Redstate

Well, I don't know if Bush is Creon, but Creon's actions make a lot of sense. It is all well and good to blame Creon for all that goes wrong, and he could have handled the situation better. But he's also a character deserving of far more sympathy than he normally gets. He's in a difficult situation--the political situation is still unstable, and here is his own prospective daughter in-law defying his law. And it is a good law--traitors are beneath contempt.

I've taught this play a few times, and it is simply too easy to let the students get away with the idea that Antigone is right because she's doing something that she thinks is right. If Antigone had not defied Creon's reasonable order, all could have avoided.

If Bush is Creon, who is Antigone, and who is Polynices? And who is Haemon?

One thing to consider here is that Sophocles' tragedies are exempla couched in extreme circumstances--so I might not see Bush "as" Creon, but propose that the Creon type, like the Antigone type or the Oedipus type, for that matter, has something to tell us all, including Bush.

Also, I'm pretty sure there wasn't any Sophocles, or much of anything else, left in Alexandria when they finally burnt what was left of the library, but that's really neither here nor there for this post.

  According to Aristotle, the perfect tragic hero is the good and just man who brings misfortune on himself not because of vice and depravity, but by some error or frailty contained within himself. In Bias (N. Ethics), Aristotle says that power does not change a man's character, it only shows what kind of man he already was; substantialism, if you will. Vices are not created by circumstance, but simply concealed by hypocrisy.

 If the Miers story plays out in true tragic fashion, i.e. if Bush carries on to the 'scene of suffering' (the Senate hearings?) we will have the unhappy ending required by Aristotle. However, part of the moral for the audience will be that it too has been blind: in Hamlet, for instance, our sympathy for the hero eventually turns into contempt (or it should, IMO). In this case however, let's hope for low comedy instead of high tragedy - maybe Miers will withdraw, marry Scooter Libby and become a Hollywood agent.

 I always knew that RS would become the locus of the classical revival. Your analogy is fitting and well done.

Jean Anouilh's version of Antigone is one of my favorites specifically because it gives Creon a lot more depth than just being a pawn of fate.

Except in Creon's case, he was acting out of a desire to uphold the law above personal feelings. Bush is doing quite the opposite - putting his personal consideration for Miers above his obligation to nominate a qualified judge to the Supreme Court.

And as for Polynices, the warring brother of Eteocles who betrayed Thebes for personal gain? I can think of no better match for that character's less than savory traits than the Democratic Party who seem all too willing to use the war in Iraq for their own political gain despite the fact that such politicization only hurts our mission of rebuilding that country...

And I've also been thinking about Bush and Creon in these last few weeks. I find the analogy wanting.

Creon is in an untenable situation essentially of his own making (there are parallels to Wagner's Wotan). Antigone is a strong-willed, trouble-making b***h who essentially triggers a catastrophe that was built into the situation itself.

I was privileged in my production to direct a cast of eye-popping names, who gave all of their very considerable resources to tremendous effect.

By far the most shattering moment in the play is the confrontation between Haemon and Creon. Here the conflict is distilled to its purest essence. Haemon is full of the most passionate kind of indignation, that which is undertaken on behalf of a beloved other. Creon may not respond in the slightest, and yet his inner force must be far greater even than Haemon's, since he responds in full measure to the passion and anger of his son, but yet he must suppress this response within himself. And this leads to the fatal crackup and entrains the rest of the action.

Creon's (and Wotan's) situation is volcanic and hypercharged enough to destroy the world. Bush's situation barely rises to the level of a kerfuffle.

Now bear in mind that my perspective is that of a theater director, and I know first-hand that this interpretation is successful as drama. I'd love to hear rejoinders, critiques and amplifications from the classical scholars out there.

(I also recommend Jean Anouille's fascinating and near-existential retelling of the Antigone story, also cast as a play for theater. Not sure it's been translated into English but it probably has.)

But comparisons and discussions like these may lend some weight to those that claim we who oppose Ms. Miers are elitists...

But it's a good diary nonetheless.

I admit the analogy isn't perfect, but Antigone isn't really an "elitist" play.  The translation I have, by Kitto, is one of the most readable and accessible translations for the stage that has ever been done, according to the editor.  

Antigone is also one of Sophocles' most versatile works:  the editor of my version notes that it has been mounted on the stage in many, many countries around the world all throughout the modern era, and Antigone has been made to shake her fist against all sorts of injustices, ranging from the Nazis to Apartheid in South Africa -- it's a uniquely "modern" play for something that was written by someone who lived from approx. 495-405 B.C.  

It's very easy to read, and is only about 40 pages long -- it took me less than two hours to reread it completely, all the notes included, and recall my basic Greek mythology, and I am no classics scholar or philhellene, that's for sure.  

The diary was mainly meant to provoke some thought, hopefully outside the sniping that's been taking place surrounding this nomination so far.  

Creon: George W. Bush

Antigone: Ann Coulter

Ismene: Harriet Miers

Polyneices: Karl Rove

Eteocles: Scooter Libby

Eurydice: Laura Bush

Teiresias: Spike Lee

The Sentry: Leon H.

The Chorus: RedState.org

Teresias' guide: Tiger Woods

Haemon: Charles Krauthammer

The Messenger: Rush Limbaugh

 I even went back to Oedipus; I hear a cream pie coming through the virtual ether but why Tiger Woods?

With very minor cuts (some of Eurydice's stuff and some chorus bits), we got our production in at just about 34 minutes. We drove the tempo very fast to keep the tension up. And we stuck to the classic text (but translated into English of course), with no extra garbage tacked on. I've seen many Antigones with topical references, set in Texas, etc. ad nauseam. But the play stands on its own without any help from evil Nazis or Republicans. ;-)

You always want to cast a black actor in the role with the most moral authority. Here, that's Teiresias. Obviously you need a bright, beautiful, young black person to be his assistant, partly because they look great and partly because it would never do for a white boy to be the eyes of a black man. And you can't cast a Denzel because it's far too small a role for him. So I decided to give Tiger a cameo.

I picked Spike for Teiresias because he has been so eloquent lately on the issue of the Bush Administration bombing New Orleans levees, and also because Morgan Freeman wasn't available.

After the flames subside, I'll elaborate some more in case there are any intelligent responses. LOL!

I decided to leave Oedipus uncast because the natural choice (George H. W. Bush) seems so inappropriate. Even worse is Barbara Bush as Jocasta.

I considered Barry Goldwater, Reagan, and WFB. No good. So I left it uncast. How would you have reacted to Whittaker Chambers?

(BTW, for those of you who aren't theater people, this whole genre of imaginative casting is one of our most evil party games. And that's saying something.)

I majored in Classics.

He is the archetype of hubris, a character who grasps so tightly onto the "law" that he abdicates his moral compass.

Creon is not a pawn of fate.  He not doing his duty to Thebes to prevent the burial of Antigone's brother--he is, rather, doing injury to the gods, who demand the proper burial of even your greatest enemy.  Even strong-willed Achilles relented and allowed Hector to be buried in the face of Priam's pleading--because it was the right thing to do before the gods.

To defend Creon is to make a colossal error of judgment, and to completely misunderstand the obligations and dynamics not only Greek civilization, but human morality.

that Creon could have handled the crisis any differently. The situation is entirely of his own making, but he's trapped in a box. There is no right answer for him. That's why this play has resonated down the millennia.

I think it's entirely too pat to say that he should have made an exception in Antigone's case. Law loses legitimacy if not applied consistently. Yet the gods (properly) demand proper tribute for the dead brother, unjustly vilified in death by Creon. The only path for him is annihilation.

Antigone herself is almost a cipher, exhibiting some of the insanity of Elektra. It's almost as if the trigger for the catastrophe is planted in her, and she has no liberty to deny it. Much to her sister's uncomprehending dismay (again, recalling Chrysothemis).

There's another aspect of the backstory that hasn't been discussed; I don't know if Sophocles accepts it. The original foray of Polynices and the Seven arose because they'd agreed to alternate as rulers of the city every year, but Eteocles refused to surrender power. So the guilt of the war is really shared between them (along with the sin of fratricide, of course). Creon's decision to honor Polynices as a hero is quite arbitrary.

I wish I knew more about Greek drama, although I definitely appreciate reading a diary such as this one.  In my opinion, some comparisons could also be made between Bush and Creon when Bush was still governor of Texas and facing the Karla Faye Tucker situation.