Comparison between the father and son relationship in Antigone and The Wild Duck

International Baccalaureate World Literature

CHOICE OF SCENE

We chose those scenes as we feel that they reflect our thesis the best to portray the father and son relationship of the characters in both plays. In these scenes, the motifs of the characters are well presented and similarities and contrasts between the two plays can be seen clearly.

ANTIGONE

Complication
Happens as a result of Antigone going through with her plans; the main action of the play, Antigone responds to the dramatic incitement which is her choice of burying Polyneices

In antigone, its all very confrontational. Creon and Haemon speak directly to each other, without any hidden meaning to what they are saying. We decided to highlight this by making their movement dynamic. They move around a lot and this together with the dialogue they speak enhances the impact of hwat they are saying as the movement conveys how they feel. By placing the chorus on the stage, we also show the insignificance of the chorus and everyone else as Haemon and Creon are deeply engrossed in their argument. It is as though they don’t notice the presence of the others except their own. We also decide to make them face to the audience when they are saying specific parts to show its importance, that the audience needs to listen as it conveys an important message or moral. Because Creon, as we already know is not very good with using words to describe his emotions, we decided to convey this part by making him physical. We see him almost hitting Haemon and pushing him, etc and this depicts the strain in their relationship as father and son. Also, in this extract that we chose, Creon is seen to be more superior to Haemon. We show this by how he speaks. Creaon speaks louder and takes regular pauses in between his sentences to show that he is wiser and more rational; as if he thinks before he speaks. He also has a clear and precise intonation when pronouncing his words to highlight his aristocracy as the king and ruler. Haemon on the other hand is portrayed to be more sensitive, even though he doesn’t agree with Creon, he still shows respect thus having a “lower” status than Creon. He speaks with passion and has a softer tone to his voice, as he genuinely cares about Creon’s well-being (at the start). However, as Creon starts degrading him, he starts to get angry and this especially is highlighted when he stops Creon from slapping him.

THE WILD DUCK

Dramatic incitement
The whole play revolves around the dialogue as it is what that tells the audience about what happened in the past and it also portrays what sort of character Werle is. Everyone in the Ekdal household and Gregers is affected in some way by Werle and we find out this connection through this dialogue.

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THE WILD DUCK

Dramatic incitement
The whole play revolves around the dialogue as it is what that tells the audience about what happened in the past and it also portrays what sort of character Werle is. Everyone in the Ekdal household and Gregers is affected in some way by Werle and we find out this connection through this dialogue.

In wild duck it's all very “hiding behind facades and speaking in metaphors”. To show this, we break up the dialogue into short pauses, in which during this time the actor, chris (werle) does actions such as mixing drinks. This is done to emphasize how they are being watchful and cautious of what they are saying that they have to think about it before saying it. We also included the use of props for the wild duck because we feel that the sound these object makes will enhance the mood and atmosphere of the scene, to make it more realistic. Here, it is the opposite of Antigone as Gregers is portrayed to be the character with more control. We show this through his movement; Gregers always seem to move towards Werle, who appears to be more static. He usually just stands in one position or sit. To show the strain in their relationship, Werle at one point puts his hand on Gregers’ shoulder but Gregers merely shrugs it off as though saying “I’m not ready to make nice with you”. Gregers speak in a loud manner to portray his power over Werle.

POINTS OF COMPARISON

SIMILARITIES

Gregers and Haemon both leave at the end of each section – “leaving” is somewhat final
They are both accusing for lack of judgement/mistakes
Lecture from fathers; “how dare you speak in that tone”
Werle and Creon both dislike what their son had to say/disrespect
Woman scapegoat in both scenes

DIFFERENCES

Creon is explosive and very physical, and is obviously cruel and violent towards Haemon
Werle seems be used to such things from Gregers, expected behaviour
Creon is not used to Haemon telling him off, so he flies off the handle
Haemon’s words obviously affected Creon, judging from his reaction but Werle remains quite calm during the discussion, he is unaffected by all of Gregers’ words
Creon resorts to insulting Haemon; Werle never really replies directly to whatever Gregers say
Haemon leaves abruptly, and we know clearly why he leaves, but we are not entirely sure why Gregers leaves.

THESIS

In both plays, the distant father-son relationships portrayed have led to tragic resolutions.

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