses suggestions to change a person's behavior and eating habits in order to facilitate weight loss. What are the expected outcomes? There are many different outcomes expected from this type of hypnotic treatment. Most vendors of hypnosis specify that it's purpose is not only lose weight but to also maintain that ideal weight. Some companies also promise that hypnosis will stop cravings for unhealthy foods, such as foods high in salt or fat and also fried foods. http://www.clauser.com/announce3.html Through hypnotic suggestion, the person will learn how to eat healthy and may also become physically fit. Basically, the person becomes subconsciously motivated to eat better food and to become physically active. http://www.biocentrix.com/hypnosis/wghtplan.htm How Does Hypnosis work? There are many different forms of hypnosis used to control weight. A very popular method is the use of hypnotizing tapes. DreamLab, a web site selling these tapes, describes the procedure, and advises customers to start the tape when they go to bed. They claim that the tape contains both music and instructions that "lull you into the right mood." http://www.dream-lab.com/noweight.html While a person is in this mood, they are open to changes in their attitudes about eating habits and exercise through the suggestion of dream i...
In Antigone, death is a central theme that is consistently present throughout the entire play. In this particular passage, the chorus proclaims that man’s access to resources will allow him to continue to exist; however, as long as man exists, so will death – a fate that no amount of resources can help anyone escape. In this essay, I will explore the correlation and significance of this passage, and more specifically, the correlation and relation to death, with particular characters of the play. These particular characters each have a different relation and perspective of death, however, as the story progresses, I will discuss why their relation, perspective and the way that which they acknowledge death itself evolves and changes so drastically.
Hypnotic phenomenon is one of the most fascinating enigmas of the human psyche. All throughout history ancient peoples and shamans have induced trance-like hypnotic states in rituals and religious ceremonies. Modern hypnotism was first associated with an Austrian physician named Franz Anton Mesmer in the 18th century. He used magnets and other hypnotic techniques to treat patients. The medical community remained largely skeptical of Mesmer’s techniques and hypnotism was soon discredited as fraudulent.
Antigone did the right thing by defileing Creon's strict orders on burying Polynices because the unalterable laws of the gods and our morals are higher than the blasphemous laws of man. Creon gave strict orders not to bury Polynices because he lead a rebellion, which turned to rout, in Thebes against Creon, their omnipotent king. Antigone could not bare to watch her brother become consumed by vultures' talons and dogs. Creon finds out that somebody buried Polynices' body and sent people out to get the person who preformed the burial. Antigone is guilty and although she is to be wed to Creon's son, Haemon. He sentences her to be put in a cave with food and water and let the gods decide what to do with her. He was warned by a blind profit not to do this, but he chooses to anyway, leaving him with a dead son, a dead wife, and self-imposed exile.
In the awe-inspiring play of Antigone, Sophocles introduces two remarkable characters, Antigone and Creon. A conflict between these two obstinate characters leads to fatal consequences for themselves and their kindred. The firm stances of Creon and Antigone stem from two great imperatives: his loyalty to the state and her dedication to her family, her religion but most of all her conscience. The identity of the tragic hero of this play is still heavily debated. This tragedy could have been prevented if it had not been for Creon's pitiful mistakes.
In the Antigone, unlike the Oedipus Tyrannus, paradoxically, the hero who is left in agony at the end of the play is not the title role. Instead King Creon, the newly appointed and tyrannical ruler, is left all alone in his empty palace with his wife's corpse in his hands, having just seen the suicide of his son. However, despite this pitiable fate for the character, his actions and behavior earlier in the play leave the final scene evoking more satisfaction than pity at his torment. The way the martyr Antigone went against the King and the city of Thebes was not entirely honorable or without ulterior motives of fulfilling pious concerns but it is difficult to lose sight of the fact that this passionate and pious young woman was condemned to living imprisonment.
In Sophocles' Greek tragedy, Antigone, two characters undergo character changes. During the play the audience sees these two characters' attitudes change from close-minded to open-minded. It is their close-minded, stubborn attitudes, which lead to their decline in the play, and ultimately to a series of deaths. In the beginning Antigone is a close minded character who later becomes open minded. After the death of her brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes. He decides that Eteocles will receive a funeral with military honors because he fought for his country. However, Polyneices, who broke his exile to " spill the blood of his father and sell his own people into slavery", will have no burial. Antigone disagrees with Creon's unjust actions and says, " Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way." She vows to bury her brother so that his soul may gain the peace of the underworld. Antigone is torn between the law placed against burying her brother and her own thoughts of doing what she feels should be done for her family. Her intent is simply to give her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial so that she will follow "the laws of the gods." Antigone knows that she is in danger of being killed for her actions and she says, "I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down with him in death, and I shall be as dear to him as he to me." Her own laws, or morals, drive her to break Creon's law placed against Polyneices burial. Even after she realizes that she will have to bury Polyneices without the help of her sister, Ismene, she says: Go away, Ismene: I shall be hating you soon, and the dead will too, For your words are hateful. Leave me my foolish plan: I am not afraid of the danger; if it means death, It will not be the worst of deaths-death without honor. Here Ismene is trying to reason with Antigone by saying that she cannot disobey the law because of the consequences. Antigone is close-minded when she immediately tells her to go away and refuses to listen to her. Later in the play, Antigone is sorrowful for her actions and the consequences yet she is not regretful for her crime. She says her crime is just, yet she does regret being forced to commit it.
Antigone’s firm belief that her brother Polyneices should have a proper burial is established by her conviction in that the law of the gods is above all else. This law proclaims that all men be mourned and honored by family and friends through means of a suitable burial. Antigone’s need to put honor upon Polyneices’ soul is so grand that she ignores the advice of everyone around her, including her sister Ismene, who tries to pull her away from performing this criminal act because it will disobey the law set by King Creon, and lead to her demise. However, Antigone does not care about the repercussions because even though “[s...
Although Science and Pseudoscience are evidently two completely different topics, what is considered to be classified as a Science or Pseudoscience is a controversy topic that’s still being debated today. While science builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the world through the scientific method, pseudoscience is a claim, belief or practice which is presented as science, but lacks support of evidence and cannot be reliably tested. Hypnosis is one topic several psychologists and those in the field of science are seemingly still debating today, in result to its several different uses. Although hypnosis is shown to work when dealing with certain phenomena’s like stress, there are several uses it is considered to be very ineffective and simply not a science.
Danielle wakes up in the morning and doesn’t want to get out of bed. She is wide awake but didn’t get much sleep; and has no motivation to start her day. Reluctantly she gets up, showers, and gets ready for work. She skips breakfast as she has no appetite and heads into work. On the way to her job she has trouble concentrating on her driving; instead she contemplates how useless she feels at work and how helpless she is to change the situation. Once at work she can’t remember what meetings she needed to attend, and forgets about an important appointment with the general manager. To most, this sounds like a bad day. But to her this is just the norm of her everyday life. Danielle is displaying many of the symptoms associated with clinical depression. She is diagnosed with the mental illness and prescribed pharmaceuticals, but when she does remember to take her medicine it seems to cause more problems than it fixes with the multitude of side effects. She wants a different solution or approach to manage her problem. Here is where hypnosis may come into play as a viable option.
The history of hypnosis is full of contradiction. One can compare it to that of breathing; as hypnosis, breathing is an intrinsic and universal trait, shared and experienced by all human beings since the dawn of time, but it has been only decades that man has come to study and appreciate its immense importance (Kihlstorm 1). Hence, continuingly preserving its relevance to breathing, "[h]ypnosis itself hasn't changed for millennia, but our understanding of it and our ability to control it has changed quite profoundly. The history of hypnosis, then, is really the history of this change in perception"(Kihlstorm 1). It has always been present, while it is a naturally occurring state of your body, yet it is has just recently been dissected and experimented upon to truly comprehend its proper purpose and power. "Ancient Chinese, Hindu, and Egyptian texts all mention healing procedures that are hypnotic inductions by any other name"(Walkin 4), therefore the roots of hypnosis have come a long ways. During these times, the practice was preformed, yet with no scientific explanation, consequently resulting in the rumor of demonic, or spiritual work. After modernization and industrialization began to replace and extinguish all non- proven techniques, including hypnosis, hypnosis took several decades until its next prosperous upspring. The first application of hypnosis on the medical field can be credited to the famous Franz Mesmer as his work "can be seen as both the last flourish of 'occult' hypnosis and the first flourish of the 'scientific' view point. Mesmer was the first to propose a rational basis for the effects of hypnosis" (Walkin 16). Mesmer allowed hypnosis to flourish once again, but in order to be accepted amongst the new 'enlig...