In Sophocles ‘ calamity, Antigone, Sophocles uses several techniques to steer the audience ‘s respond to the cardinal characters and action. Sophocles uses Antigone and Ismene ‘s duologues to put up the narrative and acquire the audiences ‘ attending. He uses support characters to do the narrative flow swimmingly. Throughout the drama, Sophocles uses different techniques such as symbolism, enunciation, imagination and foils to assist the audience focal point in on the action and cardinal characters.
In Antigone, Sophocles uses Antigone ‘s foil, who would be Ismene because every bit much as Antigone is compelling and willing, Ismene is inactive and cowardly. When Antigone asks Ismene if she wants to travel bury their brother, Ismene responds with the inquiry “ Will you defy the jurisprudence? ” ( 2 ) . Normally, when person agrees with a proposal, there is no expostulation. A inquiry normally contradicts the suggester ‘s thought. Because Ismene ‘s nature is opposite of her sister ‘s, the inquiry therefore shows the reader Ismene ‘s concerns with authorization. The technique that uses a foil to stress a character ‘s personality or ideals guides the audience to understand the characters emotions and interior ideas. When Ismene says “ I have no strength to interrupt Torahs that were made for the public good [ … ] ( 4 ) , Ismene shows her concern for Antigone while seeking to conceal cowardliness. Bing Antigone ‘s foil, she gives off the feel that she submitted to the province, so she would non even bury her ain brother. Sophocles uses this foil to farther stress Antigone ‘s strength. Sophocles uses Antigone ‘s strength subsequently on so when Ismene comes to take her portion in the penalty, it makes Antigone look even braver. The usage of foils gives the audience a better apprehension of each character and how each character will impact the drama.
Another technique that Sophocles uses in the calamity is symbolism. When the lookout explains what happened when he found Antigone he says “ I have seen a female parent bird come back to a stripped nest, heard her shouting bitterly a broken note or two for the immature 1s stolen [ … ] ” ( 15 ) the female parent bird symbolizes Antigone as a protective figure. A mother bird normally takes attention of her immature and the immature that is being depicted in that statement is her dead brother. The same manner that Antigone takes attention of her dead brother is the same manner the lookout pictures a female parent bird shouting for her lost immature. Another usage of symbolism in the calamity is when Creon abuses Teiresias for vaticinating for gold. Creon says “ No, Teiresias, if your birds — if the great bird of Joves of God himself should transport him stinking spot by spot to heaven, I would non give [ … ] ( 36 ) . When he refers to the bird of Joves to Teiresias, this symbolizes that Teiresias is the will of the Gods. Zeus ‘ marks are the lightning bolt and bird of Joves. In the Odyssey, before Odysseus reveals himself and murder all of the suers, there was a lightning work stoppage and an bird of Jove. Those were all portion of the prognostication that the dead Teiresias had given to Odysseus. Whenever there are the marks of Zeus, it is the mark of his presence or command. Such symbols play an of import portion in steering the audience ‘s attending and responses because it gives the audience a better position of the drama.
Sophocles ‘ enunciation besides gives the audience the counsel to the cardinal characters. When Creon says, “ The State is the King! “ ( 25 ) , this pick of words show Creon ‘s power maltreatment and besides use theanthropism to give the audience a acquaintance. Sophocles uses these words to show the lunacy that Creon fumes out with his choler towards his boy. By giving the province a human-like quality of being a swayer, he tries to do himself seem lupus erythematosuss. Diction, along with it, has tone. When Creon uses those words, he is besides giving an indicant of his power maltreatment to his audience and that he is outraged by the rebelliousness of Antigone. Creon says, “ You excessively, Ismene, serpent in my ordered house, sucking my blood stealthily [ … ] ( 18 ) comparing Ismene to a serpent. He used a serpent because they are normally hidden off someplace until they see the opportunity to strike you. In “ The Epic of Gilgamesh ” , when Gilgamesh eventually acquires the flower to give drawn-out life, a serpent from a lake ambuscades him and takes the flower. Snakes, being inhuman excessively, Creon besides suggest to the audience that Ismene is evil and in a manner something that could be potentially unsafe later in the hereafter. With the pick of words, Sophocles is able to direct the audience ‘s attending to the chief characters and the action.
Sophocles usage of imagination helps the audience visualize the scenes in the calamity. When the Chorus enters it duologue, they say “ He was thrown back, and as he turned, great Thebes- – No stamp victim for his noisy power- Rose like a firedrake behind him, shouting war ” ( 6 ) painting the image of a firedrake. A firedrake being known as a fierce animal gives the audience the feeling that Polyneices struck back with such power. With this imagination, Sophocles gives the audience a comparing with his brother. His brother, Eteocles fights a firedrake ( Polyneices ) , which besides goes under the class of intension. By murdering the firedrake, he could salvage the metropolis, like the knights in reflecting armour. In the terminal he was defeated and therefore was defeated by the firedrake. Another usage of imagination that Sophocles uses in the calamity uses the grave that Antigone gets imprisoned in. Antigone says, “ O grave, vaulted bride-bed in ageless stone, shortly I shall be with my ain once more where Persephone welcomes the thin shades underground: and I shall see my male parent once more, and you, mother, and dearest Polyneices — dearest so to me, since it was my manus that washed him clean and poured the ritual vino: And my wages is decease before my clip! [ … ] ” ( 32 ) , so she has submitted herself to decease. This imagination gives the audience the feeling that she is happier to decease and see her household. By vacating herself to decease, she allows Ismene to populate and she has control over some destiny. Subsequently, by taking her ain life, the image it creats for the audience shows that she merely made her ultimate destiny come faster.
By utilizing imagination, foils, symbolism and enunciation, Sophocles was able to catch rhe audience ‘s attending and concentrate it on the cardinal characters and action. With symbolism and imagination, he paints the audience a image and connects those scenes to his audience. With enunciation, he creates tone and temper which makes the narrative more dramatic and cliff-hanging. And with foils, he gives the other characters ‘ strengths a encouragement, while doing the foils ‘ failing even more evident. By utilizing these techniques, Sophocles grabs the audience ‘s attending and ushers it towards the cardinal characters and action.
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A Http: //thetalon.org/ANTIGONE.pdf. Trans. Dudley Fitts. N.p. ,
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