Abstract
This study examines the intersection of classical tragedy and modern trauma through a comparative analysis of Sophocles’ Antigone and the 2020 Beirut Port explosion. Using the psychological framework of fight, flight, and freeze trauma responses, I argue that the behavior of the Chorus in Antigone reflects a pattern of collective paralysis that still resonates in contemporary sociopolitical contexts. In contrast, the Lebanese public’s response to the explosion—initial silence, followed by mass protest and civic mobilization—illustrates a shift from paralysis to resistance, reshaping the tragic narrative arc. Drawing on neurological research on crowd behavior, trauma studies, and cultural history, I analyze how each group (the Theban Chorus and the Lebanese public) navigates moral responsibility, witnesshood, and agency under pressure. By comparing these moments of civic crisis, I explore how literature can help illuminate, complicate, and reframe our understanding of national grief and public response. Ultimately, this research proposes that tragedy does not merely depict suffering—it offers models for how societies confront it. In contrasting a classical “freeze” with a modern “fight,” I suggest that communal storytelling is not only reflective but directive: a mechanism through which cultural memory is processed, and collective will is forged.
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Civic, Political, and Community Studies
KEYWORDS
Psychology, Tragedy, Civic Response, Antigone, Beirut, Fight or Flight, Beirut
