In Antigone, Sophocles depicts the daughter of mythical ruler of Thebes' Oedipus seeking the rightful burial of her late brother, Polynices. He once ruled along with his brother, Eteocles, but after defecting to another city, he died in a battle for power against his own brother. The current ruler of Thebes in the play, Creon, gave Eteocles a proper burial, but forbid the burial of Polynices because of his betrayal. Burial is another major ancient Greek ritual.
In this video, Antigone argues with Creon and other Senators that her brother deserves a proper burial.
So, the reason why I LOVE this play, is because it is bursting at the seams with oral transmission of religious culture! The contrast of the Chorus' narrative and Antigone's passionate monologues gives a little bit of an insight into ancient Greek stratification of the narrative versus the pathos, or emotional appeal to the spectator. While the Chorus narrates, it causes Antigone to feel uncomfortable with them somehow in control of the words, which thus gives the Chorus control over the entire play. At one point she says:
"They mock me. Gods of Thebes! why scorn you me
Thus, to my face,
Alive, not death-stricken yet?" (Ibid. p. 31)
She calls them "Gods of Thebes" and seeks to use pathos to take back the power. Like the real Gods about whom they are speaking, the literary tenses cause the characters to take turns playing "Gods" over the play. The difference between the pathos and the narrative causes the spectator or reader to want to respond to the diatribe and thus repeat the rituals and references to deity.
Through this dramatic play, the traditions of loyalty to state and also loyalty to religion are orally transmitted. Sophocles also uses the influence of the sophisticated "Chorus" to provide the narrative of the play, opposing the passionate pathos of Antigone, the mother tongue.
So here's a question for everyone: Do the oral traditions accurately transmit the purity of the mother tongue and the sophistication of the father tongue? Do they always transmit the purity of a ritual or ordinance?
i believe that because of the slight overlap between oral tradition and folk knowledge, oral tradition is one of the best ways of preserving the purity of rituals. Antigone makes reference to Tantalus's daughter (who was apparently petrified in stone) and likens this oral religious tradition to her own case. she does so in an appeal to the senators, but in doing so follows along with the last sentence of what i posted on Monday - which the author continued to elaborate on, saying that because the Numinous cannot be described in earth-bound terms, there are many metaphors that are intended to relate the emotion of the numinous event to the rest of the world. in this case, Antigone relates two of these metaphors - the girl trapped in stone (eerily close to her own sentence) and the hotel of Persephone which is never lacking a room. these types of stories, though not intended to be literal transmissions of the numinous, do a great job preserving the purity and emotion of the "revelatory" experience to new audiences. this preservation would be rendered much less effective-i believe-if they were stories written down in a book vs stories told by mothers to children and repeated and referred to throughout the culture.
ReplyDeleteI often fail to see how the Odyssey or Antigone or any Greek work functioned as cultural reservoirs, but you specifically point out that the tension between Antigone and the Chorus draws the audience in in such a way that the culture is reinforced and perpetuated. Thanks for that. :)
ReplyDeleteAs for the question, I think it depends on the oral tradition. Greek drama was, I think, very much in the Father Tongue (LeGuin@Brynmawr). It was very much in the public eye, and was quite showy in its language. On the other hand, the fact that a ring around the moon portends precipitation is a piece of oral knowledge that was given to me in the Mother Tongue by my grandmother. Thus I'd say that the nature and transmission venue of the oral knowledge change which tongue they're cast in.
Persian poets actively altered and improved upon the poems they learned, so purity as we see it (from a writing-based civilization) was never important. At the same time, using 'pure rhymes' was extremely important, so the rough first product was purified over time by its oral transmission. Compare this with the other (notably religious) oral traditions, where precision in replication is of utmost importance. (citation needed)