UGS 303 1 st Edition Lecture 5 Outline of Last Lecture I Prometheus Bound Q A II Is freedom possible without a government Outline of Current Lecture I Do we ever need a tyrant II How bad are tyrants III How would leadership best make a tyrant more effective IV Antigone Current Lecture I The first question of the day is do we ever need a tyrant A 35 of the class says yes 65 says no B Woodruff says however that kings teachers and parents all make use of tyrannical behavior at some point 1 Just as teachers and parents must sometimes behave tyrannically in order to keep unruly children in line perhaps a king must sometimes be tyrannical in order to keep his subjects in line II The next question is how bad are tyrants Does tyranny defeat their purposes A 13 says always B 85 says sometimes C 2 says never III Finally would leadership make a tyrant more effective How best A 31 say communication B 22 say empathy C 26 say trust D 6 say consistent discipline E 14 say compassion IV Antigone was the greatest play written by Sophocles who also wrote Oedipus the King A Each character s name in Antigone has a significant meaning in Greek 1 Antigone born against 2 Haemon bloody 3 Creon ruler 4 Polynices prince quarrelsome 5 Eteocles prince true glory 6 Ismene pleasant one B Plot 1 When Oedipus dies Creon becomes the regent ruler of Thebes because Oedipus sons Polynices and Eteocles are too young to rule 2 When they come of age they decide that they will take turns on the throne Eteocles will go first 3 When it is Polynices turn to rule Eteocles refuses to give up the throne 4 Polynices travels to a neighboring town marries a princess there raises an army and returns to Thebes to take over the throne by force thus starting a civil war a Woodruff pauses here to talk about civil wars Typically men and boys old enough to carry weapons are killed while women and young children are left to flee b Today there are somewhere around 51 million refugees of civil wars c Historically dictators prevent civil wars Since civil wars are arguably one of the worst things that can happen to a nation shouldn t something that prevents them be a good thing This is something to think about B The brothers kill each other and Creon decrees that Eteocles will be buried and Polynices will be left to rot in the open 1 The Greeks believed that the souls of the dead could not rest until they were buried 5 Antigone tries twice to bury her brother and is sentenced to death for it 6 Haemon Antigone s fianc and son of Creon begs for mercy from the king a He argues that all the citizens of Thebes agree that Antigone should live b This scene is acted out twice in class once by two female students and once by two males Woodruff calls this scene the generational debate c This scene is immediately followed by a chorus an ode to love and the power it has over people This almost seems to side with Creon as it makes Haemon look like a crazy love struck young boy 1 A guide to all the choral odes in the play is available on Canvas 7 The council of the elders ratifies Creon s decree C Woodruff suggests that we think about the three following things 1 Some of Creon s lines make him sound like a leader and others like a tyrant Try to read through the play and distinguish each type of line from the other 2 Why should Creon listen to his son He is only a kid after all 3 Similarly Professor Woodruff knows more about Antigone than almost anyone in the world Shouldn t we just listen to him Why should we form opinions of our own Why should he listen to us