Notes From January 22 and From 1st Week

Most important lines of Antigone are from 441 through 581

The professor pointed out that on the cover is a portrait of Simone Weil.
She interestingly learned ancient Greek at the age of only 12. She was a philosopher, a mystic, and also was very active in politics, in later life joining the French Resistance. She was passionate and has obvious similarities to Antigone in the way she dedicated her life fighting for what is right instead of submitting to authority.

Agon - a contest, an adversarial relationship

The passage in Antigone (441-581) illustrates several different types of conflict:
1. man vs. woman
2. old vs. young
3. society vs. individual
4. dead vs. living
5. men vs. gods

On a side note, I was noticing how similar the Greek culture was to our present day society. I skimmed through some of the other texts and found a few interesting things. The Greeks had a high regard for religion as we do, but most notably they had an affinity for drinking and sexual intercourse. The play Lysistrata is comprised of almost nothing except crude sex jokes. Also in the beginning of the Symposium, the conversation is about how "hungover" they all are and deciding how much to drink that evening. Their discussion is interrupted by a group of drunk men, one of whom admits that he is "smashed." I thought it was interesting how similar some of the things the ancient Greeks did to those we continue to do today.