Rejecting Gender Roles In Sophocles's Antigone

Women in Ancient Greece were shown to be treated unfairly and less superior to men in homes, as wives, and in society as shown in Sophocles's play Antigone. They were looked down upon and thought of as less intelligent, as if they weren't really needed except for reproducing, doing housework, and taking care of children. Also, women were considered dangerous due to their emotions as they could hurt themselves or someone else. Antigone presents a variety of these ideas of how Women's roles played out in Ancient Greece.

Gender and its roles are exposed in the story of Antigone as the central themes. Roles and rules are set and followed by several people in this era, this is appreciated in this text. Ideas of contradiction to these rules were not explored. In Greek mythology, several women held positions of power, but none of these women were human, making the idea of a powerful woman godlike and unattainable, as if to keep woman in their place, which of course, was always under the rule of the superior gender, the male. To challenge a patriarchy with feminism was dangerous, for both sexes were equally protective of it, leaving the challenger desolate in the battle against it. To rely on women to help other women rebel against this social norm was not probable, in the contrary, women held each other accountable for complying to these rules and punished those who didn’t. Women were their gender’s prevalent critics and suppressors, not only because they feared the repercussions, but since they didn’t have the means to rebel against it.

Misogyny pervades the picture Aeschylus, Aristophanes, and Sophocles paint of Athenian society. In their literature, however, female characters catalyze plot by challenging this picture. Such characters--from Sophocles’ Antigone to Aristophanes’ Lysistrata--face grim consequences for acting independently. Clytemnestra and Cassandra from Aeschylus’s Agamemnon exemplify this archetype of autonomy and destruction. When they confront injustice, male characters perceive them as vindictive and hysterical. This paper will compare the standards of justice Aeschylus’s society imposes on men and women. I will argue that Clytemnestra and Cassandra are protectors of divine justice who reject subservience and thereby transcend the sexism of their society.

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

The pressure to conform to society’s expectations has always been prevalent throughout history. Conformity is uncontroversial, while nonconformity is seen as detrimental to the rules that society imposes. In Antigone, the playwright, Sophocles, discusses how the choice to conform or not to conform can have an impact on one’s decisions. He utilizes the controversy surrounding the central conflict of the play, the death of Polyneices, to portray his characters’ attitudes towards conformity and nonconformity. Creon and Ismene are conformists because they believe in the absolute power of the law; whereas, Antigone is a nonconformist because she rebels against society’s rules.

Creon has no toleration for people who place personal beliefs over the common good. He believes that government and law is the supreme authority, and civil disobedience is worst form of sin. The problem with Creon’s argument is he approaches He approaches every dilemma that requires judgement through descriptive generalizations. In contrast to the morality defined by Aristotle in his Nicomachaean Ethics, Creon shows that he is deaf to the knowledge of particulars--of place, time, manner, and persons, which is essential for moral reasoning. In short, he does not effectively bring together general principles and specific situations Creon does not acknowledge that emotion, and perception are as critical to proper moral consideration as reason. This explains why he does not respond accordingly with the reasoning of the guard, Tiresias the prophet, Antigone, her sister Ismene, or even his own son Haemon. Throughout the whole play, Creon emphasizes the importance of practical judgement over a sick, illogical mind, when in fact it is him who has the sick, illogical mind. He too exhibits pride in his argument. To Antigone and most of the Athenians, possessing a wise and logical mind means acknowledging human limitations and behaving piously towards the gods. Humans must take a humble attitude towards fate and the power of the gods, yet Creon mocks death throughout the play. He doest not learn his lesson until the end of the play when he speaks respectfully of

In the tragedy “Antigone” many ideas of morals are tossed around through the actions and speeches of the characters Creon and Antigone. Though these morals seem logical at first, it can later be seen that these two characters represent an over fixation on singular ideas, or morals, of life when it is taken to the extreme. This close mindedness ultimately leads to these character’s downfalls with Creon revealing that his moral extreme is the “political sphere” of life and Antigone, the “private sphere” holds the truth. She wants to bury her brother, Polynices (Galens). A proper burial for those killed in battle was essential for the Ancient Greeks (Fletcher). To give Polynices his proper burial, she infringes upon her Uncle Creon 's laws that specifically forbid her from burying Polynices as he was an enemy of the people. She wishes to follow and interpret the traditions and rituals the divine gods expect, and hence clashes with Creon 's governmental status. Through focusing their entire lives to these causes and desires, they have damned themselves to their own demise by being so close-minded of the world around them.

“‘You come against me with hatred, repression, and violence. I come against you in the name of god’” as Bree Newsome illegally removes the confederate flag from the capital of South Carolina in 2015. The confederate flag symbolizes racial segregation and Bree was a colored woman who did not like that the flag showed support of this. She acted upon what she aspired was equal to the diverse citizens in America. Correspondingly, Sophocles’ play Antigone was along the same lines as reality. Bree Newsome’s actions are comparable to Antigone’s behavior by making choices that are against the state laws.

to his son, “To all one’s enemies. Do not be fooled, my son, By lust

In the Oedipus Cycle by Sophocles, his plays could be read as a critique of women’s roles. We see this in negative attitudes about women in Iocaste, Creon, and Ismene. Antigone goes against those expectations of women’s roles. Creon thinks that women should always obey the men, and should a woman stand up against a man then he is weaker than the woman (209). Ismene think that there is nothing women can do except listen to men; she thinks that women have no choices of their own (213). While Iocaste thinks that women are just supposed to marry a man and not question anything that he does (45). Antigone defies the King’s edict of civil law by following God’s law and burying her brother (208). Antigone knows defying the King in this way would result in her death, but still she accepts full responsibility because she could not live with herself by putting the will of a man before God.

In determining how to honor her brother, Antigone represents a woman who is willing to defy laws that encourage injustice in her community and go against traditions and laws of the gods. Not only is she willing to challenge these rules, but she is also prepared to die for her cause; furthermore, revealing characteristics of a headstrong woman who is fully aware of the consequences. Consequently, Antigone uncovers a new idea: that the demands of the dead, rather than the living, can often make a larger impact on society and create the most change. Antigone believes that by dying for a cause, she will be able to have a greater

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.

In the play Antigone, The king of Thebes, Creon, decrees that Polynices should not be given a proper burial because he is a traitor and turns against his city. When Antigone asks her sister, Ismene, to help her bury their brother, Ismene refuses to help her: “I’d do them no dishonor… but defy the city? I have no strength for that” (Sophocles 19). Ismene represents all the women in society and what is expected of women during this time period, which is weakness, subservience to men and their government, and not defying any rule, especially the king’s. Because Antigone is willing to defy this rule and not conform to society’s wishes, she is a foil, or contrasting character, to Ismene. While Ismene does not, Antigone shows strength and her own free will by defying the city and burying Polynices. In A Doll’s House, Nora’s husband, Helmer, finds out that Nora has committed a forgery and confronts her. Though he is very angry with her and no longer trusts her, he wants to continue living with her like normal, just to appear as society expects them to. “As for ourselves, we must live as we have always done, but of course only in the eyes of the world” (Ibsen 194). This demonstrates the importance of society’s view of a family during this time period and how women are expected to behave. This also shows that women are not supposed to have control in a household and be able to take out loans, because they are seen as incapable. Also in A Doll’s House, Helmer’s

“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

In Sophocles’ play, Antigone, the role of women in society is challenged as Antigone reluctantly disobeys the “natural laws” that place women below men. Antigone’s two brothers, “...slew each other,” (Sophocles 57) but only one was buried as an honor, and the other “...unlamented, unburied, a sweet find for birds to feast upon” (30-31). Antigone disobeys the laws as she decides to bury her brother, with or without the help of her sister Ismene. As Ismene refuses to aid Antigone, she points out the duty of women in society. Ismene states, “...very horribly we will die if we go against the king’s decree,” (60-61) and “Rather, consider that we were born women, proving we should not fight with men, and that we are ruled by more powerful people and must obey them, even in more painful things...yield to those who walk with authority” (64-68).