Journal #11- Antigone

The chorus started having a stronger and deeper role. In the beginning, it was just giving us an overview about what happened before, like a narrator, but now it had strong meaning behind what it says. The chorus brings in tragedy, and it is describing it as if talking to us directly and trying to make us feel what tragedy is like. I also feel like it is trying to give us a definition somehow to understand tragedy better, so that when we continue reading the play, we have a good idea of what tragedy is and be able to figure out what is tragic about the play. Anouilh uses a strong tone, that seems informative at some points, but also persuasive at other times. For example, when he says "Don't mistake me: I said "shout": I did not say groan, whimper, complain. That you cannot do." The chorus seems to persuade the audience to make sure they are doing what he is telling them to do. I think Anouilh does this using the chorus to somewhat show that he favors tragedy more, and wants the audience to receive the right type of interpretation of tragedies. The chorus seems to be saying that the play is tragic, and that we as readers should be able to understand that this is not a melodrama, but a tragedy. It is saying that once it starts, it continues on its own the tragedy begins to grow and keep going. So like how we started with Antigone revealing that she is the one that buried her brothers, and so the tragedy continues from there. Since the chorus also says that in tragedies, everyone's destiny is known, he is emphasizing that Antigone is a tragedy because Antigone knows her destiny and one that will end up in death because of her actions.