Free «The Chorus of Antigone» Essay Sample

The Chorus ofAntigoneis composed of an assemblage of aged Theban men probably for the reason that nearly every one of the youthful ages have presently perished in battle. Moreover, they somehow characterize the extremely entrenched patriarchal or rather the male subjugated civilization that Antigone disregards.The Chorus inAntigone, as seen throughout the play, at times straightforwardly affects the act of the entire play. Although they initially appear to be absolutely on the sideline of their new-fangled king Creon, they encourage him to be further modest. The illustration is when their beseech Creon not to decree Ismene to death alongside her sister. Tiresias, a favorite of the gods, the blind soothsayer, comes to Creon. Not only people are dissatisfied with the royal massacre; even and the gods are angry: the fire does not want to burn on the altar; prophetic birds do not want to give a sign. The king listens to the advice of a sage, but his repentance came too late. Messenger brings news that Antigone, her fiancé Prince and his mother are not alive.

  •  

    0

    Preparing Orders

  •  

    0

    Active Writers

  •  

    0%

    Positive Feedback

  •  

    0

    Support Agents

 

?
Type of service ?
Type of assignment ?
Number of pages ?
-
+
Academic level ?
Timeframes ?
Spacing ?
Currency ?
  • Total price
Continue to order
 

In the play Antigone, the Chorus acts as a tool to maintain the conversation with the spectators, to affect and persuade their thoughts, and to remark on the act. Also the Chorus lays down the tone and mood of the specific incident of the play.The other aim of the Chorus is to give the story back, as well as connect the whole play to additional myths. Sophocles employs the Chorus to expand on the play's fundamental themes too. InAntigoneplay, choral odes are connected with mainly the whole history of the mankind conquests, the perils of conceit, and the dangers of love.

The first Chorus in the play is seen during the ‘parados’ (entry song) where it extensively describes the dreadful clash that moments ago been fought. Thus Sophocles uses ‘parados’ to present back story (Sophocles, 100-160). In general, the‘parados’Chorus inthe play shows a blissful celebration of conquest. But ironically Antigone was in the wake of defying the kingdom internally even though Thebes had a moment ago overpowered an external adversary. Thus the new order symbolized by King Creon will immediately be put into challenges by the internal enemy.

The next Chorus commonly known as Ode to Man brings out the outstanding achievements of man. These accomplishments in Greek are termed as ‘deinon’ but in the deep scrutiny of the word reveals double sense which on one side means terrible whereas on the other it means wonderful. For instance the chorus presents a list of the achievements of humanity which include domesticating the earth, building ships to triumph over the seas, and also bending animals to his willpower (Sophocles, 343-353). This forms a major conflict which emanates from the fact that the humankind is claiming its willpower above nature. The Chorus brings out two fronts where the king symbolizes the man-made civilization whereas Antigone stands for the primeval will of the deities or rather nature. At the end of the play all the king’s family members commit suicide and this clearly reveals how nature on its own takes on compensation for Creon’s disrespect.

The Chorus in most cases tries to voice the editorial opinions of the author rather than those men in the street. For instance, a certain verse states or rather asks “What do you make of that? The lady has fled before she could say a word, good or bad” (Sophocles, 1250-1251). This indicates that it’s the author’s views which are in play in the entire Chorus writings. Without the Chorus the play would actually be dull and monotonous; and definitely the spectators would not wholly understand its deep meaning. They would not have a clear picture about the play which includes tone and mood variations through the whole action. In fact, without the Chorus the play may possibly not have existed as these chorus singers provide extremely important features to the play’s structure. Definitely without them the image of the king would actually have transformed thus the play would entirely have been greatly extra vague alike the correlation of king Creon's tribulations to ours. With the assistance of the Chorus the king sees the god’s power thus follows it.

   

What Our Customers Say

Now Accepting Apple Pay!
Click here to chat with us