In literature, the word agency means, “the freedom and capacity to live or act in a defined world.”  And so, when you look at the character of Antigone, to what extent does she have agency in the play?  In what ways have you seen her act on her own ability to live and survive in this particular world?


          Antigone has an interesting way of surviving in the world she lives in. She doesn't do it like others playing it by ear, and basically hiding under the radar. Antigone basically shows herself to the world, and expresses what she feels. This even leads to the point where she could possibly be killed. She doesn't really care about her actions and what the consequences in the end are going to be. She's more interested in doing what she thinks is right. In a way I think this is the right way to approach things but not always. She broke a rule of the city that was made by Creon which basically ended up giving her execution simply because of her stupid move. But her actions make you kind of think twice she's basically the one of the only people who aren't afraid of Creon, and she does not care for the consequences from her actions from disobeying Creon's rules. When she is caught of burying her bother she admits to it as calmly as anyone could ever. She doesn't think of whats going to happen to her, she's just standing there basically thinking "you've uncovered my brother what are you doing". She doesn't really care about what people say about her and she sort of mulitiplties what she thinks people should do or say especially like her sister. You tried to get her sister to cover the body but she couldn't but she did say some harsh things to her that were very surprising. She will do basically anything to survive in the world she lives in. But in the end she just ends up dead so what is the point of even trying. 

Rp #5 Jared

        HanRong Ma

         Professor Corona

         EN102

        When I looked at the character, Antigone, I saw a girl seem 
to do her things in her own way. She is strong, not to worry 
about what if she needs to make decisions in this world. 
She showed through all the games, because she didn't like 
ruled by others. Antigone is the glory of God, and not 
human law basically. For a moment, her story of the agent 
is she and her sister that she was there, with or without the 
help of her sister, Ismene, she will still go to bury her 
brother and his honor the right way. Here, she offers herself 
as an independent person, she would give her at her brother 
no matter what other people think or do, she broke the law 
on this point, but she never hurt anyone in intentions to 
honor her brother.
        Antigone demonstrate to everyone that the family is the 
first, everyone should be treated equally. She also believes 
that, everyone needs to be buried in peace with god. The 
Antigone's family, although almost all with their dead to 
her surprise she does her own thing. What she would have 
lost, because she has lost everything, she lost her family. 
Now she will be loyal to what they deserve. In the life 
Antigone's god is above all, so she loves in the world 
devoted to his rest than to suffer in the cruel world she was 
living in.
        Another moment, Antigone shows the agency when she 
decided she was going to die. Her choice of suicided proves 
that nothing was more important than her family and she 
would not give Creon the damn glad to see her suffer to 
death.

Reading Response 5

As we grow up, we are all taught to think, act, and speak for ourselves. The term agency means to have the freedom or capacity to live or act in a defined world. We as human may not have a full understanding of agency. We must all take control of our own world and life by the actions we make as we go through our journey of life. In the play "Antigone" by Sophocles, the character Antigone was introduced in the very beginning, and from the moment she became a ver important character. From the start she takes control of her own fight by doing what she feels right to do. The ruler Creon made it clear to everyone under his reign that it is against the law to bury or morn the death of  Polyneices (which is Antigone's brother). Even though Creon set that law, she did it anyway. By doing this alone she is setting the rules and is not letting anyone tell her what she can and cannot do, she is going to do what she feels is the right thing to do. By doing this in the very beginning of the play, she has set the tone for the rest of the play.
By having agency, all that is is saying is that you have the power and free will to do what you feel is required to do the right thing. Throughout the whole play, Antigone was doing actions that she though was morally right and she didn't care about what rules she had to break to complete her actions. By doing these actions, although they seem right at the time, they can also have serious consequences. By doing the actions she did, she forced Creon to be on her case for the rest of the time she has left on this earth. We all have control of our fate no matter what. Our fate is not predetermined, our fate is based on the actions we make with the time we have on this earth. Our free will or agency can determine this fate because we have the power to do whatever we want to do, wether it is right or wrong.
Although Antigone is a very strong character in this play, there are other people who have agency and have the power to do what is right no matter what anyone says. One of these characters is Haemon who decides to disobey his father no matter what he is. Haemon knows what is the right thing to do and he will make sure he makes the right decision. Haemon is one of the few characters in this story who will do whatever it takes to do the right thing. To conclude this response, almost everyone has agency, we just don't have a clear understanding about what is it. Antigone did the right thing no matter what. She had agency, and everyone should learn that by having the power of free will, we as humans are able to be wonderful people.

nicholas hu rr5

Nicholas Hu

Reading Response 5

Question 1

In literature, the word agency means, ”the freedom and capacity to live or act in a defined world.” And so, when you look at the character of Antigone, to what extent does she have agency in the play? In what ways have you seen her act on her own ability to live and survive in the particular world?

           

            Agency is to have a choice in a world that goes by guidelines and laws. We see Antigone having agency in the beginning of the play, where she tries to persuade her sister to help bury the brother. The king had decided that any mourning and honoring of the dead brother would be deemed illegal and led to death. Antigone doesn’t want to abide the laws and wants to go against it, thus showing agency. Her sister, Ismene, doesn’t want to go against the king and his laws and live her life in peace. Ismene does not show any signs of agency here, but does later in the story.

            Another example of Antigone showing agency is when she finds her brother’s grave defiled by the Sentry and his group. She immediately tried to repair the grave right in front of the Sentry. The Sentry is pretty much an upholder of the law, and Antigone was defying it. She also didn’t deny any of her actions. Everything she did was of her own choice, and those choices went against the laws.

            The extent of agency Antigone has is pretty much to the fullest extent. She would do anything to get what she wants. In lines 613-614, she says “Take heart; you are alive, but my life died long ago, to serve the dead.” Antigone is pretty much saying she’ll do anything in her power as long as she’s alive to honor her brother. This is also the scene where Ismene shows signs of agency.

            The question says that agency means “the freedom and capacity to live or act in a defined world.” In Antigone’s case, I don’t think it’s limited to only living. Even after death her ideas and morals probably were still around.

            Going back to how I said I thought Antigone has agency to the fullest extent, I think I was wrong. Her agency only goes up to disobeying the laws and the king. She disobeyed Creon because she wanted to follow God’s law of everyone having the right to a proper burial and such. Creon was the one who decided that Polyneices didn’t deserve a proper burial and that was God’s judgement. Antigone is faithful to God, not the king. Her extent of agency only reaches past the laws of the king.

            There's not much else to write about her showing agency. We don't even learn about what happens to her at the end. I think she gets thrown into a dungeon? Her agency did spread though, to the son of the king. He began to question his father's actions after what had happened.

Antigone

Chantel Santamaria

ENGLISH 102

Raquel Corona

March 28, 2015

1.  In literature, the word agency means, “the freedom and capacity to live or act in a defined world.”  And so, when you look at the character of Antigone, to what extent does she have agency in the play?  In what ways have you seen her act on her own ability to live and survive in this particular world?

     When I look at the character of Antigone I see a brave girl who seems to do things in her own way. She is strong and doesn't fear much about what’s going to happen to her if she takes some decisions in the world that she is leaving in. She shows agency through all the play, because she doesn't like to be rule by others. Antigone honor God but not human law basically. One very moment that she have agency in the story was the situation she had with her sister in in (line 79), where she states that with or without the help from her sister Ismene she will still go and bury her brother and honor him the right way. Here she provides herself as an independent person and that she will be next to her brother no matter what other people think or do to her, she breaks the law at that point, but she never hurt anyone the only intentions she had where to honor her brother.

Antigone demonstrate to everyone that family is first and everybody need to be treated equally she states that “Creon is not enough to stand in my way”. She also believes that each person need to be bury peacefully to be with God. Antigone family when though almost everything and their death gave her the strange she had to do the things she did on her own. She believes that there’s nothing also to loss because she lost everything when she lost her family. Now she will loyal them as they deserve. In the life of Antigone God is above all, so she prefers to be loyal to him and rest in the afterlife than to keep suffering in the cruel world she was living in.
   Another very moment where Antigone shows agency was during the end of the play when she decides how she was going to die. Her brave choice of suicide prove that nothing was more important than her family and God and she would not give Creon the pleasure to see  her suffer to death on earth.

Reading Response #5

Antigone’s agency goes far beyond than any other other characters in the play. After she finds out her brother, Polyneices has been killed and didn't have a proper burial, Antigone decides to defy the law and bury her brother because that would've been the wishes of the gods. We can see how Antigone’s agency takes place in this scene because not only she decides to take action about his brother’s death and bury him, but she acts against the law and does what she believes is right. She portrays herself as a strong woman who acts from instinct and often takes action for anything that the Gods would think is wrong and she also doesn't care about what others think. She believes in the divine principle above and against the power and authority. She fights for the people she loves and she is willing to go against everybody if she has to, in order to protect her loved ones and to honor her brother. She does what was needed to be done and after she buries her brother, she hopes that after she dies, her family would be reunited again in heaven. She tried to convince her sister to support her and help her bury their brother, but her sister wanted to stay out of trouble with the law and instead of helping her, she warned Antigone that fighting the man was a losing battle. But Antigone was brave enough and went on with her plans and she says she’s willing to do it alone, and wouldn't mind dying in order to secure Polyneices's rightful burial. This is another example of how Antigone’s agency takes place in the play because she shows that she is willing to die if she has to in order to defend what she believes is right and she is willing to fight the man in order to bury her brother. And eventually when her uncle and ruler of Thebes, Creon found out what she did, she didn't deny that she committed the crime. She explains that while she knew it was against Creon’s law, her actions were in line with her obligations to justice and the gods, so Creon puts her in jail and then vows to execute her. At this moment she starts questioning herself and her agency starts to question itself, because Antigone feels that her actions had no meaning and she starts to questions whether or not she did the right thing. It seems that she was ashamed of her family because of the fact that she comes from an incest family and she wanted to cover her family’s faults by doing something that would make her seem as a good person, which was burying her brother. She also mentions the fact that she never experienced marriage, which is something she always wanted, but since her fiancé had killed himself and the fact that she’s imprisoned, she will never experience that. At this point all her beliefs and standards were thrown away and she no longer had a reason to keep living anyway. After everything she stood up for, she decided to kill herself.

RR5: The Irony of Tiresias,

Irony of Character

Antigone is all filled with irony since the beginning. In fact, all Greek tragedies have some irony and the irony in Antigone is the character of Teiresias. Teiresias is a a cranky old man who although being blind he has the ability to see the future. In other words he is a clairvoyant. The funny part of this character and what makes him interesting is that how can a blind man be a clairvoyant?
It is hard to imagine a person who claims to be a seer, yet he can barely see what reality looks like.

Now, the really strange part is that in the story this guy can see far more clear than Creon. Creon says that Teiresias have been bribed, he is so stubborn, his mind is so closed by his own paradigms that he can never listen to others. Even though, Teiresias tells him that nature itself is revealing against him by not allowing a dead man to have a rightful burial. Everything is turning up against him. However, Creon is so mentally blind that he make something up not to look like a fool.

Creon keeps on telling this prophet is crazy, and his head starts getting pumped up. The more Teiresias talks the more Creon lose his head. Smartly enough, he shut his mouth as well as the gods shut the light for his eyes and leaves before he gets involved more in Creon business. Although in his face he aparently did not believe a word, later he tried the prophecy to go away and to make up with antigone for what he had done. Sadly, it was too late for him