The Dehumanization of Rats Antigone, by Sophocles, is used in a very political manner within Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona’s The Island. There are many agons when it comes to the original play of Antigone: duty versus state law, history of family transgression versus family loyalty, law of the gods versus law of the state, women versus men, citizen versus king, age versus wisdom, life versus death, eternity versus present, and most importantly the struggle for human rights versus authoritarian power. The desire for human rights is apparent within many pieces of art throughout time, including Fugard’s The Island. These two plays were used in very different ways within the political field. Fifth-century Athens used Antigone
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All of these problems have yet to be solved. Nelson Mandela puts it simply, “for to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others”. In The Island, there are many examples of mental and physical dehumanization. In scene one, Hodoshe (the prison guard) makes Winston and John (the two prisoners) run, and “they do not run fast enough. They get beaten… Winston receiving a bad blow to the eye and John spraining an ankle” (Fugard 47). Winston and John, forced into physical labor and beaten, are being treated like animals because of their skin color. The apartheid government is beating them down because they wanted to be treated equally. Where is the justice in that? The dehumanizing manner of the prison made Old Harry, a frail man inside of the Island, go crazy. After crafting “twenty perfect blocks of stone every day”, Old Harry forgot who he was and why he was in prison (Fugard 71). How is this kind of treatment justifiable within the apartheid government? These racially different people are treated like “despicable rats who would gnaw away at our fatness and happiness” (Fugard 74). Why are the South Africans mentioned as rats? What makes them so much worse than white people? These questions are brought up within The Island, showing the injustice within the apartheid
All of these problems have yet to be solved. Nelson Mandela puts it simply, “for to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others”. In The Island, there are many examples of mental and physical dehumanization. In scene one, Hodoshe (the prison guard) makes Winston and John (the two prisoners) run, and “they do not run fast enough. They get beaten… Winston receiving a bad blow to the eye and John spraining an ankle” (Fugard 47). Winston and John, forced into physical labor and beaten, are being treated like animals because of their skin color. The apartheid government is beating them down because they wanted to be treated equally. Where is the justice in that? The dehumanizing manner of the prison made Old Harry, a frail man inside of the Island, go crazy. After crafting “twenty perfect blocks of stone every day”, Old Harry forgot who he was and why he was in prison (Fugard 71). How is this kind of treatment justifiable within the apartheid government? These racially different people are treated like “despicable rats who would gnaw away at our fatness and happiness” (Fugard 74). Why are the South Africans mentioned as rats? What makes them so much worse than white people? These questions are brought up within The Island, showing the injustice within the apartheid