Antigone by Jean Anouilh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Disclosure:
I bought this book just for the sake to complete the synopsis of Sophocles and his nice piece of theater, It was a nice to complete the flow of events by another writer. the Book is written in French and with the same features above.
My Plot:
In the new environment after the death of Oedipus, the illegal marriage of this latter with his mother Jocasta, the outcome of this marriage results in the Born of Antigone, Ismene, Polynices and Eteocles. The two sons where the legal heirs for the throne after the death of Oedipus. as an equal judgment. Every son was given one year to rule the kingdom, But one day they go into a riot and they kill each other, and from this point start the piece of Theater. As a result Creon declare that Eteocles has to be buried in a respectable manner however Polynices was thrown to the forest to be a nice lunch for the beasts in the forest. Antigone in this respect, choose to bury her brother in spite of the objection made by her uncle Creon, She tried to convince her sister Ismene to join her deed of burying Polynices, but Ismene was the kind of girl that never brake up the divine laws. Finally. Antigone caught by the Creon's guards. and reveals that she was against the rules that gave the man the complete power over everything. She died due to Creon's rule and her sister Ismene get married with her lover Haemon.
Positive and Negative Aspects:
The story of was an adaptation of the main piece of the Greek theater Oedipus. a Legend of a Thebes. However in Anouilh version something was added to run, But it was all OK. It was another tragedy that complete its precedent one, However the writer makes some modification to make his looks like a complete version of the main piece of theater of Sophocles. In fact I really liked the state of being against the male power held by Antigone herself. It was nice to rebel against something rude and nuisance, Besides Antigone's death was like a dignity to all women in this world. Because death may symbolize several nice eternities to the women in General. All the characters in the story represent a certain form life lead by the humanity. The two brothers were fighting for throne, Ismene was the kind of submissive person to the Rules of male. Antigone was fighting against the male power to let a dignity for all women in general. Anyway it was a nice play that I enjoy by myself.
My Personal Reaction:
Personally I enjoy reading this nice piece of Theater even if it was written in French, I really loved the style used by the dramatist, the nature of language held by, and the simplicity of the dialogs performed by the Characters, The writer of this piece of art tries to make some modifications concerning the Flow of events that was perceived in the Precedent piece of Sophocles, But anyway it was all nice that's why I voted for it with five stars. Besides it was the first attempt to complete the Greek tragedy with another form of various ends.
Recommendations:
I would recommend this piece of theater to all the Francophone persons, in addition to the fans of the new form of theater. Because most of the components are new in this form of Book. It was like a rebellion against everything old, and as a resurrection for the new technique of the French theater of the 20th century.
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