Review of Related Studies

10

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW

A. Review of Related Studies

Greek Tragedies are very well known in the world of literature. Sophocles‟ Antigone is one of many well-known and great Greek Tragedies. Sophocles‟ Antigone is the last story in the trilogy of Oedipus which told a complete story of a king named Oedipus. The other two stories are Oedipus The King and Oedipus at Colonus. All of these stories were written by Sophocles many years ago, as a result there are so many reviews and studies related to all of these plays that have been done before. Sophocles itself is a very famous writer at that time. Richard Goldstone in his book Contexts of the Drama mentioned about Sophocles as seen in the following quotation: Sophocles served Athens as both military leader and public official. His lifework, however, was that of playwright; he competed for the drama prizes awarded at the festival of Dionysius and won first prize nearly twenty times. after his death, thenians venerated Sophocles as a hero of the state. Goldstone, 1960:14 We can see from the quotation that Sophocles is a great writer back then, he won the Dionysius festival almost twenty times. The people of Athens even call him a hero of the state because all of his literary works. Looking at this we can assume that his work of literature are all great. Moreover Richard Goldstone still in Contexts of the Drama also stated that the only one who could challenge Shakespeare is Sophocles. This statement can be seen in the following quotation: If any dramatist could challenge the supremacy of Shakespeare, it would surely be Sophocles. But of the approximately one hundred and twenty five plays attributed to Sophocles, all but seven have been lost. The extant seven include Ajax, Antigone, Electra, The Maidens of Trachis, Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus Rex and Philoctetes. Goldstone, 1960: 14 Shakespeare is the symbol of the Elizabethan era while here Sophocles with his greatness is the symbol of Greek tragedies. In this chapter the writer will review some of the studies, reviews, or comments on Sophocles‟ Antigone or other works that has similar topic with this study. The reviews will be very useful in order to show the topic that the writer will discuss in this study. Common topic that often be discussed in the study of Sophocles‟ Antigone is the feminist idea. The reason of it is because the title and the main character is a woman named Antigone. The idea of feminist has always been a very interesting topic to discuss. People will try to see the feminist idea shown by the struggle of Antigone in the world dominated by men. The idea of woman who dares to fight at the time men in charge of almost everything is so great. In the play, Antigone is just a daughter of the old king of Thebes named Oedipus. She rise against the new king of Thebes named Creon who is her own uncle. An example of study that discuss feminist idea is done by Setyarini in her undergraduate thesis entitled The Emergence of Feminist Ideas in Sophocles’ Antigone stated the factors of feminist ideas in Sophocles‟ Antigone as in the following quotation: There are four factors that bring about feminist ideas in Antigone: patriarchal society in the ancient Greece, the oppression against the females, female inferiority, the existence of oracle in Antigone‟s royal family. Setyarini, 2002: 78 Here she clearly stated that in ancient Greece the life of females were not equal with males. Males dominated the society. The females were oppressed so that they have no freedom. In the other hand, Antigone was trying to break through this pattern of society by fighting agains Creon‟s law. That is the only way to show that women also have strength. Another study about Sophocles‟ Antigone still can be found with differrent topic. Yudha, in his undergraduate thesis entitled The Moral Lesson of Antigone’s Struggle Against Tyranny in Sophocles’ Antigone find out that there is an idea of one man rule in Sophocles‟ Antigone. It is Creon who rules as a king that people should obey whatever he said no matter right or wrong. He uses the power as a king not in a right way. It can be seen in the following quotation: He acts so arrogance toward other people. As a king, he thinks that he should be respected no matter that he has made a mistake or not. His law also should be obeyed and there is punishment for someone who disobeys his law. Yudha, 2005: 52 It is right that people should obey their king with his laws and rules, but the king should not act as he want every time. He should pay attention on what he is up to, whether he is right or wrong. He should see whether what he is going to say or do will affect people in a good way or a bad way. He should have a very deep consideration before deciding to create rules or laws. In Sophocles‟ Antigone, Creon punishes Antigone who burry Polyneices while actually there is nothing wrong in burying a dead body. Although people of Thebes do not agree with that decision they remain silence because they are afraid of Creon. They are afraid of the punishment if they broke the law that is already stated by the king. Through his study Yudha wants to reveal the male domination in the story. The next study that discussed Sophocles‟ Antigone was done by Lira Dewi. In her undergraduate thesis entitled Representation of Creon’s Tragic Hero in Sophocles’ Antigone she discussed the possibility of Creon to be the tragic hero of the story. Creon as the king looks very powerful at the beginning of the story, though at the end he got hit by his own attitude towards people. Her statement can be seen in the following quotation: But if observed more, the writer finds that Creon himself is actually the „victim‟ of the system which drives him to be an authoritarian king so that he does oppression. And then, the oppression causes his downfall which is signified by the death of his beloved people Haemon, Eurydice, and Antigone. Lira Dewi, 2007: 98 For many people who have done their studies in Sophocles‟ Antigone, the tragic hero is Antigone. She tries to save her brother‟s body from being eaten by dogs but she gets a punishment. She even faces her own death soon after getting caught by Creon. On the other hand, Lira Dewi has different opinion that Creon is also the tragic hero. She provides her statement with proofs that are really good in supporting her statement. She said that Creon is forced by the pattern of the society that the king should oppress the people so that the people will obey him under any circumstances. Creon created a new law with a strict punishment to follow that people afraid to break the law. At the end of the story, it turns out that his decision lead to his own downfall after his wife and his son died in a single day. Moreover, in Types of Drama: Plays and Contexts 8 th edition, Sylvan Barnett, William Burto, Lesley Ferris, and Gerald Rabkin commented about Sophocles‟ Antigone. They stated that most of the readers see that Antigone is more sympathetic than Creon because she bravely fights against Creon and his law alone. It makes them consider that Antigone is the tragic hero. On the other hand there are very few of the readers see that both Antigone and Creon are equally right and equally wrong 2001. According to Rouse, as quoted by Kitto in Form and Meaning in Drama there was a double burial in Sophocles‟ Antigone. The first one was done by Ismene in purpose to protect Antigone from the punishment of burying Polyneices. Meanwhile, Antigone did the second which is actually a trap. It can be seen clearly in the following quotation: First she recoiled from Antigone‟s proposal; but she has second thought, and in the hope of saving her sister she goes out quickly and does it herself. But the guard removes Ismene‟s dust, so that, Antigone, not knowing that the rite has been performed, does it again and is caught. When the sisters meet again, before Creon, Ismene realizes that she has failed to save Antigone, and Antigone has no idea that Ismene has done anything. Kitto, 1960: 141, Rouse‟s opinion about double burial is relevant and quite astonishing. If Antigone knows that Polyneices has been buried by Ismene who has changed her mind, then she would not come to that place anymore. Since she did not know anything and the dust have been removed by the guards so that anyone could be caught in doing the burial, then she does the burial again. She did not know that the guards have been waiting for her to capture her at the time she is doing it. This also explains why Ismene want to share Antigones punishment. Another critic named Edith Hamilton gives different opinion about Sophocles‟ Antigone. In his book entitled The Greek Way to Western Civilization he commented about Antigone as the one who actually really makes the story as a tragedy. His opinion is as quoted in the following: The conflicting claims of the law of God and the law of man are not the basic one that make the tragedy in the Antigone. It is Antigone herself, so great, so tortured. She is the high souled maiden who goes with open eyes to her death than leave her brother‟s body unburried. Hamilton, 1958: 167 According to Hamilton, Antigone is a very great and brave woman. She chooses to cross the path of her death by herself instead of staying alive with a feeling of guilty not to bury her beloved brother. Guth in his book entitled The Literary Heritage state his opinion towards Sophocles‟ Antigone. According to him the conflict in Sophocles‟ Antigone is more on the psychological conflict than of physical conflict. The characters were linked by their feeling towards each other that make it difficult for them to decide what to do. Antigone is the sister of Polyneices, she loves him very much, and therefore she decides to give a proper burial although it means breaking the law of the king. His opinion as quoted in the following: This play is one of the finest examples of classical Greek tragedy. The plot of the play is taken from a traditional story of terrible deeds between persons closely linked by kinships. The play focuses not upon external or physical action but upon psychological action. Our attention centers on the decisions, motifs, and feeling of the major characters. Guth, 1981: 472 Those all above were some studies on Sophocles‟ Antigone that have been done by many people before this study. They were all focusing on a different points and topics of the play. Moreover, there is one more study that has similar topics with this study which is about religion. The study was done by Lusi Kusumasari in 2005 with the title Nawal El-Saadawis Woman at Point Zero: The Influence of Religion and Politics on Womans Life in Egypt. Her statement that religion influences someones life can be seen in religion gives influences on womans life related to the family law, marriage, inheritance, education and physical appearance 2005:50. Looking at this statement, now it is clear that religion really influence peoples life. From those studies, the writer basically has the same perception with all of them. Unfortunately there is none of the studies above that discuss about the power of religion possessed by Antigone in relation with her decision to rebel against Creon and his law. As a result, the topic that is going to be discussed by the writer is totally different from all the studies reviewed above.

B. Review of Related Theories