Power of Higher Authority in significant relevance to Antigone by Essay

Power of Higher Authority in significant relevance to Antigone by Sophocles and Another Antigone by A.R Gurney - Essay ExampleThe y byhful adaptation for theatre by A.R. Gurney offers an interesting contextualization of heroine Antigones fight against ascendancy. In both the cases, the theme is the same, one of confrontation of the individual will against a omnipotent authority figure. In Sophocles Antigone, this antagonist was Creon the King. In Gurneys play it is the Professor in Classics Department George Henry Harper. just the nature of struggle of the dickens heroines is the same. This demonstrate will argue that the depiction of the power of Higher Authority is crucial to the dramatization and moral deliberation of the two plays. Professor Henry Harper is equated to the tout ensemble powerful Creon of Sophocles conception. To match with his role as an intimidator Harper is given a grizzly white beard by author Gurney. The University of Boston and its hierarchy of adminis trators succeed the power structure for Another Antigone, with Henry Harper assuming a key position of power within in the Department of Classics. He is a tragicomic character in an academic environment that is struggling with reduced government funding and decreasing student enthusiasm. It is in this backdrop that Judy Miller plays out her tryst with power. (Diski 49) Miller, a candidate for valedictorian, presents her bold reworking of Antigone in blank verse form in the place of a formal term paper. Taken aback by this disrespect for rules, the professor exclaims Another Antigone in reference to both the work being presented and its author. At this point a antagonistic position of the disobedient student and her convention respecting professor is established. In Sophocles Antigone, by contrast, the confrontation between Antigone and her uncle Creon (the ruler of Thebes) begins with the demise of her two brothers Eteocles and Polyneices. Since Creon was on the side of Eteocles d uring the combat between the two brothers, he decrees to honor him in death. In sharp contrast he decrees that Polyneices be left rotting in the battle field sans a proper burial. This is the highest form of punishment in ancient Greek and its evocation is a measure of Creons hostility toward Polyneices. (Botton 20) In Creons own view, what legitimizes his decree is his authority as the supreme ruler of Thebes. He performs very little moral deliberation before setting his order to execution. It is unfair to compare Creon with Gurveys Harper, for the latter(prenominal) is not so much arrogant as formal and conservative. Henry Harpers power in the University is nowhere near equal to that wielded by Creon, the emperor of Thebes. Hence, although the two authority figures share a position of prestige and power, their personalities and purviews are very different. The overbearing undergrad Antigone, Ms. Miller, has as great an irrational say-so in her thespian powers as Shakespeares Bot tom, and when Henry Harper, that old Creon, refuses to give her play at least a B, she launches a campaign against him, including charges of anti-Semitism, that leads to a proper catastrophe. (Disch 174) But in Sophocles classic, Polyneices beloved sister Antigone is a balanced, intellectual and humane person (as evidenced from allusions in the play). Her love for her brother impels her to bury him properly. Though this action would complot the wrath of Creon and jeopardize her life, her humanity and love supersedes all other considerations. Antigone believes that though she may die as a consequence