Renaissance Mom Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 We'll read/discuss Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, Eumenides (the Oresteia), and Oedipus the King. I have room to add EITHER Medea OR Antigone -- which would you chose and why? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Antigone, because the theme is taken up by many later adaptations. I'd have the student read a summary of the Medea story just for completeness, but I would think Antigone has the larger cultural impact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 regentrude is correct about Antigone being picked up later. BUT I like Medea better; it is a more interesting story. Plus, I think it rounds out your choices with a tragedy from Euripides. He is different from either Sophocles or Aeschylus The unfinished, what do I feel or think, moment at the end of Media is important and it is that feeling that Euripides brings to the table. And it is what will also continue in tragedy in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 I agree, I would definitely pick Antigone. The whole question of personal moral responsibility vs. "the state" is fascinating. Its themes weave in and out of later literature and it's as relevant today as it was when it was written. Medea is really tough. It also has timeless themes - love, betrayal, revenge - but the whole idea of a mother murdering her children to revenge herself on a faithless husband, and murdering her rival too, then sailing off with the King of Athens to start a new life . . . it's a lot less . . . satisfying. And I'm a big fan of tragedy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 I agree with Regentrude. There is an enduring relevance to Antigone, since it addresses the questions of public piety and meeting the obligations to family vs obeying the dictates of the law. I don't think that Medea has the same resonance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Antigone, but only because we liked the production we watched of it better. (Juliet Stevenson played Antigone in the version we watched.) However, the discussion of Medea that Elizabeth Vandiver did in her Greek Tragedy course has stuck with me. I don't even know if she mentioned Antigone. She must have, but it didn't make as much impression. This leads me to believe that Medea is a more powerful story. What I'd probably do is get the Vandiver lectures on Greek Tragedy, listen to them, then decide which one is more interesting to you based on that. (And you'll get a lot more out of the plays if you do the lectures as well.) To be honest, though, I'd probably drop one of your others and do both Antigone and Medea. I thought they were both more interesting. But that's me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayne J Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Antigone, for all the reasons mentioned above. Still so relevant, and lots of opportunity for great discussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 My teens studied antigone this year and seemed to enjoy the class discussions (they did it with an online class so I have no clue what they discussed). We have not done Medea so can't compare it to that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 However, the discussion of Medea that Elizabeth Vandiver did in her Greek Tragedy course has stuck with me. I don't even know if she mentioned Antigone. She must have, but it didn't make as much impression. This leads me to believe that Medea is a more powerful story. What I'd probably do is get the Vandiver lectures on Greek Tragedy, listen to them, then decide which one is more interesting to you based on that. (And you'll get a lot more out of the plays if you do the lectures as well.) To be honest, though, I'd probably drop one of your others and do both Antigone and Medea. I thought they were both more interesting. But that's me. I agree with the Vandiver part. Antigone is an earlier Sophocles drama and she makes clear in her discussion that she thinks Creon is probably the tragic hero not Antigone which means the play isn't really about an individual vs. the state as the pivotal conflict. Medea gets at what was happening in Greek thought at the time in regards to how the gods and fate were regarded or coming to be regarded. In many ways the same strain of thought can be seen in our own culture. I also agree that although the Orestes trilogy is intact, I'd be tempted to jettison the last in its sequence over either Antigone or Medea. While scholars may like the intact part, I'm not sure high school students will get that much out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I also agree that although the Orestes trilogy is intact, I'd be tempted to jettison the last in its sequence over either Antigone or Medea. While scholars may like the intact part, I'm not sure high school students will get that much out of it. :iagree: If you have to choose one, I'd choose Antigone, for all the reasons previously cited. But I think it would make more sense to do Sparknotes or something for the Eumenides, so that you can read both Medea and Antigone, rather than do 3 Aeschylus and 2 Sophocles and totally skip Euripides. Jackie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reya Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 When I first read Antigone in middle school, I decided that's what I wanted to name my daughter. I didn't...but Antigone. More people read it AND I like it better than Medea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I would add Antigone, for the moral dilemmas. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renaissance Mom Posted December 13, 2012 Author Share Posted December 13, 2012 This is fun! I just love it when others willingly share their experience and opinions! Thanks so much to all who have posted. I had ordered Prof. Vandiver's Greek Tragedy lectures before I even asked this question. Actually, dd actually requested that I order them because we've enjoyed and gotten so much out of the Iliad and Odyssey lectures. The good news is that no matter which play we leave out, we can still listen to the lectures to fill in the blanks. Right now, I am leaning toward including Antigone. Thanks all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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