Journal #12 - Anitgone

Anouilh creates a contrast between ugly and beautiful within the play. When Antigone argues with Creon, she admits that she is ugly, and then speaks of how ugly her father was. However, she moves on to speak about the beautiful thing that her father became. She talks about how, in his doubt and uncertainty, Oedipus was ugly, but through his search for the truth. through his suffering in the end, he became beautiful. She essentially says that Oedipus' tragedy was beautiful and that her tragedy will be beautiful as well. Anouilh creates tension by describing tragedy as beautiful. Tragedy is closely related to death, so Anouilh essentially calls death beautiful. However, this is counter-intuitive to many viewers, who see death as the terrible thing that takes away life. 
Anouilh also creates a contrast between dull and color. Antigone is portrayed as the main vessel for this contrast. She constantly speaks of her want for life in its full color, and implies that her current life is dull and unfulfilled. However, her view of life in color conflicts with Creon's own view. Antigone sees "color" as all of the experiences of life, which include happiness and sadness. However, Creon sees life as only happiness, and thus their two views clash in the play.

Journal #11 - Anitgone

At the beginning of the play, the Chorus is depicted as a neutral character. He does not take a side, and merely gives his observations of the characters and events. The Chorus had a more explanatory role. However, later in the play, the Chorus takes a role similar to that of Fate, if Fate was a character with all the powers that fate has. He tells of how the spring is wound, and will release at the slightest disturbance, and then explains that the release will be inevitable. The Chorus takes on a tone of confidence, speaking what he knows to be true. He tells of the coming events and leaves no room for prediction. He dictates that a string of events will happen. The Chorus then explains that this is what tragedy is. Tragedy does not have hope, because there is no room for hope. He explains that one cannot hope because one knows what will inevitably happen. The chorus defines tragedy as the lack of doubt.

Journal #10 - Anitgone

In the 48 hours leading up to the Nurse catching Antigone, the siege on the city of Thebes had ended. This siege was due to a powerful struggle between the two brothers meant to rule the city after Oedipus' death. The younger brother, who tried to take the throne due to his right to rule, left the city and came back with foreign princes to lay siege on Thebes. The rebels were destroyed, along with the two brothers, and Creon, Oedipus' brother-in-law, took the throne. He viewed Polynices, the younger brother, as a traitor and did not allow the burial of his corpse, and ordered the execution of anyone who attempted to bury him. Thus the conflict arises, when Anitgone, Polynices' sister, arrives at night and holds gives him a burial ritual, and then comes home to be caught by the Nurse.


Anouilh gives an account of these events through a the Chorus, a character that is similar to a watcher, but knows and understands all that is transpiring. This way of introducing the characters and giving background information on the play forces the watcher to take the point of view of the Chorus. Since the Chorus is similar to the watcher in the way that they are both observing the play, the watcher is able to relate with the Chorus. However, the Chorus takes on a neutral tone, describing the characters and events as how they actually looked.
The watcher takes on the perceptions of the Chorus. For example, the watcher would see Creon as a strong king who struggles with the difficulty of leadership, which is how the Chorus describes the king. Due to this, the watcher will take into account that the king is stressed and must obey the obligations of his position, and therefore sympathize with him even as he orders his niece to be killed.

Topic Sentence - Blood Wedding

In Blood Wedding, the Neighbor enjoys taking part in rumors and gossip, and this aspect shows how the Neighbor is subtly manipulative, specifically in terms of the Mother.

Journal #9 - Blood Wedding

Typical Gender Roles
In Blood Wedding, Lorca reinforces typical gender roles many times throughout the play, but seems that he does not agree with them. This role is shown by the Mother's advice to her son, telling him to be firm and dominant in his relationship with the Bride. She also complains about not having a girl to sew clothes and lace with. Furthermore, the Father and the Bridegroom reinforce how men are the workers of the household with their ownership and nurturing of the vineyards.


Fate and the Cycle of Life
This the is represented in the play when the Maid is talking to the Bride. The Bride speaks about how she suffers and her mother suffered before her due to the expectations placed on them, and the Maid denounces this as fate, implying that one cannot control what happens. Also the Bride's suffering in the face of marriage shows her awareness that marriage represents the next step in her cycle of life.


Deception
Lorca creates a line between those that deceive and are aware, and those that are ignorant. Examples of characters that are ignorant include the Bridegroom and the Father, while the deceiving characters are the Maid, Bride, and Mother. One can see this from the naive personality of the Bridegroom, and the denial from the Father when he finds that his daughter had run away. However, the Maid and Mother know more than the Bridegroom and Father on the situation, but keep it to themselves, and in this way can be considered as deceiving. Also the Bride herself deceives everyone by hiding her true feelings.

Journal #8 - Blood Wedding

There are three major sets in Blood Wedding: A simple room in a house among vineyards where the Bridegroom and Mother live, the house of the Bride, and the nighttime forest.
The play begins in the house of the Bridegroom and Mother. Lorca's description of the room is simply "the room is painted yellow" (5). This description itself implies bright colors and a positive feel. This color tone depicts the coming happiness of a marriage, however is a mask of what is truly about to happen. The happy color tone would contrast with the sadness and scandal that the Neighbor and the Mother converse about. This contrast helps the reader notice the foreshadowing present in the first act.
The second set takes place in various parts of the house of the Bride. The house itself has descriptions of decorations in the form of flowers and other typical ornaments. However, second act takes place during the night, and it seems that the shading is presented as more dark. Indeed, in spite of the various decorations, Lorca writes the Bride's cave as having "somber, silvered tones" (58). This change in the feel of the set foreshadows the coming storm that will transform the plot. This set triggers the reader to sense and predict the dark storm. In a way, the reader knows that something terrible will happen.
The third act takes place in the black, nighttime forest. The forest is covered in shadows, and this darkness that is depicted portrays the tragedy that consumes the Bridegroom and Leonardo. It seems Death is associated with the darkness, depicted in one part as a dark shadow resembling a raven. The dark feeling of the set helps create the mood of the act, giving the reader an almost anxious feeling leading up to the deaths of the two characters.

Journal #7 - Blood Wedding

Lorca uses youth in Act II to highlight his criticism. The Bride, a still youthful figure, is miserable during the events leading up to the wedding. She seems to be unhappy with being forced into the marriage, which marks her passage out of youth and into womanhood. However, her unhappiness is resisted by the society, as seen when the Maid condemns her for throwing down her bridal crown. Her want to be youthful is represented by her resistance of marriage and of society. Lorca in this way criticizes society itself for essentially forcing its ideals on people, the same way the Bride would be condemned if she walked away from the wedding.

Journal #6 - Blood Wedding

Two of the characters that appear miserable in the play are the Bride and Leonardo. The both share the same misery of having dated, but not working out for reasons that are not specified. But, their desire for each other did not fade, even after Leonardo gets married. Leonardo expresses his misery through anger when he hears of the upcoming marriage of the Bride. He takes his frustration out on his Mother-in-Law, Wife, and a little girl. The Bride expresses her misery in a similar way, acting harsh to her maid during the events leading up to the marriage. Although she says that she wants the marriage, her actions repeatedly show she is unhappy about, as seen when she throws her bridal crown on the floor.
The frustration between Leonardo and the Bride seem to stem off of the difference in wealth between their two families, and may have prevented their relationship. Also, the ideals of the society prevent them from fulfilling their desires for each other, since Leonardo already has a Wife, and the Bride is in the process of getting married. It is looked down upon when they run off together, and ultimately, Leonardo is killed for it.

Journal #5 - Blood Wedding

Lorca mentions typical ideals for women. The conflict in the plot and the characters' reaction to it point out the typical ideal of chastity that women were held to and the dominance of marriage in life. However, it seems that Lorca rejects it, characterizing the Bride and Leonardo as unfaithful in a way. This is the basis of most of the conflict. Through these characterizations, Lorca could be promoting promiscuity and criticizing the way that marriage is the dominant event in every person's life. This can also be criticism of the structure of family itself.
However, there's are points that also accept these ideals. The fact that the tragedy is a product of the unfaithfulness of the Bride and Leonardo could serve the purpose that following the ideals is a road to happiness.

Journal #4 - Blood Wedding

A symbol that is prevalent in Scene 1, Act 1 of Blood Wedding is the knife. In this scene, the knife is seen by the mother as the bringer of death. She depicts it as a serpent, something to be feared. She then goes on to criticize guns, hoes, and  other objects that can be used as weapons against man. This mania that she is put in by the idea of a weapon shows her fear of death, and how all humans have a natural fear of death. However, in this situation, she fears the death of her son.
Another symbols that appears in this scene is that of flowers. The mother describes her (deceased) son as being a geranium and her husband as a carnation. This metaphor represents the blooming life in people, and shows how this life can be abruptly cut short, much like how the bud of a flower can be snipped away. Lorca's use of flowers to exclusively describe males is itself an interesting decision. Although flowers represent life, they are also linked to femininity, and the representation of males as flowers clashes with this stereotype, and may be part of Lorca's own struggle against gender roles in his life.