Tragedy Journal #12

Ugly vs. Beautiful
In the play there is this idea of ugly versus beauty and the conflict is used to illustrate the ideas that make a tragedy with the tragic heroes. The audience first sees how Antigone is this tragic hero because while Ismene appears to be outwardly beautiful, more beautiful than Antigone, Haemon picks her to love. In the reading tonight Antigone mentions on page 36 that that her "arms are covered with welts... But I am a queen" (36). The idea of something ugly like welts on her body creates ugly images, but she finishes by calling herself a queen, a woman who has the connotations of being beautiful. She is showing that it is what she does for her brother that makes her beautiful and not ugly. She also says that her "father was ugly too" (43) and from reading Oedipus the king it has been previously established that he was the tragic hero, and in that there is a level of beauty and respect. She is identifying herself like her father and saying that she wants to be considered beautiful for being selfless and knowing what the outcome of trying to bury her brother would be, but doing it anyways. In contrast, Creon finds her willingness to do this very ugly. For example when he says, "If you could here how ugly you are" he wants her not to think like a tragic hero because it undermines him. Antigone's conflict with her either being considered beautiful or ugly is the epitome of the tragedy; she may only be beautiful once all hope and other possibilities are gone, but even then, it is debatable that there is no beauty because both sides are valid.

Tragedy Journal #11

In the beginning the chorus acted as a device to forewarn the audience of the tragic events to come, as well as to inform the audience of what has happened previously with the characters before Antigone. The chorus did not really side with Antigone or Creon, but gave reasons to see how both can be right in their stance. However, in tonight's reading, the chorus did not talk about what is to come but talked more about a tragedy versus a melodrama. I feel that Anouilh used the chorus to show his personal stance on plays and how they should be portrayed. The talked about what makes something tragic and how in a melodrama the father wouldn't have died if he came five minutes earlier, or when he says, "the honest young man might have been brought to the police five minutes earlier" (24) Anouilh is pointing out the inherent flaws to melodramas because the sad aspects could have been prevented. But, in a tragedy there is this inevitable horrible outcome, "Nothing is in doubt and everyone's destiny is known" (24). This idea that everything is known helps to go along with the prophecies that were with Oedipus and in Greek life. He may have also used the chorus to foreshadow what is to come because when the chorus says, "argument is gratuitous: it's kingly" (24) this is showing that there are bad things to come simply because Creon is the king and he has to punish Antigone for disobeying his orders. I feel that Anouilh manipulated the chorus to reiterate that this is a tragedy, as well as to shed criticism on melodramas.

Tragedy Journal #10

Events:

• Play opens with the chorus setting the scene as well as giving an overview of what is to come in the play.
• chorus introduces Antigone as well as Ismene and Haemon. Explains that Ismene is beautiful and Haemon acted like he was interested in her, but really he was not because he ended up asking Antigone to marry him. His proposal was a surprise to everyone except Antigone. Then Chorus informs the audience that they will not actually get married.
• Next Creon is addressed. Chorus mentions that Oedipus has since died, as well as his son and now Creon is the leader and he does not really like it.
• Etocles and Polynices kill each other and Creon says that Polynices will not have a burial.
• Antigone sneaks out to see Haemon, they get into a fight
• she comes home and gets caught by Nurse

Reflection:

Anouilh starts the play by having the Chorus inform the audience of what has happened previously as well as what is to come. The Chorus does this in a very nonchalant fashion and even gives away entire plot  pieces such as the eventual death of Antigone, not leaving much to surprise the audience with, but leaving them prepared for the cathartic experience to come. The structure at the beginning leads to audience into a sort of muddled state of understanding the story. The way that the chorus describes certain characters leads the audience to have preconceived notions  for the characters that have not yet appeared. For example, with comparing Ismene and Antigone, and saying that people do not know why Antigone was picked there is a sort of siding with Antigone because of her lack of care from the rest of the characters. I feel that the play is set up to be seen through Antigone's eyes and feel compassion and empathy for her. I feel that after explaining the death of her brother and how she wanted him to be buried but the king did not, the motivation for sneaking out and betraying tge kig seems justified. 

Topic Sentence

In Blood Wedding by Frederico Garcia Lorca, Neighbor's evident grief over the death of her son impacts her relationship with Mother, and in turn Neighbor is able to be viewed as a foil to Mother, rather than a confidant.

Tragedy Journal #9

• destiny is predetermined

I think this is a theme because there are always children in the scenes, and the groom and bride are treated like children in the play by their parents, in addition to personally believing they are young. I think Lorca uses the youth to show that at that time in history people followed a specific path and it was very hard to change that path, like going from poor to rich. He uses the business deal feel of the wedding to symbolize the lives of the children being predetermined and their eventual deaths to show the repercussions of not following along with natural progression of life.

• unattainable desires bring about the downfall of humans

Lorca illustrates this theme best through the bride running away with Leonardo, and the mother who does not go against societal norms or challenge the gender roles even though she may secretly desire more.

• misery is destructive

The bride shows this theme clearly because she did not want to marry the groom, although she went on with the show until the last minute which lead to both of their deaths. She was incredibly destructive because of her misery and brought about the downfall of many families due to the deaths. The mother is also constantly miserable and therefore makes her own life horrible as well as those around her. Because of her long lasting grudges on the Felix's and the bride she is unable to fully enjoy her life and look past the murders of her family members.

• Unhappiness can lead to a need for control

This theme is shown through the mother because she is so unhappy with her life that she must control every aspect of it as well as those around her to make up for her unhappy manner. The bride, like the mother, is unhappy with her situation and she feels that in order to cope with her unhappiness she must become controlling. When she talks with the maid she acts very controlling and harsh as the mother does so as not to let on her true feelings about the marriage. The controlling front both characters put on act as a defense mechanism for their true sorrow

Tragedy Journal #8

How does the set change between acts and what effect does the set have on the atmosphere? 
Between the acts in Blood Wedding, and even the scenes within the acts the set changes progressively from rather cheerful to eerie. In Act 1 scene 1, the room is yellow and that is all that Lorca notes for the setting. For most, yellow can be identified as a rather cheerful with little negative connotations. The purpose of a yellow room is that in the beginning of his play is he is just setting the stage, presenting the idea of a wedding. The yellow would lead a person to believe that the wedding would go as planned, inclining towards a happy ending. However, the audience soon finds out that a happy wedding is not the story of this play. From act 1 scene 3, to act 2 scene 3, the story takes place in various parts of the brides cave home. A cave home itself sounds moderately dark in comparison to a yellow room, and just as the atmosphere gets darker so does the plot. The darkening of the atmosphere helps in deepening the dark mood Lorca intended to create with the plot line. Next the play takes place in a forest, and that is where the two men die and is probably one of the darker scenes in the play. The atmosphere of a play can impact how deeply an audience feels in the same way that the cinematography of movies today helps in extending the mood created by the men creating the movie.

Tragedy Journal #7

Q: 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? 


I think that the fourth wall is broken when Lorca has the characters break out into song or poems. I feel that this breaks the fourth wall because this doesn't happen in real life so to speak. The fact that this spontaneous singing does not happen in real life, adds emphasis to Lorca being a surrealist, and defying the realist movement. The idea of having song outbreaks is still present today, like in the hit TV show Glee.This way of breaking the fourth wall reminds the audience that what they are reading or watching is not real, or meant to be intended as real and people have always liked escapism. So, Lorca breaks the fourth wall in order to defy realism inn theater as well as to provide a sense of entertainment to his audience. 

Tragedy Journal #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? 


I would say that one main character that appears to be miserable in the play is the bride because she does not have the mentality to marry the groom. She is clearly not in love with him, and in love with Leonardo. Even more so, she feels more upset after they both die and she knows she is responsible for their deaths. I feel like Lorca hints at her desires for her to run way with Leonardo when he comes to see her before the wedding and they talk about how she came to his, so why wouldn't her be at hers. I feel that having Leonardo at her wedding makes it even harder for the bride to do something she already did not want to do. Then, at the end of the play once the two of them have died, in the last scene she is clearly a mess when talking to the mother. She feels terrible for having caused all this, and the mother is just coaxing her on, which leads the bride to end her misery and take her own life. I feel that she went forward with the marriage until the last minute because she knew that if she gave into her desires she would be letting down her family and breaking the rules of being  woman that the mother mentions at the beginning of the play. At the end when she kills herself, I think that is her way of taking responsibility for her actions and trying to take disgrace away from her family for following her desires and running away with Leonardo.

Tragedy Journal #5

Journal #5 Examine how Lorca characterize the archetypes of the play.  Does Lorca embrace or reject the archetype?  What is the effect of the characterization? 


I feel that through Lorca giving his characters archetypes for names he is showing both a standard for society as well as mocking societal norms through their generic names. Some of the names he chose were; mother, bridegroom, bride, wife of Leonardo, and father. I feel that one role the names play is to provide emphasis to gender roles by placing men and women as solely a "mother" or "bridegroom" it forces Lorca's characters to take on their roles in society to the point that it defines them. Specially with being a mother, it could be showing the general mother- nervous to marry her son off, wanting the best, irrational fears, but overall embraces societal norms of domesticity. With the mother specifically, I'm not sure as to whether Lorca is criticizing the mother archetype, or embracing it because even after the interactive orals, I do not know how he felt about gender roles of the time. With giving the bride her title I believe it was done to mock society, and add more emphasis to her running away with Leonardo, rather than getting married to one man as the typical bride of the time did. It's interesting that it wouldn't choose to give her an actual name as he did with Leonardo because she's named "Bride" but she never does get married. Though, with both female characters who are almost foils to each other because of their views on loyalty to one man, neither the mother nor the bride end up happy. The mother loses her son in the end, and the bride loses her life. I feel also that in by providing the brides lover, Leonardo, with the only name in the play more attention is drawn to him, the affair, and in turn the archetypes for names. 

Tragedy Journal #4

Journal #4: Choose any two symbols that emerged in this scene and discuss their significance.  While you are certainly welcome to connect that significance to the entire text, I want you to focus on the details of how they are used in these first 12 pages.  Look at the stylistic choices surrounding their use and build up to a discussion on the role they play or will play in developing theme/character/setting/tension...


The first symbol I noticed in the play was knives. I feel that this symbol is significant because it captures part of the plot, by referencing a plot point that happened previously, as well as future plot in the end. The knife in the first scene characterizes the mother of the groom because of the death of her son and husband. Her strong hatred sets the stage for her irrational hatred of things due to the past. She not only hates knives, but also hates the Felix's for killing her family with a knife. Knives are used to cut things, and I found that in the play in the beginning there are a lot of words like "cut" and "slice". Knives cut, but the way in which the Felix's killed her son and husband with a knife, created a division between the families, slicing the community.


The second Symbol I noticed was the flowers and plants. I think that flowers and plants have some connection to death because at the end the bride wears the crown of orange blossoms like Jesus did when he died, and it the beginning flowers are talked about around the context of the death of the mothers son and husband. She says the he smelled like carnations and "two men like two beautiful flowers" (35). I think that flowers are used to set a the  mood for the play because they are this beautiful aspect of nature, although in the play they are associated with eerie things like death. I feel that it was important to use something of beauty to symbolize death because the play revolves around a wedding, which is supposed to be a happy event, although the bride ends up running away and in the end the groom, leonardo, and the bride all die which is not what is expected from a wedding.