About Reality in Anouilh's Antigone and Claudel's L'Annonce faite Marie

Author(s): Marie Thomas

Source: The French Review, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Oct., 1966), pp. 39-46
Published by: American Association of Teachers of French
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About Reality in Anouilh's Antigone and
Claudel's L'Annonce faite a Marie

by Sister Marie Thomas,F. S. E.

T HE PROBLEMS
TREATEDIN THESEPLAYSarereal,vital
life problems encompassing the idea of God, of man's struggle as he faces
his destiny, of liberty, of justice, of love, of the mystery of human life and
of ultimate questions which must be faced and resolved. Both plays can be
classified within the limits of tragedy and more specifically can be labeled
tragedies of redemption. Violaine and Antigone, the protagonists, are
victims, outcasts of society who stand alone against the world, living in it
but not according to its standards. In their heroic struggle against odds, we
see depicted the real existence of both evil and good. They have taken upon
themselves the destiny of others and we can say that, although their hier-
archy of values are antipodal, their actions have a redeeming value in their
own particular way.
The sharp, clear-cut contrast existing between the sister groups: Anti-
gone-Ismbne, Violaine-Mara is easily discernible from the very beginning.
Ismbne is the lovely lively young girl whom H6mon had first chosen until
one day, at a dance, he proposed to her sister Antigone who lacks all ex-
terior charm. Mara, meaning bitter, is the ugly duckling of the family,
jealous of Violaine, her beautiful virtuous sister who is affianced to Jacques,
the one Mara loves. But within this framework, the characters move ac-
cording to their author's vision of reality.
At first glance, the couple groups: Antigone-H6mon, Violaine-Jacques do
not offer the same sharp differences as the sister groups and we must study
the unfolding of the plot in order to establish a well-defined contrast.
However, in each case there is either a confrontation with reality or an
escape from it, there being no other exit.
Let us consider the sister groups. As we first meet Antigone, a crisis has
occurred in her life and her action concerning it has determined her fate.
In wilful defiance of Cr6on's law, fully aware that the penalty of her act is
death, Antigone has buried her brother. Returning at daybreak, she is met
by her irate nurse and her sister. From the point of view of purely human
39

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40 FRENCH REVIEW

reasoning, represented here by the nurse and Ismbne, Antigone's action is as

foolhardy as it is daring. Ismbne cannot understand the motive of her sister's
deed. She loves Antigone dearly but not to the point of dying for her cause.
Reality for her consists in accepting existing conditions such as they are.
She knows she cannot change Cr6on's law. Therefore, she makes as strong a
plea as possible for herself and begs her sister not to be such a fool but
rather, to try to understand and reason out the situation. She describes the
horror ahead if Antigone refuses to compromise. The idea of suffering "sans
savoir si c'est bien ou mal ... souffrir, sentir que la douleur monte ... monte
encore . . . " is so dreadful that she cannot face it. "Antigone", she cries
out, "je t'en supplie ... c'est bon pour les hommes de croire aux idees et de
mourir pour elles ... ton bonheur est 1 devant toi et tu n'as qu'd le pren-
dre".1 Antigone, who has already decided her fate has only one reply. "A
chacun son r61le.Lui (Cr6on) il doit nous faire mourir et nous, nous devons
enterrer notre frbre. C'est comme cela que c'a 6t6 distribu6. Qu'est-ce que
tu veux que nous y fassions" (p. 18).
Ismbne does not share her sister's "Aquoi bon" attitude when faced with
justice, the mystery of life and the ultimate question of death. She is not
ready to die. She has chosen life and therefore continues her struggle against
Antigone although she realizes that there will be no argument strong enough
to sway her sister's mind. She tries to play on her sister's emotions: ".. . tu
es fianc6e, tu es jeune, tu es belle .. .". She paints a sweet family picture,
the type of picture which is real to her. "Antigone, ma petite soeur, nous
sommes tous la autour de toi, H6mon, nounou et moi, et Douce, ta chienne
... nous t'aimons et nous sommes vivants, nous, nous avons besoin de toi.
Polynice est mort et il ne t'aimait pas" (p. 33). Ismbne is very much alive
to all the world has to offer. Love, mutual understanding, the simple things
of life are sufficient for her happiness. She realizes her own limitations and
attempts to persuade Antigone to see according to her scale of values. "Ne
tente pas ce qui est au-dessus de tes forces" (p. 33). As a final, almost super-
human gesture of fraternal love, she comes to Antigone ready to follow her
to her death. "Je ne veux pas vivre si tu meurs, je ne veux pas rester sans
toi". Antigone's incisive reply seems unduly rigorous. "Tu as choisi la vie
et moi la mort. Laisse-moi maintenant avec tes j6r6miades" (p. 68).
Ismene's role ends here. Standing as she does for normalcy, content with
a normal way of life, normal attitudes towards its problems and seeking only
a normal amount of peace and happiness, Ismbne cannot share Antigone's
views. No further dialogue is possible between them.
Antigone stands alone as she faces the world, her uncle and her fate. She
1 Jean Anouilh, Antigone (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1952), p. 22. Subsequent quota-
tions are taken from this edition.

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ANOUILH-CLAUDEL 41

is not free not to die because that is what she has deliberately chosen.
"J'aurais bien voulu ne pas mourir" is her answer to Ismbne's "Je ne veux
pas mourir" (p. 18). She suffers in protest and open revolt against existing
conditions and refuses to go out of herself and break the wall of her own
prison. The more ominous and hopeless the reality, the more stubborn and
desperate she is in refusing to understand anybody's point of view but her
own. "Comprendre. Toujours comprendre. Moi, je ne veux pas compren-
dre", she cries out to Ismbne. To Cr6on who argues likewise, her reply is
the same. "Je ne veux pas comprendre. C'est bon pour vous. Moi je suis lA
pour autre chose que pour comprendre. Je suis 1 pour vous dire non et pour
mourir" (p. 58). His mounting anger at her stubbornness, at what he calls
"ce geste absurde", his attempt to force her to change her mind through
brutal force, all is of no avail. Creon and Antigone represent two concepts of
life which are irreconcilable. Both are adamant and will not change their
mode of action.
As for H6mon, her fiance, it takes all the physical and moral strength she
can muster to dismiss him from her life but her attitude does not change.
In the final scene, as she dictates a letter to her beloved, she admits that
she does not know why she is dying and the thought terrifies her. It is only
now, when it is too late, that she understands how simple life could have
been. No one will know the depth of her anguish however, for she tells the
guard to cross out all that she had dictated and her final word is a plea for
forgiveness from one who loves.
Antigone is sincere in her inner desire to be true to herself, to follow her
own vision of life. Since every individual is distinct from all others and leads
a life which is his and cannot be absorbed or completely understood by any-
one because it is a life peculiar to that individual alone, Antigone as such is
free.2 She is free to choose death rather than play the game as the other
members of her family do. Her tragic choice, however, represents a selfish
liberty which refuses to face any other reality except her own. Such liberty
is "essentially anarchic and destructive".' Had she directed her will towards
acceptance of suffering in order to alleviate it and transcend it, she would
have converted evil into good. But she rejects hope and contradicts life by
saying "no" to it. She does not stop to consider whether her guilty brother's
cause is a just one, or whether she acts the way she does because she loves
him. The reality of love, that power which can renew the world, is non-
existent in her life. Her desperate resolution is the only way out in the
chaotic world in which she moves. Bereft of metaphysical values, it is the
2 Jean Mouroux, The Meaning of Man, trans. A. H. Downs (New York: Sheed and
Ward, 1948), p. 144.
3Mouroux, p. 148.

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42 FRENCH REVIEW

type of universe where there can be no final answers. Her action is a symbol
of her own idea of liberty. For Antigone, reality is an absolute refusal of all
compromises. The why of her actions remains unanswered to the very end.
In the prologue of L'Annoncefaite 4 Marie, a candle, symbol of Violaine's
way of life, is used to illumine her face. She radiates happiness because her
future is clearly mapped out for her. "Ah! que ce monde est beau et que je
suis heureuse" !4 That is her greeting to Pierre de Craon, master builder of
cathedrals, whom she has not seen since he had tried to force his love on her
a year ago. He is now at breaking point of physical and mental torture.
Leprosy, the penalty for his sin, is slowly corrupting his body and jealousy
is gnawing at his heart for he knows that she will never be his. "Ah! que ce
monde est beau et que je suis malheureux" (p. 21) is his answer to Violaine's
joy. She reproaches him, tells him to be a man, and if he is to be consumed
by the burning fire of leprosy, let it be on a golden candelabra "comme le
Cierge pascal en plein choeur pour la gloire de toute I'Eglise" (p. 23).
Willingly, to prove that the past is forgiven and because she feels sorry for
him, Violaine gives him a kiss of peace as he leaves through the door she has
opened for him. That very token is the presage of her future sufferings. With
this gesture, she has committed herself to the salvation of Pierre as well as
to the salvation of Jacques and Mara. One might say that it is a symbol of
the salvation of humanity for the salvation of one and the salvation of all
are one and the same thing for the Christian Claudel. From this point on,
she will be consumed in silence until her candle burns out.
As marks of leprosy appear on her body, Violaine will go along the lonely,
narrow path of humiliation for she loses Jacques to Mara and takes up
Mara's cross as well as Pierre's to the very end. Yet, her "fiat" is as spon-
taneous as her kiss of peace. Hers is the liberty that gives and is "essentially
committed and constructive".' There is joy in her sacrifice for she knows the
reason for her suffering. Her contribution to the good of others constitutes
her happiness. She has willed suffering in view of a greater good than her
own. Her love is heroic in that it absorbs her entire being, forces her to
renounce herself completely for others so that they may have a new life.
Such love is real and transcendent. Reality for Violaine consists in saying
yes to life, yes to the role which has been reserved for her. It takes super-
human courage to look upon the reality which she faces and to accept it in its
totality. In her order of reality, there is an awareness of something beyond
earthly experience which the other characters do not understand. She suffers
tremendously but the sacrificial brasier into which she has entered is the
4 Paul Claudel, Th&Mtre II (Paris: Gallimard, 1942), p. 21. Subsequent quotations
are taken from this Pliade edition.
5 Mouroux, p. 149.

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ANOUILH-CLAUDEL 43

key to the souls of Jacques, Mara and Pierre, who will be saved only by her
total adhesion to God's will. She receives no comforting word, no alleviation
from pain. She drinks the bitter wine to the very dregs of the cup. Yet, there
is no anguish, no doubt, only deep love, interior peace and the pure, simple
faith that can and does move mountains. Her every action takes her step
by step towards death, but likewise towards redemption.
Mara, too, has chosen her own way of life and when she pleads, it is com-
pletely for herself. She knows what she wants. Her choice is Jacques Hury
whom her sister has taken away from her. There is nothing sweet and lovely
about Mara. She resents bitterly the favoritism shown to Violaine and feels
that life has cheated her out of everything. Her determination is such that
she will go to the limit, suicide, to achieve her end. Now that she has heard
the news of the betrothal of Violaine and Jacques, she must act, and act
quickly. The time is ripe for a final explanation and more important still,
she has the defense weapon needed to win her case. Violaine's kiss of peace
to Pierre de Craon as he took final leave of her was witnessed by Mara.
It is the circumstantial evidence that she will use to full advantage, con-
fronting her poor old mother with that fact and forcing her to capitulate as
she threatens to kill herself if events do not run their course according to
her desires. "Va-t-en lui dire", she tells her mother, "qu'elle ne l'6pouse pas
ou je me tuerai ... Je me pendrai sur le bflcher / La oct l'on a trouv6 le chat
perdu ... Dis-lui que je me tuerai. Tu m'as bien entendue" (pp. 34, 36).
For Mara, reality represents the use of her free will to realize the fullness of
her being "hic et nunc". Egotism dictates her choice and the final outcome
cannot be anything else but unhappiness.
As a tragedy of redemption, the culminating point in the play is reached
in Act II, scene 3. The two sisters confront one another: Violaine whose body
is decayed by leprosy but whose soul has been purified and sanctified in the
process and Mara, physically healthy but sick in mind and soul, carrying the
inanimate body of her only child to Violaine. Humanly speaking, the aspect
of the two is terrifying at this point and Mara's demands tax Violaine's faith
to its limit. But the persistence of Mara forces God's Hand and charity
overcomes the struggle, ennobling both sisters. Thus, Claudel succeeds in
communicating both the horror and the glory necessary for a complete
portrayal of tragedy. It will be through Violaine that Mara's child will be
reborn. Violaine will go even further and give her life so that Mara can
finally see the value of spiritual realities. Mara will continue to suffer for her
guilt but thanks to Violaine's martyrdom, she will learn to accept "cette
douleur qui suffit A ceux qui n'ont pas la joie" (p. 103). Her revolt ends in
peace as her mind opens to the true realities of life.
In the case of H6mon and Jacques, their lives are in the hands of Antigone

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44 FRENCH REVIEW

and Violaine. H6mon's way of life depends on Antigone's decision. He is

confident about the future, secure in the choice he has made in taking
Antigone for a life partner. The two meet only twice in the entire play and
these encounters must necessarily produce a quick end-result. The first
dialogue is a charming love scene wherein Antigone for a brief moment is
a real woman face to face with the man she loves. We learn that they had
met the night before and that she had left him abruptly after a slight
quarrel. She now asks his pardon. He has already forgiven her but he wants
to know why she had dressed so elaborately last evening. He knows the
answer of course, but he wants to hear it from Antigone's lips just as Anti-
gone wants to hear him repeat that he loves her. The dialogue continues and
their hearts beat in unison with future plans. Then, Antigone tells him that
she has two more things to say and once she has uttered them, he must leave
without questioning. Thus pushed against a wall, he has to acquiesce to her
wish. Softly, after repeated avowals of love from her beloved, Antigone tells
him that they will not be man and wife in this world. The impact of this
news leaves him in a state of shock. His first impulse is to ask why but she
forces silence upon and he is obliged to take leave of her without solving the
enigma. It is only later that the reality of life becomes clear to him and
Antigone's perplexing words are understood when he learns that she is
condemned to death for having trespassed Cr6on's law.
Before H6mon's final meeting with Antigone, there is a poignant dialogue
between father and son. Cr6on argues his case as enforcer of the law and
tries to make H6mon see that he must accept his fate and submit to reality.
"Chacun de nous a un jour ... o0' il doit enfin accepter d'6tre un homme"
(p. 21). But H6mon refuses to face any other reality than his own and leaves
his father in a fit of terrible anguish and revolt in order to reunite himself
with Antigone. Their fatal end is related by a messenger. After rushing into
the pit where Antigone has hung herself by means of a cincture, H6mon
drops to her side, refuses to hear his father's plea from above and with a
last look of hatred towards him, takes his sword and kills himself.
H6mon's end, like that of Antigone, is catastrophic. Theirs is the tragic
sense of life with its anguish, suffering, despair, a life void of transcendent
values. Earlier in the play, Anouilh expresses these ideas clearly when the
Chorus speaks out his views on tragedy. "... surtout c'est reposant, la
trag6die, parce qu'on sait qu'il n'y a plus d'espoir, le sale espoir" (p. 39).
Where there is no hope, there is lack of universal values and there is no
triumph of good over evil or evil over good. The last word has been uttered
when his characters meet their final fate. "Maintenant, c'est fini . . . Tous
ceux qui avaient A mourir sont morts; ceux qui croyaient une chose et puis
ceux qui croyaient le contraire--mme ceux qui ne croyaient rien ... Morts
pareils, tous, bien raides, bien inutiles ... C'est fini" (pp. 84-85).

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ANOUILH-CLAUDEL 45

Jacques' case is similar to that of H6mon only in that his way of life
depends on Violaine's decision. In the third scene of the first act, Claudel
introduces him to the reader and we learn that he is to be the new master of
Combernon. The patriarch Anne Vercors has gathered his last harvest and
is on his way to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage. Before leaving, he has promised
his daughter Violaine to Jacques Hury and the engagement has been sealed
with his blessing. Combernon, Monsanvierge, a woman's monastery de-
pendent on the farm, Violaine: such is the rich patrimony which Jacques
must preserve lovingly and wisely. We next meet Jacques in the second act
in a short dialogue with Mara, which prepares the ground for the classic
love scene between Jacques and Violaine, a scene which is a brilliant coun-
terpart of the charming but more prosaic love scene between Antigone and
H6mon.
The setting for this scene is high noon. Jacques marvels as Violaine ap-
proaches him, dressed in the costume of the Choir nuns of Monsanvierge,
radiant in white and gold, with a jeweled crown on her head. It is a mysteri-
ous, awesome moment and he can only whisper "Que vous etes belle / Vio-
laine! Et que ce monde est beau ouivous etes / Cette part qui m'avait 6t6
r6serv6e" (p. 49). This is Violaine's fragile moment of happiness which she
must enjoy fully. She wants to hear over and over again that he loves her
before the tragic moment when she must reveal to Jacques the terrible
secret she bears. The revelation is a gradual one in order to try to soften
the blow when stark reality will demand of Jacques a greater faith and
charity than he can give. A series of rhetorical questions finally bring
Violaine to the climactic end she has already envisioned. "La main de Dieu
est sur moi et tu ne peux me d6fendre! / 0 Jacques, nous ne serons pas mari
et femme en ce monde" (p. 54). These are strange, bitter words to Jacques
who tells her, "Ne me damnez pas par la privation de votre visage" (p. 55).
Violaine's only answer is to show him "le mal" which will slowly consume
her body, leprosy.
Faced with this dreadful reality, Jacques' reaction is completely human.
He acts upon the visible evidence and condemns her mercilessly. Yet, in
spite of that cruel reality, he would forgive the evil he thinks she has done,
if she would only say something that could offer him a ray of hope. Violaine
refuses to plead her own cause. His faith is not strong enough to rise above
the visible and he leaves Violaine. Her life is now completely in God's
Hands, His instrument to use as He wishes. In the final act, as night closes
in on Violaine's life, Jacques meets her once more. The Violaine he sees has
come home to die but before crossing the threshold of eternity, there re-
mains a final task for her, to reassure Jacques and to bring peace to him
and Mara. This scene can be called the counterpart of the love scene in Act
three. Then, Jacques was blind to reality. Here, the blind Violaine opens the

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46 FRENCH REVIEW

eyes of his soul. She has attained her goal after traveling a long and very
real distance. She makes him understand that there was a reason for her
suffering. "Il est trop dur de souffrir et de ne savoir A quoi bon / .. . Heu-
reux celui qui souffre et qui sait quoi bon" (p. 89). She does not promise
him happiness. "Aie de moi ceci mon bien-aim6! / La communion sur la
croix" (p. 91). The dialogue ends on a peaceful note as Violaine softly voices
a last praise to God, and as an encouragement to Jacques, adds: "Mais que
c'est bon aussi de mourir! Alors que c'est bien fini et que s'6tend sur nous
peu A peu / L'obscurcissement comme d'un ombrage trbs obscur" (p. 95).
The adjective "bien" connoting the idea of "well done, good and faithful
servant" does not find a place in the "C'est fini" of Anouilh. Violaine gone,
the tragic sense of life weighs heavily upon Jacques as he sees Mara coming
to him in the semi-darkness. But now he possesses the necessary courage to
say yes to life because of that valiant woman who had said yes to life from
the very beginning and knew the why of her suffering.
Anouilh's tragic vision not only stresses the ugly side of life but shows the
absurdity of it all. As he himself says, tragedy is somewhat like a film "dont
le son s'est enray6 ... toute cette clameur qui n'est qu'une image et le
vainqueur, d6jk vaincu, seul au milieu de son silence" (p. 39). A deathly
silence is his only answer. On the other hand, Claudel's tragedy stresses
the absolute which gives a real meaning to life. He gives us his answerwhen
he says: ". . . si le monde autour de nous tel quel est la seule v6rit6, si l'expli-
cation que nous pouvons en trouver n'est qu'une mimique et non pas une
clef, a quoi bon se fatiguer A sortir de nos ressources po6tiques un double
vain"?6 That is why Antigone and H6mon are engulfed in a dreadful dark-
ness as death closes in on them whereas light is ready to emerge as Violaine
breathes her last. Selfishness seals the fates of Antigone and H6mon to a
hopeless end. Selflessness brings Violaine to an eternal beginning and saves
those for whom she chose to suffer.
ANNHURST COLLEGE

6 Paul Claudel, RMflexions sur la pohsie (Paris: Gallimard, 1963), p. 137.

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