The Role of Woman in Antigone

In the play Antigone, the main character, Antigone, shows how strong woman can be during the play.  One example is, when Antigone is arguing with her sister Ismene about burying their brother.   Another example is, when Antigone argues with King Creon about why she buried her brother Polyneices.  During these two situations Antigone shows how much women can do.

At the very beginning of the play Antigone and her sister Ismene argue about burying Polyneices.  Antigone wants to follow the god’s rule and bury her brother Polyneices or else he will roam around looking for his spirit.  When she tells her sister, Ismene, about burying her brother she disagrees and says they should listen to Creon and not bury Polyneices.  Antigone disagrees with her and follows her conscience and the god’s rule.  When Ismene decides not to bury her brother, Antigone says this to Ismene, “But I will bury him; and if I must die,/ I say that this crime is holy” ( Antigone Prolouge 55-56).  That’s what is amazing about Antigone, she won’t listen to anyone except herself.  She will always listen to her conscience and do what she thinks is right.

When Antigone is caught by the guards she is taken to King Creon.  King Creon tells Antigone she is stubborn and always breaks the law.  Antigone stands her ground and proudly says that she did bury her brother and she thought it was right.  A phrase that I like was, “I do.  I deny nothing.” (Antigone 1.2.52).  One reason why I like this phrase is because Antigone said it so proudly to King Creon.  That is what makes her a great example for women.  Antigone always believes in what she does and never backs down.  When King Creon was talking to Antigone she proudly said that she buried her brother. 

  Antigone is a great role model for all women.  She always stands up for what she believes is right.  When she was arguing with her sister Ismene she always wanted to do what was right.  Another example of Antigone’s courageousness is when she faced King Creon and proudly said that what she did was right.

Suicide in play Antigone

Basically half of the three of the main characters commited suicide in just two pages. Antigone is found dead in her stone tomb. Then Haemon dies because Antigone, his true love, died. Once Haemon's mother found out that her only son has died, and then she goes and commits suicide herself. I think all of these characters died because of Creon's stubborness.

Antigone is the first to die out of the three characters. I think Creon shouldn't have been so stubborn and maybe she would not have died. When I read how Antigone died it surprised me. The way Sophocles wrote how she died made me feel so sad. I like Sophocles' way of describing how people die compared to Shakespeare's way of describing how people die. It was very unexpected to me for Antigone to hang herself.

As soon as Haemon found out how Antigone died he killed himself. The way the messenger describes how Haemon died was sad. It was sad how Haemon cryed over Antigone's body. Then it was even more sad when he stabbed himself in the side. I almost started crying when the messenger described how he fell on Antigone's body and his blood stained her cheeks. Also when the messenger said, "And how he lies dead with the dead, and she is his/ At last, his bride in the house of the dead" (Antigone Exodus 75-76). I like these last two lines because even though Antigone and Haemon are dead, they will both meet in the after-life and marry eachother there.

When the messenger is done describing how Eurydice's son dies she goes and kills herself. When the Messenger tells Creon that her wife is dead I was surprised. I thought that the queen would mourn over her son and Creon would die, but it was the opposite. Once Eurydice left I thought that she was going to her home to cry. Then the Messenger comes again and has to tell Creon the bad news. I like how Sophocle's describes how Eurydice dies. How she died was pretty dramatic. It was especially dramatic when the Messenger says, "She stood before the altar, and her heart/ welcomed the knife her own hand guided" (Antigone Exodus 112-113). I really like the way Sophocle's describes people dying compared to Shakespeare's way.

I think it is Creon's fault for everyone's death. Since Creon was so stubborn and didn't bury Polynices, Antigone buried and got caught while in the act of burying him. She was sent to a stone tomb and because of her action she commited suicide. Haemon pleaded to his father to let her go. Creon was so stubborn towards his son, and said he will not let her go because of her "bad actions". Since Antigone was not set free and she commited suicide Haemon decided to commit suicide as well. Eurydice commited suicide because her son died. Creon's stubborness caused Antigone to die, which caused Haemon to die, which caused Eurydice to die.

Julius Caesar Movie compared to the play

The movie Julius Caesar and the play had some similarities and some differences. The script for the movie was exactly the same as the script for the play. The only difference is some lines are taken out of the movie. I think that those certain lines that were taken out of the movie should have been in the movie. Those lines to me would have made the movie more intense. Another similarity was the setting and the atmosphere. Both the setting and the atmosphere was set in Rome. The atmosphere I think was better in the play compared to the atmosphere in the movie. The atmosphere in the movie was a little dry and not that interesting. For example, when all the men committed suicide in the movie it was not that interesting. I did not feel sad when all the people died. Except for Brutus' death. When he died I felt horrible. I think in the play, Brutus death probably would have been more interesting and dramatic. Plus the other men's deaths would have been more interesting as well. When I read the first act of Julius Caesar I thought that Julius Caesar would be this very fit and powerful man. Once I saw the movie though I was disappointed at how Caesar looked. Truthfully I think that the play is a lot more interesting. Although I think the movie is alright to watch if you want to understand what is going on.

What I Think About Sakepseare... :)

I think that Shakespeare is a very smart and creative man. He wrote tons of poems and plays that are all so different in their own way. A lot of his quotes that were in his plays are still used today!! Although his words can be pretty hard to understand, but once you know what those word's mean his plays can be interesting. For example, the Twelfth Night is pretty funny once you know what all the complicated words mean. Also his poems are really sweet and funny at the same time. Shakespeare is pretty amazing when it comes to writing plays and poems.

Blind Alley By: Iris Johansen

The story Blind Alley is a very interesting story that has an OK ending. This story is about a serial killer that thinks the main character, Jane, is an ancient actress from Herculaneum that was reincarnated into Jane's body. The cereal killer, Aldo, had a dad who was obsessed with this actress, Cira, so much that he would forget about Aldo when he was a little child. Aldo soon hated Cira and wanted to kill anyone that looked just like her, and Jane looked exactly like Cira. The whole story is about Jane trying to trick Aldo into believing that she is Cira so he could get caught by the police and be killed. The only problem with the ending was that Aldo is killed about 30 pages before the end of the book, so the rest of the story is pretty boring. I think that Aldo should have been killed about 5 pages from the ending so that the last 5 pages would be more interesting. That is the only problem with this story, but the whole story made me laugh and made me really scared. I think that people should read this story because it is very interesting.

"The Great and Terrible Beauty" by: Libba Bray is good story that would make you want to read it every second of the day. In the beginning of the story the main character Gemma lives in India and is having her 16th birthday soon. Something terrible happens to Gemma's mother and she is sent to a boarding school in England. There she finds out that her mother was in a special group called the "Order". Gemma realizes that she can see things in the future but everything that she sees is terrible things. She can also see dead people, but she sees them as normal people in a different world. These dead people that she sees help her figure out what happened to her mother and also help her find out more about the school. The last 30 pages are the most intense part of the book but you have to read the whole book first to understand what is going on. I would prefer that girl's should read this because there is some romance in it that is mixed in perfectly with everything else that is going on in the story. This book is the first book of a series that Libba Bray has written. I haven't read the other books but I can assume that those other books will be just as amazing as this one is. I would most definitely prefer this book to anyone that needs a book to read.

Our Boo-Boos

Rachel Rundell

11/26/08

Mrs. Lindsay

Definition- Pain

Our Boo-Boos

 

            What is pain?  Is pain a boo-boo that you get from falling on the ground?  Or is there pain from losing a loved one?  There are many ways of having pain. Pain can mean many different things in many different cultures and genders.  The definition of pain according to Webster’s dictionary is a physical suffering or distress, as due to injury, illness, etc.  To a little kid, pain can be falling on the ground and getting a scrape on the knee.  A parent that is looking at the little kid could think that type of pain doesn’t hurt at all.  There can be emotional pain from a death or low-self esteem which can be very hard to get over.  For women and girls, pain is something that could make us try to look hotter than girls sitting next to us.  Pain can be thought of in many different ways to many different people.

             Many athletes have many types of pain.  From personal experience, pain can be your muscles straining to be in an uncomfortable position for a very long time.  To a soccer player, pain can be running around a soccer field for 4 hours.  A football player can think of pain as getting tackled and thrown onto the ground.  All athletes and ordinary people understand that breaking a bone is a terrible type of pain.  People of all ages can understand physical pain, but it is very hard, especially for little kids, to be able to understand emotional pain.

            Emotional pain is a pain that is from the inside and not a lot of people can tell if you have emotional pain.  I think about medical doctors when I think about emotional pain.  Medical doctors, to me, can understand emotional pain the most because doctors save lives and if they see a person die in front of them, it’s hard to get over that.  Imagine thinking that it’s your fault that someone died.  Another type of emotional pain that a lot of teenagers can understand is low self-esteem.  Every once in awhile, a teenager goes through a stage where they think that they aren’t good enough for the world.   A lot of teenagers think that nobody likes them and they are worthless.  Sometimes emotional pain can lead to physical pain, which isn’t good for the body.  For example, some teenagers cut themselves or beat themselves up because they think they have low self-esteem.  Emotional pain can be hard to get over sometimes and can get out of control also.

The pain that women go through for beauty can be easier to endure than emotional pain, but beauty pain takes a lot of courage and patience.  I remember the day when my mom first plucked my eyebrows.  My eyebrows hurt badly the next day. I sometimes wonder why women go through pain.  A lot of times girls think that they need to look the hottest compared to the girl sitting next to them.  I find that sometimes teenage girls try to look their best for a man.  Many high fashion models go through pain just to get booked by a top designer.   When girls see stick skinny models, they want to look just like those models.  They don’t realize all the pain that those models went through to look like that. 

            Pain can be defined in many different ways.  A way that pain can be most related to is in physical pain.  Physical pain can be scraping your knee on the ground, or it can be soreness of the muscles from keeping them in an uncomfortable position for a long time.  Emotional pain can be understood most by adults and some teenagers.  Emotional pain is pain that is hard to see from the outside.  This type of pain can be from a person dying, to having really low self-esteem.  Women go through pain just to look beautiful.  The world is full of pain, but pain is different for each person.