A Humorous
Distillation of Antigone by Maurice Sagoff This poem is
quite successful in getting the plot across to the reader.
Unfortunatly, that is all he can get across because of his
beleif that, “inside every fat book is a skinny book trying to
get out.” Sargoff cannot have character descriptions, themes,
or any real detail in his “skinny book” because of his beleifs.
Sargoff leaves off why Polynices should not be burried and
why his brother, who is not even menchoned, can be
burried. This is important to building the feelings of contempt
towards Creon and an understanding of what Antigone is
doing. Also, because this is a “Humorous Distillation,” the
tone of the play is lost. Instead of being a dramatic play
about obeying a higher law, it is a comical, rhyming poem
about what happened. This may cause it to lose the impact it
had. Sargoff reduces important and pivotal points in the
story to a sentence such as, “Creon wilts, and tries to bang a
U-ee.” This sentence does not tell of Creon’s attempt to
repent for what he! has done by burrying Polynices and then
going to free Antigone. Even if Sargoff gets all of the plot
across, that is not enough to tell the whole story. Aristotelian
Unities Yes, Antigone does follow the Aristotelian Unities.
The play occurs in the same place and roughly the same
time. Things that happened before the play or outside of the
place, was told by a messenger or a character themself. The
action was all centered around Antigone’s actions. Her
actions were the sole cause of everything that happened.
Greek Tragedy Antigone does follow the Greek definition of
tragedy. Tragedy is a story or play that has a signifigant
conflict of morals, with a noble protagonist displaying a
tragic flaw that is their strength but leads to their downfall.
The exposition of the story is when Antigone is talking with
her sister and we learn of what has happened. The turning
point of this play is when Creon tries to mend his wrongs by
burying Polynices and freeing Antigone. Antigone herself is
the tragic hero because she dies for what she believes
morally right. Antigone’s tragic flaw is that she has only sees
her point of view which leads to her death. The denouement
of this story is everybody dying and then Creon realizing
what he has caused. The song of the story is attenden to
throuhg the chorus’ comentating on what is happening or
through direct dialog. The thought of this play is wether it is
right to follow heavenly laws or ones made by man.
Antigone is the tool through which Sophocles tells th! at one
should obey the law of the gods and human laws. The
complication of the story is done through Creon
misunderstanding what is happening. Creon thinks at one
point that the guard has been bribed when actually he is
telling the truth. Creon’s recognition is when he finaly sees
what has been happening and that Antigone is innocent and
that Polynices should be buried.
