NAME: EMMANUEL ALICE LAMBAJO

COURSE: STUDIES IN DRAMA

QUESTION: ATTEMPT A DRAMATIC ANALYSIS OF THE PLAY ANTIGONE BY JEAN ANOUILH

Dramatic analysis is the process of identifying the elements of the structure of a dramatic work such as a play, or film. There are six elements used when analyzing a drama which includes: exposition, inciting incidence, rising action, climax, falling action and the resolution.

The exposition provides the background information needed to properly understand the story, such as the problem in the beginning of the story. It introduces the characters and the basic conflict in a play.
Inciting incidence is an incidence which comes after the introduction of the characters and the basic conflicts.
The rising action is when the basic internal conflict is complicated being the introduction of related secondary conflicts including various obstacles that frustrate the protagonist attempt to reach his goal.
Climax, also referred to as turning point marks a change for the better or the worse in the protagonist affairs.
Falling action therefore, is a moment of reversal after the climax. The conflict between the protagonists unravels with the protagonist winning or losing against the antagonist.
Denouement, resolution or catastrophe comprises the event between the falling action and the actual ending scene of the drama. It serves as a conclusion of the story where the conflicts are resolved.
Jean Anouilh’s Antigone is an adaptation of Sophocles’ tragic play of the same title. Written in 1942, when Nazi forces occupied France, the story revolves around the conflict between the idealist Antigone and her rigid uncle, Creon, over the proper burial of Antigone’s brother, Polynices. The play was also interpreted to represent the struggle of the French Resistance movement against the forces of the Vichy government during the height of Nazi occupation. At the play opens, the chorus offers brief introductions to the play’s main characters”well, we are here. This people are about to act to you the story of Antigone”: the beautiful Ismene; her sister Antigone; Antigone’s lover and cousin Haemon; and Ismene’s uncle and Haemon’s father, Creon. The chorus also chronicles the fight between Antigone’s brothers, Eteocles and Polynices a momentous battle that occurred before the play’s opening over control of the region of Thebes. After the brothers killed each other, Creon assumed control of the throne. To restore order, he has ordered a grand funeral for one brother, Eteocles. Considered a treasonous rebel for challenging his brother’s rule, Polynices is left to rot as a warning to other rebels.
As an exposition, Jean Anouilh introduces Antigone asking Ismene to help her bury their brother (Polinices) but out of fear, Ismene tries to convince her determined sister to give up her quest to bury their brother properly as the penalty of violating Creon’s edict will be death. She says “we cannot do it, Creon will have us put to death” but Antigone did not listen to her. Antigone believes that no law or decree will stop her from burying her brother.
The inciting incidence came after the conflict between Antigone and her sister on the issue of burying their brother. After her sister’s refusal to go bury their brother, Antigone decided to do it alone. She tries to bury the brother without considering the decree of her uncle, the king. Creon at this point was informed by one of his guards that someone attempted to bury Polinices’ corpse. No one saw who made the attempt but the only evidence is a child’s shovel that was left behind. The guard says “sir, the body! Somebody had been there and buried it”. This attempt by Antigone made the king, Creon to give an order to his guards to exhume the corpse and to keep the secret on pain and death. Creon says “Right. Listen, now. You will continue on duty”. “You will uncover the body. If another attempt is made to bury it, I shall expect you to make an arrest and bring the person straight to me”.
The rising action is viewed when Antigone made another attempt to bury her brother. After burying her brother in broad daylight, Antigone is caught and dragged before Creon. Now tension and suspense is built in the minds of the audience.
The dramatic devices used by Anouilh leading up to the arrest of Antigone are extremely effective and leave the audience anticipating Antigone’s next move.
At this time in the play, the antagonist (Antigone) and the protagonist (Creon) are well established and the play begins to get more complicated. Antigone says “They are hurting me. Tell them to take their dirty hands off me”.
The climax: At this point, there was greater tension. The protagonist and the antagonist have now met. Creon is seen trying to convince Antigone to hide the crime of burying her brother Polynices. He says “Very well. Now listen to me. You will go straight to your room. When you get there, you will get to bed. You will say that you are not well and that you have not been out since yesterday”. And she replies “Uncle Creon, you are going to a lot of trouble for no good reason. You must know that I will do it all over again tonight”. The tension and power struggle between Creon and Antigone becomes more dramatic. This is the most drawn out and influencing part and is where the plot character development got more interesting. Creon resorts to telling Antigone the truth about her brothers asking her if she realizes what she would really be dying for. At this point in the play, Creon is so desperate; he knows that he is ‘cast as the villain’ in the story but recounts the scandal of her brothers in an attempt to explain his actions in the hope of redeeming himself in front of Antigone. He says “Why did you try to bury your brother?” and her reply “I owed it to him”. More importantly, it is also the heart and climax of the tragedy as it is where Antigone has the chance to choose life over death but still condemns herself to die.
The fallen Action: This brings to light that happened as a result of Antigone’s stubbornness. Antigone committed suicide by hanging herself followed by Haimon and also his mother, the queen of Thebe.
The Resolution: This brings the play to an end as the problems have been solved with the dead of the antagonist. Creon is seen being led by the page broken and devastated by what his own hands have brought to him. The Chorus suggests that the gods punish the proud and yet punishment brings wisdom. At the end, she says “And there we are. It is quite true that if not for Antigone they would have been at peace. But that is over now”

The crisis in Antigone occurs when Antigone disobeys Creon's edict. The conflict begins with Antigone stealing out in the misty morning to perform the ritual of sprinkling mud on the corpse of her brother, Polynices. Antigone is captured by the guards and brought in to face Creon. The conflict mounts in the dialogue that takes place between Creon and Antigone, uncle and niece. In this verbal duel, Antigone refuses to see Creon's point of view and chooses death over the compromise of her ideals. In the battle of the individual's will against the law of the state, Antigone would rather be killed than surrender her freedom.
The play climaxes in a series of tragic deaths triggered by Antigone's suicide in the Cave of Hades, outside the southeast gate of Thebes. Haemon fails to convince his father, Creon, not to "immure" Antigone (bury her alive), the penalty for her offense. Haemon discovers her dead body in the cave after she has hanged herself. When Creon arrives at the cave, Haemon attacks him. Creon is wounded, but Haemon kills himself. Eurydice, the queen, upon hearing of her son's death, calmly slits her throat to end her life. The horror of multiple deaths in Creon's family makes him a tragic figure in the end.
The tragedy closes after the series of deaths. They are all the result of Antigone's exercise of free will. Antigone's rebellion and exercise of individual liberty merit praise, not in a religious context, but in the twentieth-century political framework of Western Europe's revolt against despotism. The horror of multiple deaths in Creon's family makes him a tragic figure in the end

REFERENCE: Jean Anouilh: Antigone