The Role Of Women In SophoclesAntigone

In the Greek play Antigone writer Sophocles illustrates the clash between the story’s main character Antigone and her powerful uncle, Creon. King Creon of Thebes is an ignorant and oppressive ruler. In the text, there is a prevailing theme of rules and order in which Antigone’s standards of divine justice conflict with Creon’s will as the king. Antigone was not wrong in disobeying Creon, because he was evil and tyrannical. The authors of “Antigone: Kinship, Justice, and the Polis,” and “Assumptions and the Creation of Meaning: Reading Sophocles’ Antigone.” agree with the notion that Antigone performs the role of woman and warrior at once. She does not only what a kinswoman would, but also what a warrior would do.

You step into a society where you examine two dimensions: one is filled with freedom, passion and moral principles, however the other is covered with corrupt power, useless authority and a “blind” leader. Which side would you choose? In “Antigone” written by Sophocles, it begins with Antigone learning that Polynieces was not given a proper burial. With this knowledge, she is about to change the traditional gender roles in society. The conflict in Sophocles “Antigone” acknowledge both the perspective of Antigone and the perspective of Creon shows morals do not always coincide with law.

The play “Antigone” by Sophocles, and translated by Paul Roche, is set in Thebes where Antigone’s uncle, Creon takes control of the throne and leads the fall of Antigone’s family. In battle for the throne, both of Antigone’s brothers die, and while Eteocles is given a burial, burial for Polyneices is refused under the assumption that he was a traitor. The tragic hero demonstrates hamartia and hubris which lead to their downfall. Throughout the play Sophocles proves that Creon is the tragic hero which lets his distrustful and stubborn attitude leave him in sorrow.

In today’s society, men and women do not always see eye-to-eye. Creon and Antigone, the two main characters in Sophocles’ play Antigone are examples of this statement. In this play, the difference of gender plays a big role in the main conflict. Antigone is a young, independent girl going against the law of king Creon, her uncle, by giving her brother a proper burial. Eteocles and Polyneices, Antigone's older brothers, fought to the death because of their different beliefs; Creon buried Eteocles with military honor and Polyneices was not allowed to be buried because he went against the kingdom. Antigone believes Polyneices’ soul deserves to be at peace; so she decides to go against Creon’s orders and bury him by herself. When Creon

His beliefs dictate that a woman could commit such a deed; women are to seen and not heard; they do not stir things up, or put up fights. When it is revealed to be Antigone, a young woman, who had broken the decree, Creon is flabbergasted. One of his defining philosophies is proven invalid. It surprises him. While his reaction to the surprise is negative, it was a step forward in the prehistoric fight for women. Every once in awhile, make a bold statement; surprise somebody. So long as it is stirred by a passion, it will not go unnoticed. Antigone not only defies authority for her passion; she defied it as a woman and a member of lesser society. This showed me that the world-changers are the ones who are not afraid to face opposition publicly. Not only this, but those who are successful at it are passionate about their

Sophocles’ Antigone sets the stage of divine law versus civic law and men versus women puppeteering morality. As a cautionary tale of the 5th century, the text studies the clear distinction between Polios (public life) to Oikos (private life) and the dangers one faces when amalgamating the two. In Antigone religious fundamentalism is in battle with Creon’s stubborn grasp over the importance of showing his people the type of leader he is through his subsequent double blasphemy of letting Polynice’s body go unburied while entombing the very much alive Antigone. Despite Sophocles’ intention and those of his time, many modern readers analyze the piece as being one with feminism. Frances B. Singh exemplifies this viewpoint in her literary criticism ,Antigone’s Changed Punishment: Gynaecology as Penology in Sophocles’ Antigone, having women and womanliness as a central tool of exhortation and theme. While, Elizabeth Bobrick acknowledges the differences between man and woman, her persuasion and purpose founded in Sophocles Antigone and the Self-Isolation of the Tragic Hero regard her use of emphasis over the failure of justice concerning religious and civic laws. With similarities and differences at hand, both articles incorporate the role of women in Sophocles’ society, the vindication behind Antigone’s rebellious behaviors, and Aristotle’s appeals of persuasion. However, Singh explores the meaning and effects of the social constructs separating woman from man in conjunction

One perspective of oppression in Antigone is demonstrated through the conflict between Creon and Antigone regarding the burial of Polyneices, Antigone’s brother. Creon is the king of Thebes, and constantly has to assert his power, even if it means suppressing others’ opinions. When Antigone disagrees with his decree of allowing the burial of only one of her brothers, she defiantly performs a burial ritual for the other. Creon is outraged and issues the punishment of death upon Antigone, and condemns her sister Ismene for the same crime “for they are but women, and even brave men run when they see death coming” (Sophocles 460-465). It is clear that the main issue is not about Antigone breaking the law; but that she is an inferior woman who is expressing her opinions against someone of a higher standing. Creon oppresses Antigone for her gender and refuses to acknowledge her perspective because he would rather “lose to a man, at least”

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.

Antigone is one of the most revered tragic plays written by Sophocles which revolves around Antigone, the protagonist, who strives to have a proper burial for her brother Polynices despite the king’s strict orders. The play powerfully portrays moral conflicts between the individual, the society, and the divine, subverting the gender norms of its times. Analyzing the portrayal of these conflicts, characters, and the role of the Chorus shaped our

Her insistence on her situation turned her into a male-mind woman, and she had not merely refused the law, but also she had tried covering the body of his brother, “No, he has no right to keep me from my own” (Antigone 61). However, “Ismene” advised her sister not to defy the laws of throne, “Remember we are women, we're not born to contend with men … so we must submit in this, and things still worse” (Antigone 62). Moreover, Antigone had a little more freedom to defend her situation: it is a divine law from Gods that the dead must be buried and it cannot be violated, but “Creon’s” sexism led him to respond adversely towards “Antigone’s” rebellion: he entombed her alive in order that she would come to death, regarding her as an example of law violation penalty; furthermore, the spirit and desire, stemmed from “Antigone”, proves that extremes, associated with women’s behaviors, coexisted with powerful personality, which is aiming at freedom and equality amongst other individuals in the

Ancient Greece was a male dominating society; Sophocles work Antigone portrays women as being a strong and capable of making wise decision. The Antigone is certainly a play of antitheses and conflicts and this state of conflict is embodied in the presence on stage of two protagonists each diametrically opposed to the other. Antigone is a beautiful play written by Sophocles. This is the play in which there is a mention of a beautiful girl who was between the law of family and the law of state. Her two brothers Eteocles and Polyneices were dead by fighting each other for the throne of Thebes. Creon the maternal uncle of Antigone becomes the king as a right of the nearest relation of the king. He ordered to the Chorus that only one brother who fought for the country can be honored and buried with all rites but another one would bared from all types of honor and left unburied for the prey of dogs, worms and birds. But against the order of Creon Antigone went and buried her brother with all rites that a man required after death. She poured three times dry dust on the body of Polyneices though there was a strict order of Creon that body hasn’t buried. After that Antigone was punished and lots of lives with her were killed.

Antigone, written by Sophocles, uses feminist criticism to relay the idea that man cannot surpass the power of the divine. This technique drives the conflict and major dramatic question in Antigone. Burial in ancient Greece was scared, and a huge role in Greek morals. To leave a body unburied was the ultimate crime in the eyes of the people and the gods. When Antigone buries her brother against Creon’s will, she shows her loyalty to the divine and defies Creon. To Creon, this burial is an insult, but even more so when he finds out the person who buried his opponent of war was a woman. Creon states his anger and underlying misogyny on lines 759 to 761, “ Better to fall from power… at the hands of a man - never be rated inferior to a woman” (Sophocles).

Creon in Antigone seems as though he overreacted to Antigone breaking his decree, but at the root it is him being undermined, by a woman no less, something unacceptable in Greek times. The Greeks in the time of Sophocles (496-409 BCE) were incredibly misogynistic, demeaning women and actively keeping them out of matters in society. Patriarchies are similarly mirrored in almost every culture, from nearly the beginning to the present. The idea that women were lesser than men stems from early agrarian societies due to biological differences, such as that women could have children and thus were essential for a population, or how men were more physically strong that women. This led to women having to stay home more often to take care of children (they were more often pregnant, and thus at home, as their populations grew due to being able to sustain themselves with surpluses of food) while men did the farming (the invention of the plow requiring more heavy force and the fields were further from the villages) They were originally more egalitarian, but eventually this was taken advantage of and used to keep women oppressed, stuck with the roles of wife/homemaker. Greece in particular had a very strict patriarchy, with Aristotle once writing “It is best for all tame animals to be ruled by human beings. In the same way, the relationship between the male and the female is by nature such that the male is higher, the female lower, that the male rules and the female is ruled.” (Strayer

Antigone by Sophocles is a play that has lasted through the ages because of its underlying meaning that can still be applied today in conflicts such as parents who choose to not vaccinate their children. It is a conflict between nature versus human institution. Throughout this play one notices there is no clear hero. The basic conflict in Antigone came about by a disagreement between two brothers in a royal family in Thebes, Eteocles and Polynices, Eteocles being the older brother. Antigone and Ismene are the sisters of Eteocles and Polynices and are the bigger characters of the play with Antigone being the tragic heroine. Eteocles and Polynices decide to switch off yearly on the throne after their father, Oedipus, dies starting with Eteocles, but when Eteocles refused to give up the throne for Polynices, Polynices leaves Thebes and goes to Polis. In Polis, he marries into the royal family. One day he asks his father-in-law, the king of Polis, to borrow the Polis army in order to take back the Thebes throne. When the army arrives in Thebes Polynices and Eteocles meet on the battlefield and die at each other’s hand. After that their uncle Creon takes the throne. Creon allows Eteocles to have a royal burial, but forbids any burial for Polynices and if anyone dares to they will be executed. This was a very harsh punishment in the time because of the belief that if a person’s body wasn’t buried their soul could not enter the next stage. Antigone decides it is her responsibility

The play begins with the new ruler of Thebes, Creon, decreeing that his brother, Polyneices, who had besieged the city with a foreign army, will not receive a proper burial. Polyneices’ sister, Antigone, who just happens to be engaged to Creon’s son, Haemon, decides to disobey Creon and give her brother a proper burial (Sophocles, 53). Thus, the play highlights the issues with societal dogmatism where both sides are too extremist and unable to compromise (Johnson). Creon’s tyrannical and prideful attitude prove his undoing while Antigone’s rebellious and activist nature causes her early demise.