Drama at SMC

The play also presents two sobering reminders to would-be activists:  don’t expect the applause and support of the mob, many of whom suffer the troubled consciences of  women who have had an abortion, when you defend the sanctity of human life; and before embarking on such a noble enterprise get your spiritual life in order—you are going to need all the supernatural help you can get.  The tragic irony in Sophocles’ play is that Antigone’s “gods” even as she despairs of their aid, are actually at work the entire time in her defense and for her release. Her fiancée intervenes on her behalf, and the blind prophet convinces Creon to bury the dead and release Antigone because he has offended the gods. Her suicide is utterly pathetic for her release is imminent, and her self-immolation causes the grief and despair of Creon’s son and his wife who end their own lives as well.  Acknowledging his guilt for all the self-slaughter, Creon suffers but lives on a wiser man for when he prays for his own death, the Chorus reminds him “That will come when it comes;/ we must deal with all that lies before us. . . ./ For mortal men/ there is no escape from the doom we must endure” (1453-1454, 1457-1458).  The hope for all mankind is expressed in the final lines of the play:  “Wisdom is by far the greatest part of joy,/ and reverence toward the gods must be safeguarded./  The mighty words of the proud are paid in full/ with mighty blows of fate, and at long last,/ those blows will teach us wisdom” (1466-1470).

Quotes from Sophocles’s “Antigone.” The Three Theban Plays. Trans. Robert Fagles. Penguin, 1982.

A number of problems attend these criticisms, however. In the first place, it is unfair to criticize a work of art on account of its numerous parodies. As the proverb goes, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” and the number of imitations points rather to the excellence of the original work than its limitations. There is more to Romeo and Juliet than just the love story: it has endured for 400 years, and makes facing any personal discomfort worthwhile. On one level, this discomfort can be attributed to our puritanical background, but it is as much genuine fatigue from the battle against pressures to equate love with airy emotion and base carnal desire. It’s understandable that the constant fight against an incessant, inverted popular influence can create a distaste for, or at least a mistrust of anything relating to love and physical relationships, yet the play presents serious moral and social lessons both for parents and children.

Love and marriage are themes very relevant for young people, and the titular couple do present an example of true love, at least at the beginning. Romeo gives young men an example of the difference between his sniveling adolescent infatuation with Rosaline, and his true love for Juliet which inspires reverence rather than selfish gratification.  Juliet is an example of generosity, self-sacrifice, and fidelity even in the face of intense pressures. If all couples honored each other and treated each other with the tenderness and affection of this pair, far more marriages could avoid crisis. At the same time, married love should be tempered by reason. As Friar Lawrence says, one must “love moderately,” lest romantic passions entirely cloud reason, leading to disaster.

The more serious part of the play’s moral concerns the older generation. The love of Romeo and Juliet could have healed their city and reconciled their parents, but instead, Romeo and Juliet die despairing of their passion—why? Why do Romeo and Juliet not know how to love rightly? Their youth is partly to blame, but blame lies with their parents as well. The play is not only—or even primarily—about the suicide of two teenagers thwarted in love. As the Chorus enjoins from the very beginning, the play is about “two households, both alike in dignity/…[who] From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,/ Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” The authorities who should intervene to guide Romeo and Juliet all fail. Their parents fight out a useless, causeless grudge, senselessly staining the streets of Verona with blood. The Prince of Verona weakly rails against the chaos, but does nothing. Friar Lawrence, whose counsel directs the actions of the two “star-crossed lovers” in the most critical moments, gives them tragically imprudent advice.

This failure in society at large is mirrored in the scions of these houses, who faithfully follow the example of their parents—irrational, passionate anger and violence. Born into a world of violence, they live in violence and end their lives in that violence, their natural recourse when faced with any problem. If parents, then, do not properly prepare their children for love and the vicissitudes of life, “all are punished”—the children through a miserable life leading to a wretched death, the parents through gnawing remorse that comes too late.

Nothing can mitigate Romeo and Juliet’s responsibility for taking their lives, but much of the blame rests upon those who gave scandal to young minds and twisted their development. We see the frightening picture of violence begetting violence played out in today’s reality: either drunk on modern lies, or falsely secure within the circle of tradition, people do not know how to love. Suicide, divorce, unhappiness, and vice surround us: if we do nothing, what can happen to our own youth we must “with patient ears attend,” and learn.