Antigone Role of Women

In Sophocles’ Antigone, gender roles are a major conflicting theme throughout the entire play. The setting of the play was written during the Greek mythological days, around 442 B.C. During these days, men were dominant and held all of the power, so women were automatically treated as less. Antigone and Creon portray the conflicting sides between male and female, and Ismene and Haemon portray opposing sides to Antigone and Creon’s actions. Antigone, Ismene, Creon, and Haemon each show differences in behavior due to their sex versus the actions each character chooses to take. Antigone tells Ismene about her plans to bury their brother, Polynices, which is going against Creon’s orders. Antigone and Ismene, have contrasting perspectives on

When a messenger comes to Creon, bringing the news that Antigone has buried her brother, he begins his arguments why Antigone has broken the law. He begins by stating that a man shows what he is made of by his "skill in rule and law." In other words, the law is everything and as a ruler, he must do everything for his country. He considers Polyneices an enemy of the city and a threat to the security of the city as well. Thus Polyneices will be called a traitor in life and in death and dishonored. The scene when Antigone and Creon face each other is the opportunity for both to defend themselves. Creon questions Antigone. She bases her responses on that the city laws proclaiming her as illegal are not the laws of Zeus or laws proclaimed by gods, but rather, laws made by a man that one day will also die. She will honor her brother's death because this is what the gods have proclaimed for all mankind. (lines 460-463)

If Antigone did nothing, living with the guilt of not helping her brother would be worse. She breaks these rules for divine law, a law that is believed to come directly from god. Antigones actions for Polyneices that he must be buried is a requirement from the gods. If not buried properly the souls of the deceased were let to walk to river Styx, the entrance to the under world, for eternity and their souls would never be at rest. Not burying a body was a great insult to the dead and Antigone could not live with that on her conscience. Creon on the other hand ignores the laws of the gods and believes his duty to the city comes first. Creon believes his decision was in the best interest of Thebes to show that he is a strong ruler and the city of Thebes will be safe in his hands.

Later in the play, Antigone was captured for being caught in the act of burying her brother and is now conversing with King Creon about her decision made to revolt. On page 783, Creon is surprised when he says, “…you dared defy the law,” to Antigone due to boasting her rebellious actions. In this demonstration, Antigone does not deny her guilt, but declares all of the information, provided by the guards, true. Antigone does not care for the consequences, which is death; she knew what she would create for herself when she chose to bury her brother. A second example of this is on page 784 when Antigone states, “There is no guilt in reverence for the dead.” By what Antigone said, she believes it should not be against the law to have reverence or lamentation towards the dead, especially if the deceased is part

If you will not, I will; I shall not prove disloyal.” (A. 2). All along, Antigone very well understood that if she opposed the rules of Creon, she would most definitely be killed yet she was determined enough to bury Polyneicies’s body.

Antigone retaliates by saying that his law is not that of the Gods so it does not stand. He wants to have Antigone killed, but his son his her fiancé. He tries to explain to the king that the gods would have wanted Polyneices to be buried and that Antigone did the right thing that she should not be punished for it. Creon’s hubris however comes out yet again. He will not even listen to a word his son has to say; however now he does not want to kill her, but to send her away into a tomb, where the Gods can determine her fate.

Antigone chose to give her brother Polyneices a proper burial even though it was against the king’s law. She tried talking her sister Ismene to join her on her quest because Polyneices was both of their brothers, but Ismene did not want to disobey Kreon’s order (Blondell 19-24). This left Antigone to handle this on her own, which takes a lot of courage and dedication to what she believes in. Antigone went on with her plan to bury Polyneices and his body was eventually found by a guard (Blondell 30). When the guard brought the news to Kreon he was furious and the Chorus had suggested it was a Gods doing, which led me to believe that they did not think anyone one else was willing to risk it all by not listening to their kings orders (Blondell 32). A good lesson to learn from Antigone is that even if you break the law you have to admit your doing especially when you know what you did was morally right and what you stand for as an individual. When Antigone was accused of breaking the law and burying Polyneices she did not even hesitate saying, “I don’t deny it; I admit the deed was mine.” (Blondell 38). She even goes on to tell King Kreon that his choice to not allow the burial of Polyneices is morally wrong and how he is disobeying the God Zeus who is offended by improper treatment of a corpse (Blondell 38). Though Antigone knows the consequence for disobeying the king, she continues to fight for her brother’s honor and makes sure to point out the king’s foolish decision. Even in her last words she questions what kind of men can make suffer and then gives her respects to the town, gods, and rulers.

In the play Creon rejects the burial of Polyneices but still seems to value family heavily. When Creon speaks with Haemon he expresses that he should listen to his father’s choice over anything else “Stand by your father’s ideas in all things.” (Page 37), showing that Creon values family honor. Sophocles shows moments of family love throughout the play, Creon knows letting Antigone go after burying her brother is the right thing to do so he makes the decision to let her go free for the action she performed “I myself, since my judgement has turned and seen better ways, I bound her up and I will go and release her.” (Page 54), this shows that Creon truly loves Antigone and chose family over authority by freeing her. As Haemon finds out Antigone has hanged herself, in

Antigone has a possible flaw in that she is too stubborn and persistent to obey Creon’s order; “I know my duty, where true duty lies” (Antigone, 128). Her punishment then encourages feelings of pity from the audience because her deed was honorable and respectful towards her brother Polynices. The chorus supports this view by bidding her a respectful farewell when she is taken away, “But glory and praise go with you lady” (Antigone, 148). Antigone is also very proud, and this may have contributed to her death. Even when she is caught she remains strong and defends herself by claiming that the chorus thinks that her act was honorable, “All these would say that what I did was honorable” (Antigone, 139). This causes Creon to remain angry with Antigone, “you are wrong, none of my subjects think as you do” (Antigone, 140). If she had been more patient and less defensive, Creon may not have been as harsh in the punishment he set for her.

The only person in the city who is ready to defy Creon’s law is his niece, the sister to Polynices, Antigone. She is overcome with grief by Creon’s order, and sets out to bury her brother. She believed that Creon, “a mere mortal,” did not have the power to “…override the gods, the great unwritten, unshakable traditions…” surrounding the rights of a dead man (Line 503-505). Her loyalty was to her family, not to the new king of Thebes. When Antigone goes to her sister Ismene to plead for her help in burying their brother, even she is too afraid of Creon’s authority to assist her only family. “I must obey the one’s in power,” she says. “...defy the city? I have no strength for that.” (Line 79-80, 93). She is lead to go against what she feels is morally right because she is fearful of the consequences. Even though Antigone is aware of these deadly consequences, she is willing to face them and stand up for what she believes is right. Discovering that Antigone has gone against him, Creon immediately sentences

Although ancient Greece was a male-dominant society, Sophocles’ Antigone portrays women as being strong and capable of making wise decisions. Antigone, the tragic heroine, rejects the traditional role of women. As such, Sophocles punishes Ismene for embodying traditional attitude. Moreover, Creon is punished for misogyny. Sophocles, accordingly, uses characterization to promote feminist ideas.

Though this order was made, Antigone disregarded it and buried her brother. The main point for her doing this was to stand up for her religious beliefs, which she was then oppressed for. While she was being confronted by Creon about her actions, she said, “Nor could I think that a decree of yours—/A man—could override the laws of Heaven” (453-454). Antigone believed that it was the law of the gods for a person to have a proper burial so, she disobeyed Creon’s law in order to obey the gods, who she deemed as more important due to their eternal state (457).

Now when the guards discovered that someone buried the body of Polyneices, the head sentry went to tell the king, whereupon Creon became enthralled with anger. He told the sentry that he judged him to be a bribed soldier and that he could not return unless he found the person who had buried the body or told of whom it was that had bribed him. After this the horrified sentry and his men brushed off the sacred burial dust from the body and kept watch from a distance to see if the rebel would return to bury the body. Sure enough, during a sandstorm Antigone was seen burying the body that she had cared for so well before. The guards grabbed her and she showed no fear. She did not try to evade her pursuers and she was brought before the king. The king first asked her if she had heard his proclamation concerning the burial of her brother. She blatantly told him that could not have helped hearing it. If she had denied hearing it, she may have escaped death, but she did not want to escape it, and she felt that she had done nothing wrong. She believed that her death would be of no importance, but that the death of her brother would

“No woman shall seduce us. If we must lose, Let's lose to a man, at least. Is a woman stronger than we?” (Sophocles.II.3.539-540) says Creon, King of Thebes and uncle to the disobeying but brave Antigone in Antigone by Sophocles. A patriarchal society is a community in which male domination over women, Sophocles explains the journey of Antigone in getting her brother buried and yielding against the laws of Thebes in a man dominated city. Antigone portrayed in the play is loyal and stubborn, she would do anything that feels ethical and honest to her even if that disregarding the laws created by men. She responds to the standards of King Creon by going against her own blood, not believing that women should subjected to the rule that they

Throughout history, women have always stood in the shadows of men. In many cultures, the role of a woman was to be seen and not heard. One of the first "heard" females was as I believe Antigone, of Sophocles’. Antigone, was the descendant of Oedipus. When her brothers Eteocles and Polynices killed one another, Creon, king of Thebes, forbade the rebel Polynices’ burial. However, Antigone disobeyed him, performed the burial, and was condemned to death for what she had done. Thru her actions she displayed vast uniqueness of a great female leader. In doing this, she stepped out of her place as a woman in a male dominated culture.