Antigone Essay Topics

Reason, Passion, Madness, Revenge and Justice

Fall 2012 Liberal Arts Cluster
Dr. Van Slyck

Essay #3: Antigone

You will write a 600-800 word essay on Antigone, double spaced, 12pt font, using MLA documentation.

The essay should include specific support from the play (at least 3-4 quotations) and supporting evidence from at least one other source.  Depending on the topic you choose, your secondary source may be one of the following: Aristotle’s definition of tragedy, Bradley’s definition of tragedy; 2-3 Greek definitions (hubris, hamartia, ate, perepetia (reversal) anagnorisis (recognition); Ortner’s essay on women’s relationship to nature, culture; Segal’s essay on Antigone’s relationship to family and earth and womb; ideas about loyalty to the clan or loyalty to the city (polis) in classical Greece.  Some of this material is in coursepak; some you will have to research a little more!

Here are the possible topics.  Choose ONE.

1.        Both Antigone and Creon are passionate about their beliefs.  Examine the nature of the passion that guides each of them.  Do you feel that each is acting rationally?  Are there times when each seems guided by emotion rather than reason?  How does this affect their arguments? Compare and contrast their arguments.  Then explain which of the two has the stronger argument(s) in your opinion and why.  Be sure to use quotations from Antigone and information about Greek ideas about family loyalty and loyalty to the state.

2.       By standing up to Creon, Antigone defies many of the gender roles of her time.  On the other hand, her loyalty to family and to burial rites is proper to her domain as a Greek woman.  In your essay, argue that Antigone is or is not a proto-feminist hero (that is, someone who battles against gender inequality).  Please include material from the play but also ideas about women’s roles that she transcends, overcomes, challenges or embraces.  (Hint: Ortner)

3.       Make the argument that Creon, not Antigone, is the tragic hero of the play.  Use ideas we have discussed in class (dramatic arc) and from Aristotle on the nature of the tragic hero.  You need to explain, for example, where you see him undergoing a reversal of his initial position.  Also, does he have a moment of recognition?

4.       Make the argument that Antigone is the tragic hero in her commitment to her values, the greatness of her nature, and willingness to die.  Show how the play exemplifies Bradley’s definition of tragic waste (coursepak page 77).

5.       The French psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan, argues that Antigone chooses death and that this choice defines her courage and her “splendor.”  Why do you admire Antigone for her decisions, in particular her decision to die.  Discuss her ethical choices, the reasons she chooses to die, and why you find her position courageous.  Do you think Sophocles admires Antigone?