Both Sophocles in his play, Antigone, and Lorraine Hansberry in her play, A Raisin in the Sun, explore the connection between pride and suffering. However, both plays differ in their representation of pride; Sophocles gives pride a negative connotation whereas Hansberry provides insight into why pride is important for people to have—especially when facing oppression or alienation from society. Most notably in Sophocles’ play is Antigone: a woman with strong drive and pride for her family. In Hansberry’s play, we are introduced to Mama Lena: she too, has a sturdy resolve and pride for her entire family, no matter what happens. These two characters fight to defend what they are prideful of—but both plays end with significantly different outcomes.
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In ARITS, the very first passage describes the Youngers’ bleak living room and all of its problems, but remarks: “Still, we can see that at some time, a time probably no longer remembered by the family (except perhaps for MAMA), the furnishings of this room were actually selected with care and love and even hope – and brought to this apartment and arranged with taste and pride” (Hansberry, P23). Hansberry, in her description of the living room and its history, informs the reader of the pride that Mama Lena has for the apartment, which is a direct parallel to the Younger family. In this first passage, Hansberry reveals the central theme of familial pride and the motif of societal success; both combine and intertwine throughout the book within characters such as Mama Lena and Ruth in order to show the interconnectedness of pride and prosperity. With the central theme of family and the motif of prosperity in society, Hansberry carries the Younger family throughout the play to a new home, sustaining a positive outcome with correlation to familial pride. Contrastingly, in Antigone, at the beginning of the play, when Ismene ridicules the notion of burying Polyneices, Antigone replies, “He is my brother still, and yours; though you would have it otherwise, but I shall not abandon him” (Sophocles, P1). Sophocles reveals familial pride through the dialogue “he is my brother still, and yours”, but the brother they are talking about is dead. Through this opening dialogue, Sophocles introduces the theme of familial pride, but also the motif of death: in Antigone, both go hand in hand, interweaving throughout the story. Through the outcome of the play and the connection of both themes, Sophocles paints pride with a negative connotation,
In ARITS, the very first passage describes the Youngers’ bleak living room and all of its problems, but remarks: “Still, we can see that at some time, a time probably no longer remembered by the family (except perhaps for MAMA), the furnishings of this room were actually selected with care and love and even hope – and brought to this apartment and arranged with taste and pride” (Hansberry, P23). Hansberry, in her description of the living room and its history, informs the reader of the pride that Mama Lena has for the apartment, which is a direct parallel to the Younger family. In this first passage, Hansberry reveals the central theme of familial pride and the motif of societal success; both combine and intertwine throughout the book within characters such as Mama Lena and Ruth in order to show the interconnectedness of pride and prosperity. With the central theme of family and the motif of prosperity in society, Hansberry carries the Younger family throughout the play to a new home, sustaining a positive outcome with correlation to familial pride. Contrastingly, in Antigone, at the beginning of the play, when Ismene ridicules the notion of burying Polyneices, Antigone replies, “He is my brother still, and yours; though you would have it otherwise, but I shall not abandon him” (Sophocles, P1). Sophocles reveals familial pride through the dialogue “he is my brother still, and yours”, but the brother they are talking about is dead. Through this opening dialogue, Sophocles introduces the theme of familial pride, but also the motif of death: in Antigone, both go hand in hand, interweaving throughout the story. Through the outcome of the play and the connection of both themes, Sophocles paints pride with a negative connotation,