Wednesday, May 13, 2015

What songs could be paired with quotes in Sophocles' Antigone that reflect life lessons?

As a prophet, Tiresias speaks words that represent life lessons.  This is very much the case when he speaks about people's mistakes:  “All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.”  Tiresias warns of the hubris, or excessive pride, within human beings.  The life lesson he offers is how goodness lies in humility and acceptance of wrong to make things right.  In that vein, a potential response to Tiresias could be Frank Sinatra's "My Way." Sinatra sings the song as a man reflecting about his triumphs and mistakes. The overwhelming tone of the song is a resolution that what was done was done "my way."  Tiresias's call to relent from self-aggrandizement is countered with the tone of Sinatra's "My Way."  It might be interesting to cast Tiresias's words against the sentiments of Sinatra's tune.


When Creon is initially informed that someone has given Polynices a proper burial, he is disgusted.  He believes that the person who committed such an act must have been bribed with money to do so.  He communicates his anger at such a situation when he says, “There's nothing in the world so demoralizing as money.”  Creon believes that a life dedicated to material pursuits is no life at all. The "demoralizing" condition of money is effectively brought out in Pink Floyd's "Money."  The song is an indictment of a materialist culture where everyone is motivated by money.  Creon finds that human beings are lowered when they act for money, echoed in lyrics such as "Don't take a slice of my pie" and "Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash."  


The ending of Antigone has the Chorus speak about what human beings can do avoid the turbulence that has just been witnessed in the drama.  The Chorus speaks of how wisdom can be achieved: "Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness; and reverence towards the gods must be inviolate."  The life lesson is to embrace the will of the divine.  It calls upon individuals to recognize their own place in something larger. With that in mind, The Beatles's "Let It Be" connects to the Chorus's message.  Creon and Antigone cling so tightly to their beliefs that nothing else can be recognized.   Hearing Lennon's and McCartney's "words of wisdom" suggest that "there will be an answer" if we just "let it be" or leave it alone.  The song's call for internal reflection can easily connect to what the Chorus is saying to the audience at drama's end.

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