File - UCL Discovery - University College London

380 Pages·2012·1.77 MB·English

by  Gotsi, A.

IRISH ANTIGONES

by
Aikaterini Gotsi

A Thesis Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
in COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
FEBRUARY 2012
1
ABSTRACT

This thesis examines the reception of Sophocles’ Antigone in Ireland from 1984 to
2004, in the light of the social and political developments that took place in the country
during that period. Chapter 1 examines the textual elements of translation, as well as the
different ways in which the mythic element of the tragedy and the characterisation are
‘translated’ in different versions. Chapters 2-4 explore particular dimensions of
contextual significance: politics, religion, gender. Each chapter first offers a brief
discussion of the relevant Irish circumstances, comparing and contrasting them with the
socio-political context of Sophocles’ Athens. Then, it examines the extent, the degree
and the different ways in which the translations reflect and engage with aspects of the
writers’ contemporary reality. Chapter 5, finally, deals with the scenic representation of
the plays as a different and complementary aspect of translation, looking at the degree
and the ways in which the different stagings reflect the Sophoclean play, the translations
in question and the larger social and political contexts of adaptation. Antigone proves to
be a remarkably flexible medium for the expression of strikingly different social and
political agendas over time.

Overall the thesis finds that, while the writers of the earlier versions reflect through the
Sophoclean tragedy the turbulent Irish society of the early 1980s, the writers of the turn
of the millennium, living in a globalised era, and with a more settled Ireland, locate the
reworking of the myth within a more international outlook. It argues however that the
2
reworkings of Antigone produced in 1984 by Aidan Mathews, Tom Paulin and Brendan
Kennelly - despite the significant differences between them - are more adventurous
treatments of the original play than the ones produced later, between 1999 and 2004, by
Declan Donnellan, Conall Morrison and Seamus Heaney. The thesis concludes that the
new readings of the Antigone myth in Ireland after 2004 suggest that the potential of
Sophocles’ tragedy within its Irish context is not exhausted yet.
3
Stories travel and stories stay. Stories
cross boundaries and frontiers, settle in
different places, and then migrate to or
colonize other places. They resurface in
different places at different times,
preserving their ability to entertain, to
enlighten and to bewitch.
Yannis Gabriel1

1 Gabriel (2004:1).
4
To my parents

5
TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT………………………………………………………… 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………… 6
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………….. 11
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………… 15
Greek Myths in Ireland………………………………………..………. 17
Antigone in the Modern World………………………………..………. 21
Antigone in Ireland…………………………………………….………. 23
Aims…………………………………………………………………… 27
Sources and Methods………………..………………………………… 29

1. VIOLENT WORDS, VIOLENT DEEDS:
TRANSLATING ANTIGONE IN IRELAND
AT THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY ……..…. 33
Negotiating the Text…………………………………………………... 36
I. WORDS…………………………………………………… 43
From Colloquialisms to Violent Words…….………………………… 53
6
From Violent Words to Violent Images……………….…………….. 56
II. MYTH…………………………………………………… 60
III. CHARACTERS………………………………………….
72
Antigone - Ismene…………………………………………………….
75
Creon - Antigone ……………………………………………………..
84
Minor Characters………………………………………………………
89
Eurydice………………………………………………………………..
93

2. “ODDLY RELEVANT TO THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES”:

ANTIGONE AND IRISH POLITICS, 1984 – 2004…………….
97
Sophocles’ Antigone and Politics……………………………...……… 101
The Burial of the Dead and its Political Implications in Ireland……… 108
Antigone in Ireland and Politics……………………………………….. 113
Defining Politics………………………………………………………. 121
Changes in Irish Politics and Society, 1984 – 2004…………………... 128
I. EARLY VERSIONS………………………………………….. 135
Parochial Colonialism…………………………………………………. 135
Interest in Domestic Politics…………………………………………... 140
The Failure of Politics ………………………………………………… 146
7
Belief in Man’s Potential - Call for Disobedience…………………….. 161
Antigone's Insistence on Personal Duty, despite Consequences……… 174
Ismene’s Dangerous Neutrality……………………………………….. 176
II. LATER VERSIONS……………………………………… 181
From Parochial Colonialism to Global Colonialism…………………... 181
Return to Politics……………………………………………………… 188

3. ANTIGONE AND RELIGION IN IRELAND ……………... 192
Religion in Sophocles’ Athens………………………………………... 195
Religion in Ireland…………………………………………………….. 199
Religious References in the Irish versions of Antigone ……………… 205
Conall Morrison’s Antigone…………………………………………… 210
Tom Paulin’s The Riot Act…………………………………………….. 212
Aidan Mathews’ Antigone…………………………………………….. 215
Brendan Kennelly’s Antigone…………………………………………. 240

4. IRISH ANTIGONES AND GENDER POLITICS………… 247
Women in Sophocles’ Time…………………………………………... 249
8
Female Imagery Associated with Ireland…………………………….. 253
Influential Irish Women……………………………………………….. 257
The Social Position and Role of Women in Ireland…………………... 260
Gender Issues in the Irish Translations of Antigone…………………... 264
Language and Gender………………………………………………… 265
Brendan Kennelly’s Antigone………………………………………… 269
Conall Morrison’s Antigone………………………………………….. 284

5. FROM THE PAGE TO THE STAGE: SCENIC
REPRESENTATIONS OF THE IRISH ANTIGONES……………. 286
Studying performances………………………………………………... 290
I. SET AND COSTUMES…………………………………... 296
Michael Scott’s staging of Mathews’ Antigone (1984) ……………… 303
Lorraine Pintal’s staging of Heaney’s The Burial at Thebes (2004) … 308
Stephen Rea’s staging of Paulin’s The Riot Act (1984)………………. 311
Conall Morrison’s staging of his Antigone (2003)……………………. 313
Patrick Mason’s staging of Heaney’s The Burial at Thebes (2008)….. 316

9
THE CHORUS……………………………………………..………… 317
I. THEME AND ACTION…………………………………. 328
Conall Morrison’s Antigone…………………………………………… 329
Patrick Mason’s The Burial at Thebes………………………………… 332
Lorraine Pintal’s The Burial at Thebes………………………………... 336
CONCLUSION………………………………………………………. 341
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………… 343

10