Week Two
Antigone, Lecture Three
Antigone as an archetype of Doing
Versions of Antigone: Cluster of Antigones
focused
on the Nazi period
Jean Anouilh
(1910-1987) Antigone written 1942/premiere 1944
in Nazi-occupied
Elisabeth Langgässer (1899-1950) “The Loyal Antigone” 1947
Rolf Hochhuth (1931- )
“Berlin Antigone” 1963 (set in 1945)
Brecht’s
adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone
written 1945/premiere 1948 in
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Bertolt
Brecht 1898-1956
http://img.stern.de/_content/56/75/567524/Brecht_250.jpg
Buried Bertolt Brecht: http://www.bertolt.com/copyright/bertolt_brecht_grave.jpg
Brecht’s
Theater: Epic Theater Alienation Effect
What did Brecht
DO with the Antigone material?
---adapted to
historical moment and the context of
Bernd Eichinger/Oliver Hirschbiegel:
The Downfall 2004
Bruno Ganz plays Hitler April 1945
Use of Antigone to address a historical catastrophe: What is
Brecht’s Antigone doing?
Significant
differences between Brecht’s story in the “Antigone
Legend” and Sophocles play:
---Theban
war of aggression against
----Polyneikes killed as a deserter
----Argos/Argives win the war
Brecht revises Antigone to show what Hitler and the men who followed him did
Polyneikes
as “showpiece,” symbol of Kreon’s power and authority
Antigone’s
act: “To set an example” (29)
Antigone’s flaws:
“ate of the bread that was baked by slaves” (49) and did
nothing until her own were affected.
class
oppression was not a factor in Sophocles
shows
imperfect resistance in Brecht’s version because she lacks solidarity with all
who suffer
Kreon’s flaws:
Like Antigone, he does not do the right thing until his own are
affected
Declares and
celebrates victory while the battle continues
Drunk
with power
Sophocles:
These blows will teach us wisdom
Brecht: These
blows will not teach the leaders wisdom
“And rotten and
gruesome, unteachable he staggers” (9, emphasis mine)
But, the elders
still follow their leader.
Prologue:
(April 1945)
“If you see,
you’ll be seen”
What is she doing
with the knife?
----------------------------------------------------------
What on
earth/in earth/under earth is Erwin Kowalke doing all around
April 16, 1945:
“A 908,000-strong Red Army force
supported by 3,100 tanks opened its assault on
"As unfathomable as it may seem now, the German soldiers truly
believed they would still win the war and were highly motivated to defend their
folk, the fatherland and Fuehrer," said Gerd-Ulrich
Hermann, head of the Seelow memorial museum.
"They knew they were the last line of defense before
From: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050405/wl_nm/germany_graves_dc_1)
Kowalke’s
Antigone index
[vs. Zidane]
http://www.anthroprof.org/documents/docs119/fallen.pdf
Does the
archetype re-cast or re-shape or re-order the circumstances?
----------------------------------------------------
Kleist’s
Compliant/Defiant Horse Dealer
Heinrich von Kleist 1777-1811
