If Antigone Was A Man

In the play Antigone, men view women as a threat to their masculinity and do whatever they have to in order to silence them. However, the women find ways to speak out anyway. Gender has profound affects on the meaning of Antigone's actions. Creon feels the need to defeat Antigone more so because she is a woman. Antigone's rebellion is especially threatening because it upsets gender roles and hierarchy. By refusing to be passive, she overturns one of the fundamental rules of her culture.

Although Antigone shows equality for women and rights, each character in the play has different views and believes. As a tragic hero of the play, Antigone has a tragic flaw and is very brave, as she defies Creon’s law and buries her brother, despite the fact she knows she will have to face consequences. Ismene and Creon on the other hand, do not appreciate

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

Creon voices his opinions on Antigone and her actions with great detail and passion, yet he bases a majority of those opinions on her gender. He makes it a point that men are the rulers of the spineless, controlled women. Antigone also voices her own thoughts on the situation saying to Creon, “And if my present actions strike you as foolish, let 's just say I 've been accused of folly by a fool” (Sophocles 665). For a women to speak of a man, in particular the ruler of Thebes in this manner was unheard of. Antigone is

In Sophocles’s Antigone, we can see that the deeply misogynistic society of ancient Greece has manifested itself into Creon, a despotic ruler, despising dissidents, traitors, and especially women. His hatred of women manifested into several examples of misogyny throughout the play: He assumed that the criminal who buried Polyneices was a man, he looks down on Antigone’s defiance as improper defiance of a mans order by a woman, and he virtually disowns his son Haemon for disagreeing with him and listening to a woman.

To start, Antigone was written by Sophocles to make the people question their faith in both their religion and their government. Putting a young woman in a position in which she had to choose between staying loyal to her country and staying loyal to the gods, Sophocles showed the men of Athens in their comfortable lives that there wasn’t always a simple solution to all of life’s problems. It is important to note that it was only the men of Athens that were shown because they were the only ones that were able to see this remarkable play because of its depiction of women, specifically through Antigone. In a way, if women had been able to see this play, being

Sophocles symbolizes family over authority by using Antigone and Creon to conflict each other's core beliefs, showing that Antigone is willing to die to honor the love for her family, while Creon is willing to kill to honor and enforce his own authority at any cost. As we see in the story, when Antigone's brothers die, she chooses to bury Polyneices even though she knows this will cost her her life. In the play when Antigone tells her sister what she’s going to do, ismene says, ”But think of the danger! Think what Creon will do! ANTIGONE: Creon is not enough to stand in my way” This shows Antigone represents family for the great lengths she will go to to honor her brother. By contrast, Sophocles paints Creon to symbolize authority through murder of his own bloodline. In the play he plans to kill Antigone for choosing her love for her brother over his rule, and so he plans out her execution although she is family to Creon. The Choragos asks Creon “Do you really intend to steal this girl from your son?,” which then he responds by saying “No; Death will do that for me.” Which shows the reader that Creon is unsympathetic to who Antigone is in relation to him. He disregards the importance of family to uphold his authoritative values. By the end of the play the author has shown us Creon has come to realize his ways have cost him his family, and he regrets his decisions.

In both tragedies, the role women play in the society is dictated by the tone of the oppressive patriarchal civilization where women are viewed as the subordinate sex to men. This demeaning point of view on women causes the actions they take to be feared. In Antigone, the protagonist, Antigone took suit against her uncle and his ruling through breaking the law. Her rebellious action surprises and terrifies Creon because a woman standing up to a man was unheard of. The last person to be suspected for a crime committed like Antigone’s would have been a woman, let alone the king's niece. A woman like Antigone willing to risk her life to fight against powerful men was considered more threatening than a man commiting a treacherous act. This degrading view on women attempted to try and stop Antigone, however ultimately a silly perspective on women couldn't hold her back. On the other hand, In Julius Caesar, Portia, Brutus’ wife, who appears to be a relatively strong female character within the

The play Antigone by Sophocles is a play like no other. There are three major themes or ideas which have a very important role in the play. The first major theme is fate, on how the play comes about and the turn of events that come about throughout it. Another main theme or idea is the pride the characters have and their unwillingness they have to change their minds once they are set on something. The last major theme is loyalty and the practical problem of conduct involving which is a higher law between the divine laws and those of the humans. It is an issue of which law is the "right" law, and if Creon and Antigone's acts are justifiable or not. The issues that Antigone and Creon have between them

She too has the characteristics that make her fit well with the description of a tragic hero. Like Creon, in the beginning of the story, Antigone is portrayed as a good, upstanding person. She is not a troublemaker at the time of her defiance of Creon’s decree, having not committed no crime prior to it. Nevertheless, Antigone possesses tragic flaws. Like her late father and uncle, Antigone is both stubborn and prideful. When she argues for why she defied Creon and buried Polyneices, she fails to see more than just her side of the situation. To Antigone, the burial of her brother is the most important thing to her, superseding compliance with any human law, including Creon’s. She takes immense pride in what she has done, but also neglects to see how her actions will affect her sister, Ismene, who pleads for her to follow Creon’s decree, and her fiance, Haemon. Throughout most of the story, Antigone stands by her action to the very end. She continually asserts what she did was right, even if the rest of society does not agree with her. Ultimately, Antigone stubbornness leads to her downfall and death. It prevents her from seeing that it might be for the benefit of herself and everyone involved if she followed Creon's decree by leaving Polyneices body

Just because the character’s name is the title does not necessarily mean that that said character is the protagonist. Sophocles’s play Antigone, presents two distinct characters: Antigone and Creon. At first glance, Antigone is known as the poor lady whose family’s reputation is tarnished because of an incestous relationship between her brother and mother. She wishes to bury her dead brother properly, which resulted in her banishment and terrible death. The man in charge of this punishment was her uncle, Creon.

The death of Antigone is truly a tragic episode in the Theban Plays, where she hung herself with a woven linen of her dress. By convention, her death would be characterized with feminine quality. However, Antigone, one of the few female characters in the book, possessed distinguishable female characteristics that are as remarkable as a male hero. Antigone was determined when she made up her mind to bury her brother. She was an agent of her words and took up the risks that accompanied to her deeds. Antigone was very passionate from the beginning to her death and she displayed tremendous courage when facing the death penalty. Moreover, Antigone, as a female individual, confronted bravely with the state and the authority of Creon. Throughout

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.

Sophocles’ Antigone is the third of the three Theban plays written, but has been considered the first; the play was written in or before 441 B.C. In Antigone, Sophocles uses women as a strong and independent figure of the society. This play is the first to display women differently in a male dominated society. He also uses this play to describe women as able to make their own decisions and capable of living without the attention of males. The play Antigone shows the personalities of three women in society: Antigone, the strong, independent one, Ismene, the weak, traditional one, and Eurydice, Creon’s wife and an older traditional woman. Each character represents a woman’s way of living and what is expected and expected of women. Each of these women display many differences, some being the fine line between good and evil and life and death. Going into depth with each female character, the reader could tell that the differences in each character is not displayed in the others. For example, Ismene’s weakness and Antigone’s strong will. Although strength can be important in the play, there is the bravery and the passion

To begin with, the Ancient Greek Society that surrounded Sophocles was full of patriarchy. Living in a patriarchal society that looked down upon women and believed that they were only there to prepare there sons for war and there daughters to follow in their mother’s footsteps, had great influence on his writing. This is shown through Ismene saying, “We are only women, we cannot fight with the men,Antigone,” (Sophocles 694). Through Ismene, Sophocles is showing the patriarchy in both his time and the time of the play. Even the women believed in patriarchy. The men that Ismene speaks of are the king Creon and other officials. She believes that Antigone cannot compete with the power of Creon. Sophocles is making a bold statement by creating a character that defies the patriarchy and showing it to the people of Ancient Greece. Rulers and Kings at the time of Sophocles never saw women as a threat because they didn’t act out against the law often, as a man would. Sophocles uses this in his play making Creon a ruler who is harsh to women and doesn’t see them as a threat. Also, Sophocles uses the stereotypical Greek man who cares little for his wife’s feelings. Creon’s wife, Eurydices, doesn’t show up until one of the last scenes and then kills