Antigone Journal 2

“Creon. Yes, I could have done that. Only, I felt that it would have been cowardly. I should have been like a workman who turns down a job that has to be done. So I said yes.

Antigone.  So much the worse for you, then. I didn’t say yes. I can say no to anything I think vile, and I don’t have to count the cost. But because you said yes, all that you can do, for all your crown and your trappings, and your guards-all that you can do is to have me killed.

Creon. Listen to me.

Anitgone. If I want to. I don’t have to listen to you if I don’t want to.  You’ve said your yes. There is nothing more you can tell me that I don’t know. You stand there, drinking in my words. [She moves behind chair.] Why is it that you don’t call your guards? I’ll tell you why? You want to hear me out to the end; that’s why.” (35)

In this passage from Antigone, Jean Anouilh uses parallel structure and gesture to show the reader that even a young, seemingly ignorant girl, can prove her power and authority.

            While fighting with her uncle, the king, Creon, Antigone uses parallel structure by ending sentences with the same words in order to show her power and authority. She first says “if I want to,” and the next sentence ends with “I don’t want to“(10-11). The use of this repetitive structure allows her to sound educated and powerful. She is aware the she never “[said] yes,” (6) or gave her word, that she would not try to bury her brother. She rubs it in Creon’s face that she is free to make her own choices which gives her more power, in a way, than Creon who must act righteously and for the good of the people of Thebes to set a good example to keep the citizens loyal. Antigone is wise to her power and uses parallel structure to shed her youthful ignorance and prove her power and authority.

            In the middle of her fight with Creon, Antigone uses a gesture to mock her uncle and show her power. Antigone accuses Creon of being “cowardly,” (2) and he agrees. Directly after her strong parallel structure, Antigone can tell that Creon is engaged and “drinking in [her] words,” (13) and she further proves her authority by “[moving] behind her chair” (13) which is a physical gesture expressing her mockery of her uncle’s cowardliness.  After her gesture, she continued to further taunt Creon by questioning why he hasn’t “call[ed] [his] guards (14). Antigone’s gesture weakens Creon’s power and allows her to have authority and power, rather than seem like an ignorant young girl.