A woman who rebelled against a distinctively patriarchal, male-dominated Greek society. A woman who defied the orders of the King to follow her heart. A woman who acted in accordance with her sense of right and wrong. A woman with great reverence for relationships and an even greater allegiance towards family values. Such a woman deserves applause. A rebel. A legend. An example. A woman. Antigone.
Sophocles’ Antigone has as its backdrop a very rigid and conservative Greek society and Greek culture when it was certainly against the norm of a typical ancient Greek woman to rebel against a male authority. And therein lies the reason to believe that Sophocles’ protagonist in Antigone showed signs of early feminism. Antigone dared to raise her voice against a patriarchal order at a time when women in ancient Greece were generally fearful that rebellion against male authority would lead to unfortunate circumstances.
My paper celebrates both: the woman in Antigone, and the feminist.
Keywords – woman, patriarchal, society, Greek, rebel
For a homage she thought was rightly deserved
she practiced her devotion,
and till the corpses both were out of sight
hung fiercely to the notion
that those who’ve died deserve as much respect
as those who carry on,
but who can blame survivors who suspect
that she, like Metatron,
would like to be the one who’s in control?
She crosses that fine border
that circumscribes the playing field whose goal
is set for law and order.
The ancient Greek culture when deeply examined reveals much turmoil on the basis of gender rights and personal roles within the society, as examined by Aristophanes, Plato, Bingen, and Pizan, each seemingly ahead of his or her time with respect to femini...
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...ven in death shows that she had a strong heart and solid mind. She was not willing to let go of what was most important to her. Furthermore, in saying that she would not have performed this deed for her husband or children, she is denouncing her traditional gender role as a female whose only purpose was to become a loving wife and mother. Antigone’s expression of her independent spirit is what makes her stand out as an ancient literary feminist and martyr. Antigone’s legacy will live on, and provide inspiration to many other rebels to stand up for their
rights and everything they believe is correct. Antigone's strong feminist stance in defying a patriarchal tyrant shows how individualistic ideas and actions can be very effectual.
Works Cited
Diner, Hellen. Mothers and Amazons: The First Feminine History of Culture. (New York. Doubleday Anchor Books. 1973)
Captivatingly, both women act daringly, regardless of the culturally constructed labels as women, products of incest and wickedness. They use their “otherness” as a power mechanism, rather than an excuse to passivity. In conclusion, Elphaba and Antigone challenge conventional roles of gender, as they are strong, courageous figures of rebellion and exemplify a lack of traditional gender normativity.
The first aspect that qualifies Antigone as a tragic hero is her high social s...
Although undenialably couragous, determined, and brave. She has an achilles heel that makes her arrogant. She is unwilling to back off her quest, in burying her beloved brother. No matter if she must work alone and alienate herself in order to do so. To ensure she buries her kin with honor. “I will not press you any more. I would not want you as a partner if you asked. Go to what you please. I go to bury him. How beautiful to die in such pursuit! To rest loved by him whom I have loved, sinner of a holy sin, With longer time to charm the dead than those who live, for I shall abide forever there. So go. And please your fantasy and call it wicked what the gods call good”(Antigone 194). /she goes as far as breaking the law, presenting herself as a uncompromising person, similar to that of King Creon. Sadly her achilles heel is not from her doing. Other characters have influenced her into rushed decisions. For example Creon’s cruel punishments and brutality causes Antigone to want to bury her brother. Ismene’s refusal to help bury their beloved brother makes Antigone more determined and persistent to bury him. Eventually leading to Antigone’s suicide. She had hung herself, when Haemon (her love) saw her he stabbed himself and lied next to her in her pool of blood. Then when Eurydice(Haemon’s mother) found out she cut her throat in her bedroom. Creon was now alone. The chorus notes that if it were not
After her mother committed suicide, her father died and her brothers fought until they killed each other, Antigone projects her strong character with interesting ways of showing it. As the main character with strong values and a stubborn way, she follows the laws of god, without minding the consequences. Antigone is a strong willed woman who wins the respect of the audience by the inner strength and resistance of manipulation she has, showing the potential of human kind. She becomes a heroine with noble qualities of mind, heart and soul because she is willing to sacrifice her life, doing what she believes it is right. With a sense of family ties, she is an ideal for humanity, the issue is that she must burry her brother Polynices with an appropriate ceremony since she believes it is the last right for every human being.
In the play Antigone written by Sophacles, Antigone did not really have a role to play in society. She explored a contrast between the behaviour expected by women and the way she really acted in society. Women were considered as slaves being servants in homes, weaving all the time. During those days women did not have any rights and only had to obey the King’s orders.
In historic Greece, the characteristics of a hero were for the most part left only for men to achieve. Heroes were viewed as those who were kind to friends, vicious to enemies. They were also men who risked their lives regularly everyday, fighting for not only their country, but also treasures such as women, gold, and armor, among other things. Women, however, rarely accomplished such things, for what made a good woman was her obedience to her husband, her loyalty to her family, and, for the most part, other functions that a housewife is usually considered to perform. In order to win renown, however, a woman was forced to commit actions normally left to men. Antigone, Electra, and Medea, do not attempt to be what was considered a “good” women in ancient Greece; rather, their actions become masculine, instead. This is why they were known in the ancient world.
Sarah Pomeroy. Goddess, Whores, Wives and Slaves. (New York: Pantheon. 1975, 1976. Print. P. 80
Despite the male dominant society of Ancient Greece, the women in Sophocles’ play Antigone all express capabilities of powerful influence and each individually possess unique characteristics, showing both similarities and contrasts. The women in the play are a pivotal aspect that keeps the plot moving and ultimately leads to the catharsis of this tragedy. Beginning from the argument between Antigone and Ismene to Eurydice’s suicide, a male takes his own life and another loses everything he had all as a result of the acts these women part take in. The women all put their own family members above all else, but the way they go about showing that cherishment separates them amongst many other things.
These two examples alone give us the impression, which degrades women and the power they had. On the contrary, Antigone goes against society view and a norm to do what she considers is morally proper. Ismene, Antigone’s sister and foil of the story, is compared with her throughout the story since Ismene believes that adhering to the law is more important over family loyalty. Ismene says: “I shall obey those who are in authority, for deeds that are excessive make no sense at all” (Antigone, Page 22, Line 67-68).
Antigone risks her own life to bury her brother, therefore, she goes against Kreon’s edict that Polyneices should be left unburied; she believes Polyneices deserves to reach the afterlife. Antigone tells Ismene, “I will bury him myself. If I die for doing that, good: I will stay with him, my brother; and my crime will be devotion” (Sophocles 23). Antigone is willing to risk her own life by disobeying the king’s authority; She stands up for her religious belief that Polyneices should be buried. Kreon tells Antigone before she takes her own life, “I won’t encourage you. You’ve been condemned” (Sophocles 57). Kreon believes that Antigone’s crime is severe, and righteousness should be used to justify her crime. At this point of the play, Antigone realizes she will be put to death, but she does not regret her act of loyalty. In Antigone’s last speech before she takes her own life, she exclaims, “Land of Thebes, city of my fathers… see what I suffer at my mother’s brother’s hand for an act of loyalty and devotion” (Sophocles 57). Here, Antigone addresses the nation’s leaders and declares that they should notice th...
summarizes a romantic idealist as an “other-orientated”, person who “lives in the future or past and worries about future consequences or effects of past events.” In the first fifty lines Antigone publicizes her complete disregard of Creon’s order to leave her brother’s body untouched. It becomes apparent (Line 58) that the betrayal of her uncle was only because of her worry. As a romantic idealist, “past events lead to future consequences.” By “the laws of god” (Line 58) Polyneices body had to be buried. Antigone, the “others-orientated” women she was believed her brother deserved an honorable funeral just as her other brother where people could mourn (Line 15-18). According to her idea of a perfect world, without flaws strengthens Antigone’s judgment and solidifies her beliefs. This can be seen in line 55 “I will bury him and if I must die, I say that this crime is holy” and continues on line 59 with “it is the dead not the living who make the longest demand: we die for ever…”
In learning about the feminist movement, we studied the three articles and discussed and reviewed the different authors perspectives on the topic and learned how important the role of woman in Greek Mythology. In presenting the feminist theory to the class we analyzed the three articles, Women in Ancient Greece; Women in Antiquity: New Assessments; and Women in Greek Myth, and discussed how although the three articles provided different views on Feminism in mythology, they all essentially are aiming to teach the same basic concept.
Antigone believes that a woman should be intrepid and strong, even at the risk of challenging men’s authority. When she proposes to bury Polynices, Ismene answers, “we’re not born to contend with men”. (75) Antigone’s response, “that death will be a glory” (86), does not directly address gender issues, but it expresses her fury at Ismene’s passivity. After the burial of Polynices, Antigone defiantly states, “I did it. I don’t deny a thing,” while being interrogated by Creon (492) and later comments that she was “not ashamed for a moment, not to honor my brother”. (572-3) Antigone’s gallant speech and defiance toward traditional gender identities audaciously shows her revolutionary desire for gender equality.
Antigone being written takes a reader back to about 441 BC. At this time, women did not have rights, and women’s rights were not even a thought. Women accepted that they were less than men, and at this time in history it was not
Although ancient Greece was a male-dominate society, Sophocles' work Antigone, portrays women as being strong and capable of making wise decisions. In this famous tragedy, Sophocles uses the characters Ismene and Antigone to show the different characteristics and roles that woman are typical of interpreting. Traditionally women are characterized as weak and subordinate and Ismene is portrayed in this way. Through the character of Antigone, women finally get to present realistic viewpoints about their character.