Journal #12- Antigone

The author creates contrast between ugly and beautiful to create tension. Antigone characterizes herself as being ugly but in the end she implies she is beautiful, like a queen. Creon also brings up Oedipus, her father, and talks about how Antigone is just like him. Oedipus is characterized as being ugly too. What him and his daughter have in common is that they take actions in the things they strongly believe in. In Oedipus' case he did all he could to find out the truth about him and his family even though it was not a happy ending for him. Creon would have not done the same thing and would have instead "asked the messenger to leave". Both of these sides have good points. Because on one hand the truth is revealed but on the other you could just go on with your life, like Creon would. I think the difference is that in the end Oedipus turn out "beautiful" through his suffering. In Antigone's case she buries her brother even though she has no doubt she will be put to death. But in her view it would be even worse for her not to burry her own brother. But she did, and not even death can take her actions away. So in the end, just like her father she is beautiful even after she must die.

Journal #11- Antigone

The chorus' voice has changed, it is not longer just stating the events but it seems like they have more feeling. The also reveal what tragedy means to them. "Tragedy is clean, it is restful, it is flawless. It has nothing to do with melodrama-with wicked villains, persecuted maidens, avengers, sudden revelations [...]" This could be why at the beginning of the play the author did not set up Creon as the villain because he does not believe that that is part of a tragedy. He presents him as a man who wants to be a ruler for his kingdom. The chorus also says, "In a tragedy, noting is in doubt and every one's destiny is known. That makes for tranquility" This is why they revealed what happens to every one in the play in the first few pages. They think that melodrama is vulgar and I'm not sure why. And in a tragedy there is no hope to escape which relates to Antigone because she knows and accepts that she is going to die and does not runaway.

Journal #10- Antigone

List of Events

• Antigone is thinking about her family and how she is going to rise up against Creon. She knows she is going to die.
• Antigone's sister Ismene is chatting with a young man, Haemon (the King's son)
• Antigone and Haemon are engaged. There was ball one night he danced with Ismene but decided to go and asked Antigone to marry him. She was not surprised and accepted. No one saw this coming.
• Haemon is expecting to marry Antigone but he won't, he will instead die sooner than he might have otherwise have done.
• Creon is sitting, lost in thought
• Before Oedipus was King and Creon was no more than the King's brother in law.
• Oedipus died and both of his sons did as well. Creon had to take over the kingdom 
• Creon does his job even though there are problems
• Eurydice is Creon's wife. She's knitting and does so for the whole play until she has to go to her room and die
• She is no help for her husband

 Anouilh structures his play so that we know the events ahead of time. One reason he could have done this would be so we already know what will happen and not focus so much on the suspense and focus more on the characters and their interactions with each other. It seems that he doesn't side with Antigone or Creon, he kind of just gives the reader both sides. He is simply stated the facts and I think that will help the reader formulate their own opinion. Also from what we learned what a tradegy is supposed to be we're not actually supposed to side with one side, but instead be able to relate to both sides. So I think this was a good set up for the play.

Topic Sentence

In Federico Garcia Lorca's, Blood Wedding, the Bride's immature dialogue towards Leonardo shows how she only cares for her own desires and how her behavior leads her to make poor decisions.

Blood Wedding #9

        Themes

• One's desires should be tamed because they can lead to the worst situation possible

• The truth will always come out

• It's better to tell the truth in the first place 

• You can't hide what your heart desires

• Money isn't everything

• Violence is not the answer

Blood Wedding #8

Journal #8: How does the set change between acts and what effect does the set have on the atmosphere? 

 

The set changes from this beautiful wedding with a lot of guests and "happiness" to a natural forest, with intensity because the Bridegroom is willing to kill for his Bride. And as readers we obviously know that she is with Leonardo. I think that by doing this dramatic change it kind of illustrates that we're never going to be able to sugar coat everything forever, and life sometimes has harsh inevitable realities. And that's how this play started, with the Bridegroom filled with illusions and the wedding, but ultimately it ended in death. And death is something that no one can escape, it is an inevitable reality and part of life. The fact that the Bride cheats on the Bridegroom is another one of those things that even though it's not good, we have to admit that it does happen and when it's done it's done.    

Blood Wedding #7

When and how does Lorca break the fourth wall (google the term)?  What is the affect of reminding the reader that the events on the stage are not real?

In this scene he starts out with the Maid singing, but what I noticed was more in the end of this scene. This is the part where the people at the wedding discover that the Bride has fled with Leonardo and everyone of course is panicking. The Bridegroom is already asking for a horse so he can search for his wife and the Mother is starting to blame this whole thing on the Bride, and basically calling her indecent. Of course, her Father tries to defend his daughter. This part is really important because now everything is out in the open and we can see the action rising as the Bridegroom burns in rage. Before anything actually happens however, Lorca has a crowd of people start to sing about the situation. Because it is such a dramatic moment I think Lorca wanted his audience to get them to think logically and realize that this is just a play, and having this sort of ending to this scene brings you back to realize it's just a scene. But it also highlights the important aspects of the scene.

Blood Wedding #6

Which characters appear to be miserable int he play and why?  When and how do the characters express their misery? What do the characters desire and what stops them from going after what each desires?

The Bride is the one who appears to be miserable in this scene. Even when she was first introduced I got the feeling that she didn't really care about her wedding, just the way she walked in (previously) seemed like she'd rather be somewhere else. In this scene she acts annoyed. She obviosly does not seem content because she throws her crown of flowers onto the floor. Also she says things "gravely", "severely" and "fiercly", which does not indicate happienss to what is going on around her. We know that she has not stopped having feelings for Leonardo and I think that in this scene it really comes out and she knows she can't hide from her true wants. She can't run off with him because she knows that he has a wife and she is getting married to a man who loves her. Her desire in the end however, ends up winning when she does run off with Leonardo.

Journal #5 Blood Wedding

I feel like in these scenes Lorca really sets up the characters for their gender roles. He kind of establishes what the typical woman should do and not do. I don't think he would embrace this because he was very much against his own society and he did not exactly fit the typical men gender role either. Although he might embrace it, and overlook his situation. Another thing that is on the "embracing side" is that fact that he seems to criticize going the social norm, because since the Bride cheated on her husband, that is what ultimately ends up killing the two men.

#4 Blood Wedding

The very first symbol that introduced  is the knife it appears on the first page and it is the Bridegroom that brings it up when he wants to eat grapes. I think its significant that he is the one who brings it up because he is obviously the one who kills Leonardo and gets killed himself. This relates to his mother because she is so paranoid with knives and things that can kill man. She is against her son being around knives, but in the end if you think about it she was right because her son did die. It brings up that clique idea that "mothers are always right" or that they have some sort of sixth sense.
On the eighth page the mom brings up blood which is another symbol. She says, ""That's good stock, good blood!" To her blood is important because it determines who you are. I also saw this when she is talking to her neighbor and asks about the brides family, specifically her mother. At first she is pleased because she hears that she is a good woman but then when the neighbor says that she didn't love her husband she kind of gets defensive. I think this is because the neighbor could be implying that the Bride will be the same way just because she carries within her, her mother's blood.
The blood symbol comes up again when  the mother learns that the Bride was dating Leonardo. She gets angry even though she knows that he had nothing to do with what happened in the past with their families. He was only an eight year old child. Yet, because of the fact that he comes from that family and has that blood, it makes him just as guilty in the Mother's eyes.