Creon's Internal Conflict--Antigone Blog Post

Antigone's AP Essay Prompt

1999: The eighteenth-century British novelist Laurence Stern wrote, "Nobody, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man's mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time."

From Antigone choose a character (not necessarily the protagonist) whose mind is pulled in conflicting directions by two compelling desires, ambitions, obligations, or influences. Then, in a well-organized essay, identify each of the two conflicting forces and explain how this conflict within one character illuminates the meaning of a work as a whole. Avoid plot summary.

__________

     In Sophocles’ “Antigone”, Creon, the new king of Thebes, has his mind pulled on two different directions in front of a conflict. After his niece tries bury her brother, who has betrayed Thebes, Creon orders for the traitor to be killed, until he learns that it’s his niece who has committed the crime. Creon now faces a moral conflict, with two sides of equal strength, either to appear strong and determined as the new king of Thebes, or to follow his heart and pardon his niece’s life.

     Creon’s first reaction to hearing of this crime is of rage. He’s very upset towards this criminal, until he learns that it’s his own niece, Antigone, who has committed this terrible act. He has just become the new king of Thebes, and wants to be seen as a strong leader by his new people, but his heart thinks otherwise. Through Sophocles’ description of Creon’s emotions, we see that he is deeply concerned about being an unmovable and capable leader for his people.

     While Creon tries to maintain his position as robust king, he’s also profoundly worried about his niece, Antigone. Creon feels a very strong bond towards her, both as her niece and fiancée of his son. However, this feeling is not reciprocal, as Antigone seems stoic, almost like she doesn’t care about being executed at all. This family connection affects Creon’s opinions about the sentence for Antigone, and makes it very hard for him to make a decision.

     Creon’s internal conflict it’s a very humane one, and is relatable to most of us readers. Every time we make a decision between two plausible outcomes we face this conflict, to choose one alternative or the other. Creon’s case is especially appealing to readers since his conflict doesn’t really have a ‘right’ choice. Both alternatives have its pros and its cons. It’s the socially correct alternative against the morally correct one.

Greek Tragedy for Kindergarteners

Greek Tragedy for Kindergarteners

     Greek Tragedy is one of the earliest forms of theatre plays, it took place in ancient Greece, more than 2,000 years ago. As one of the earliest forms of theatre, it has had and still has a huge impact in theatre and drama today, even in cartoons and soap operas!

     What makes us, spectators, like to watch Greek Tragedy is that we can relate with the characters, we can feel what they are feeling. A “Hero” in Greek Tragedy isn’t a perfect human, he/she has flaws and makes mistakes like any one of us, like you and like me.

     Some of the important vocabulary words in Greek Tragedy are:

• Hubris: It occurs when a character is too arrogant, he is too confident in his abilities, and this causes his loss or downfall. For example, I say that I’m the best soccer player of the whole grade, but then one of my friends “me tira un caño” and then scores on me.
• Hamartia: It occurs when the hero commits a mistake unintentionally and this leads to his loss. For example, if I try to pass a pencil to one of my friends but when I throw it I hit him in the head and hurt him. I had good intentions, but the result was bad.
• Reversal: It happens when everything seems to go one way, but then quickly changes to the opposite way. For example, my team of soccer in lunch is winning by 2 goals, but then the other team scores 3 goals in the last minute and wins the game.
• Recognition: It occurs when the hero suddenly realizes of a love or hate bond with another character. For example, I get angry with my best friend but then I realize how much I love him/her, and apologize.
• Catharsis: It happens when the hero lets his emotions free and openly talks about them, it serves as a way to feel better and more relaxed with oneself. For example, if I think I made a mistake in the last exercise of the quiz, I discuss it with a classmate and this makes me feel better.

My Own Poetry

1^st Poem: Sonnet

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

     TO HATERS, DEAF EARS

     There will always be those ones,

     Who hated you yesterday, who hate you today,

     To them, never pay attention, not once,

     For their hate won’t go away.

     Haters tend to criticize,

     What they themselves cannot achieve.

     And when you obtain a cherished prize,

     Your success they cannot conceive.

     Just keep on minding your business,

     Don’t be disturbed by their opinions,

     Everyone else is a witness,

     Of your undeniable dominion.

     Don’t let them conquer your grit,

     And above all, don’t ever quit.

--JJ Hernández

1) What was most challenging about writing this poem?  What might you do differently in the future?   

The most difficult part of this poem wasn’t actually finding rhyming words but creating rhythm within the poem and finding ways to connect ideas. In the future I might change the scheme of the poem or the type of poem itself.

2) What devices do you employ?  Did you do this consciously?  Why did you make those choices?

I used mostly apostrophe consciously, I tried to appeal to all the readers from a 1^st person perspective. I also altered the logical order of sentences to create a better sense of thoughtful writing.

3) What are your overall opinions of the poem you wrote?  Are you satisfied with it?  Why or why not? 

I think my first poem was pretty good, considering is written by me, and I’m happy with my own work. Definitely the stronger poem of the two I wrote.

2^nd Poem: Acrostic

     PATH TO GREATNESS

     Pride we have to take in ourselves,

     Above everyone else we must rise,

     To prove we are truly special,

     Humble and with exceptional drive.

     Triumph isn’t easily achieved,

     One has to want it badly enough for it to be seized.

     Give in we never must.

     Rebound from failure,

     Eager to prove wrong those who doubted us,

     And of being our own savior.

     The reward is proportional to the sacrifice,

     Never those who didn’t put in plenty of hours,

     Earned through grit a big prize.

     Should we then push ourselves further?

     Should we then work harder?

--JJ Hernández

1) What was most challenging about writing this poem?  What might you do differently in the future?   

The most challenging part of writing this poem was finding words that both rhymed and made sense within the sentence. In the future I could try to tweak some of my ideas to match my words instead of words to match ideas.

2) What devices do you employ?  Did you do this consciously?  Why did you make those choices?

I also altered the order of words within sentences to ‘sound more poetic’, and used apostrophe again to make the poem more relatable and personal for the reader.

3) What are your overall opinions of the poem you wrote?  Are you satisfied with it?  Why or why not? 

I don’t think this poem was that good, to be honest I think I complicated myself too much and wasn’t able to quite make it as good as I might have been able to if I had an easier acrostic.