While I was walking home from class, I was looking at all the fall leaves and thinking about particularity and singularity, as I am wont to do:-). I was inspired to collect leaves that would represent individuals from Antigone, my favorite play of the trilogy, and take a picture of them.
The big green and yellow leaf is symbolic of Creon. He is the biggest leaf, because he is the king and supposedly has the most power (but does he?). Creon is the only one of these people left alive at the end of the play and that is what the green of the leaf indicates. But, the brown on the edges symbolizes the death surrounding and overcoming him. There is also a hole on this leaf that is evocative of the disease that Creon’s tyrannical edict brought upon the city.
Antigone is the red leaf. The red of the leaf symbolizes her passion. The leaf is also reminiscent of the shape of a flame—another symbol of passion. Her passionate nature is destructive in the same way as fire.
Haimon is the yellow leaf that is shaped like a heart. This one is obvious I know, but what a neat leaf! Haimon loved Antigone, thus the shape of the leaf. But the color is also pure yellow, showing Haimon’s clarity of wisdom in regards to Justice. This leaf could also have signified Antigone’s love for her brother, Polyneices (but that wouldn’t be very “singularical”).
The fourth leaf, the ginko leaf, symbolizes Eurydices. I know little about her, but I felt that, since she was also a casualty of the tragedy, she too should have a leaf.
Though Creon did not die, his leaf is still in the picture, because of his tragic role. As you can see, from the positioning of the leaves, the three smaller ones are grouped slightly together in a kind of solidarity. The Creon leaf is set slightly apart and appears to be encroaching.
A common theme throughout the trilogy, and it seems in most tragedies, is fate and finitude. Fallen leaves remind me of these things. In my picture the leaves are stuck against the wet ground, as Oidipus is caught by his fate. The leaves were once alive on trees, but now they are near the limitations of their existence. As are all leaves of their kind, they are fated to turn and fall. The leaves signify the mortality of humanity—they are an emblem of finitude.
Reading the Oidipus trilogy has caused me to think about these things. Thinking about the different characteristics of the individuals within the plays really brings out the humanity of it. Even though the play is set in a foreign time and place, and deals with strange concepts of fate and the gods, “universal” human elements, such as love and death and passion, are central to the tragedy. Now that brings us back to particularity and singularity… which I think I just violated…