Gender Roles In Shakespeare's Antigone And Lysistrata

The plays Antigone and Lysistrata contain aspects that can represent similarities and differences. In these plays, the protagonists are women, Lysistrata, and Antigone, who are both resilient and courageous women who challenge the gender roles of their time. However, one aspect that makes these plays different from each other is the communicated thought of who is exactly is the proper woman. In the time period of when these two plays were written, women basically had no basic rights they were to follow proper concepts expected of a woman of that age. Nevertheless, in these plays when these roles were challenged, one ended tragically while the other ended with expected results and it’s of course, because each of the protagonists took different

In this case, in Antigone, Antigone saw that it was time to challenge these roles when it came to her family. Even when her brother, Polyneices, betrayed Thebes he had to have a proper burial because not only is that her brother, but the Gods she worshipped decreed that everybody had to have a proper burial. The problem is that Creon who is now king felt that Polyneices didn’t deserve a proper burial for betraying Thebes. So, he declares that it is unlawful for Polyneices to receive a proper burial. Because of the king’s proclamation of denying Polyneices the proper burial, Antigone rashly states, “Yes. I’ll do my duty to my brother— and yours as well, if you’re not prepared to. I won’t be caught betraying him (Sophocles, p. 4).” This presents how Antigone took the conscious decision to disregard the king’s orders and honor her brother who is a traitor, which is very ironic in itself. Antigone essentially tries to rationalize her crime by saying that she is honoring the Gods commands and honoring her brother though she might have awaiting charges. She forces herself to believe that she will be the one to die with honor because she believes that what she is doing is right where she says, “So leave me and my foolishness alone—we’ll get through this fearful thing. I won’t suffer anything as bad as a disgraceful

In Antigone, Sophocles demonstrated what it is meant to be a proper Athenian woman, in this case, Antigone isn’t the proper Athenian women because first of all she is challenging a man and not only is Creon a man but he is also the king. Creon proclaimed that Polyneices isn’t deserving of a proper burial thus banning giving Polyneices that burial. Antigone isn’t willing to accept this, so she comes up with a plan without thinking of the impending consequences. In addition, she tries to persuade her sister Ismene in aiding her in which Ismene declines. In this situation, Sophocles communicates that Ismene is the proper Athenian woman since she isn’t committing treachery against the government and she follows the king’s proclamation. Since Ismene didn’t follow through with Antigone in burying their brother, Ismene ends up living. In contrast, in Lysistrata, Aristophanes communicated that a proper woman stands by her community and even though Lysistrata went against the implemented gender roles, she and the other women came together to help the city of Athens. Even if there was a chance of physical abuse or rape the women were willing to do anything to have their men away from war and at home with them. I personally believe that here Aristophanes is agreeing with Sophocles, but then again disagreeing with