Women In Antigone

As the tragedy concludes, the chorus issues its final words: "Pray for no more at all. For what is destined for us, men mortal, there is no escape," demonstrating how justice remains impartial to the prejudice of men; those who make imprudent judgments will ultimately suffer from the consequences of their actions. In Sophocles' Antigone, these prejudices notably surface in the form of paternalism as demonstrated through Creon's government, highlighting the importance of gender roles throughout the play. Therefore, analyzing the motif of gender roles and its effect on the definition of justice through the perspectives of Ismene, Antigone, and Creon enables the audience to understand how Sophocles' macroscopic analogy to humanity's

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.

The female characters portrayed in Aeschylus and Sophocles’ works have considerably different personalities and roles, yet those females all have the common weaknesses of being short-sighted and stubborn. They intensify the conflicts within their families while being inconsiderate of the impacts that they may bring to their nations and societies, which leads to consequences that they are incapable of taking responsibilities for. Clytemnestra and Antigone, two major characters in their respective author’s works, possess different motivations for their deeds in the stories. While Clytemnestra is driven by the desire of revenge to murder her husband Agamemnon, Antigone acts against Creon’s will and strives to properly bury her brother. Despite having different motivations and personalities, Clytemnestra and Antigone both commit

In classical Greece, women were widely hated. Misogyny was engraved into the vary culture of ancient Greece, in their religion, the Greek Pantheon, Pandora, one of the first women, unleashed all of the world's problems from the box containing them. Among the many stories in the vast literature of classical Greece, apparently humanity lived in relative peace and happiness until the creation of women, which, via Pandora’s treachery and women’s other shenanigans, we devolved to our current state. This trend of putting women down on a societal level is known as patriarchy and was incredibly common in Classical societies as compared to now, It is a natural progression akin to bureaucracy that becomes more common as a state ages, the small imbalance of men’s physical dominance snowballs into the state of Patriarchy we can see in Sophocles’s Antigone. We can see this kind of patriarchy in other societies, such as: China, India, and Rome. This society molded Creon into

Just as one stone removed can break a bridge, one flaw can bring a man to ruins. The flaw of one man cannot bring down an entire kingdom, but rather one outlook of the king can lead to the demise of the whole. In Sophocles' epic tragedy, Antigone, a strong gender bias is present throughout the tragedy, and is partially responsible for the downfall of the king.

The virtue of a women, Aristotle said is “obedience and subordination” while that of a man is “the courage of command” (Politics 1. 1260a 20-32), so what happens when a women tried to rebel against these belief’s? In traditional Greek theatre when a women voiced her beliefs and did not conform to being reduced to silence she ended up being killed. This can be seen through Medea and Antigone as they are women who dared to be heard and this violation of societal expectation was fatal. In the context of when these plays were written the refusal to conform to unjust gender laws was simply unacceptable. Women were seen as inferior; hence the punishment for rebellious actions in Medea and Antigone was appropriate protocol at the time. Modern versions of these plays react to these sexist statements in a way to highlight the misogynistic and patriarchal values that are embedded in western society. In the Abbey Theatre production of Medea directed by Deborah Warner, an explicitly feminist standpoint was taken, proving to be successful. Medea played as a modern woman who is troubled with the disloyalty of her husband plots revenge on her unsuspecting husband. John Water, an Irish Times columnist said that this portrayal created

The different portrayals of female characters Antigone and Lysistrata illustrate the fundamental nature of the proper Athenian woman. Sophocles' Antigone allows the reader to see that outrage over social injustices does not give women the excuse to rebel against authority, while Aristophanes' Lysistrata reveals that challenging authority in the polis becomes acceptable only when it's faced with destruction through war. Sophocles and Aristophanes use different means to illustrate the same idea; the ideal Athenian woman's ultimate loyalty lies with her polis. This Greek concept of the proper woman seems so vital when considering Athenian society because both a tragedy and comedy revolve around this concept. The differing roles accorded to

It’s extraordinarily apparent that throughout the course of both oral and written history, women have been on the short end of the stick. During the Early Modern Europe, roughly between the late fifteenth and late eighteenth century, European countries were on a witch craze. Women, although some men too, were often accused of consorting with the devil and performing magic, and then sentenced to death if they were unable to prove their innocence, burning being the most popular form of punishment. Although the estimate is not entirely definite, an approximate 40,000-50,000 deaths occurred during that time frame. Women have also faced other types of discrimination, from how they could act in society, to more modern and prevalent issues such inequality

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.

For centuries men have been finding ways to gain control over everything and everyone. One group that has been oppressed by men throughout history are women. Men have placed rules and regulations upon women making them seen as unequal and inferior. Was it fear? Was it the hunger for power? Was is the highness of superiority? Whatever the reasons were, men had to be seen as the highest being next to whom they worshiped. In the play Antigone by Sophocles, the audience is exposed to the roles of men and women in an ancient Greece society known as Thebes. Although ancient Greece was a male-dominant society where women had as much freedom as a slave, Sophocles’ main character in the play, Antigone, is an example of a brave, strong-minded woman who goes against the limitations that were unfairly set upon women during that time to do what she believes is right. In this play, gender roles assists in the process of portraying the story since it affects some of the decisions of the characters and helps lead the story into the climax.

Readers of the three Greek plays, Oedipus the King, Antigone, and Medea, can easily gather an abundance of information about the different cultural details within the Greek society at that time. One of the major cultural values that can be picked up from these three plays, is the roles of women in this society. The roles of women can be observed through a comparison between them and their male counterparts.

Euripides develops the idea that no matter what gender a person is, they can still be the protagonist of their own story and be confident in their decisions. This may have been slightly extreme on Medea’s part as it made her inevitably sad, although, she proved herself as slightly more “masculine”, as she did not exhibit the typical “feminine” hysteria. Even though she got her vengeance on Jason and did so independently, she still lost the most important thing in her life, her children. In some ways, Medea ultimately became the only person controlling her own destiny because she had reached her goal of getting vengeance, or in her own twisted sense, justice on Jason for what he did to her. “What point is there in living anymore?”(Euripides line 169), questions Medea, showing how much pain she was in, as well as the possibility that she feels as though she must be with a man to survive. This thinking creates the idea that to be

Moreover, Sophocles’ Antigone is defiant, aggressive and progressive compared to the typical Greek women of those times who were confined to the gynaikeion—an assigned place for women in a Greek house—and were considered extremely inferior to men in every aspect of their lives. Gender played an inevitable role during the 4th century, where men were ranked way above women and thus Creon, the egoistic and haughty tyrant, could not accept defeat from Antigone, a woman. I quote,

The play that Euripides tells of a woman named Medea put forth many views on the relationships of men and women in the Greek society. These relationships are seen as the dominant man with a woman by his side, committed to him fully. Medea sees these relationships not necessarily as a good thing, but as a situation in which a woman may truly be burdened by the expectations of her. Medea states early on that, “We women are the most unfortunate creatures.” (Line 231) She states this because she feels and knows that women don’t have much control over their own lives. She seems to accept this role at times in the play, but towards the end, Medea changes her ways and rebels.