Antigone's Masochism

Masochist. What is a masochist? A masochist is someone who hurts themselves. A masochist not only hurts themselves, but they find pleasure in hurting themselves. A masochist is frowned upon by society. According to Dictionary.com masochism is “gratification gained from pain, deprivation, degradation, etc., inflicted or imposed on oneself, either as a result of one's own actions or the actions of others, especially the tendency to seek this form of gratification.” Modern day masochists enjoy cutting themselves, and many die from this. Antigone knows the consequence she will receive if she breaks the law and that performing burial rites are a right reserved to men, yet she willingly breaks the law. When Antigone is caught she is given the opportunity to deny what she does, yet she fully agrees with all the claims against her, showing a masochistic thinking process. In the end Antigone is the one who kills herself, and everyone around her realizes that she was wrong with her masochistic actions. In Antigone by Sophocles the character, Antigone is a masochist because she brings upon her own downfall willingly.

Antigone is fully aware of what happens if she acts on her words, yet she knowingly brings herself closer to death. She is well informed about the decree and the she cannot preform burial rites, yet she does them anyway. Antigone goes inside her house, after hearing the news and tells her sister “Why, a city-wide proclamation, rumor has it, forbids anyone to bury him, even mourn him… who ever disobeys in the least will die, his doom is sealed: stoning to death inside the city walls” (60, 33-43). Antigone knows that death is the punishment for burying Polynices. She also knows that attempting to bury Polynices is a death wish...

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...orst type of death, a suicidal death.

Antigone is not an innocent victim, she is not a martyr that is killed fighting for a great cause, and she is not even killed by anyone else. The only other possible role that Antigone could have been is a masochist, someone who knowingly brought her own death upon herself. Only men had the right to bury women at the time, and there is a law in place that strictly forbids burying this person, Antigone purposely breaks this law. Antigone has the chance to talk herself out of the punishment, but she almost great fully accepts her death sentence. She kills herself, her death is not anyone’s fault but her own, she is going to be saved, yet she hangs herself. The worst pain a masochist can cause themselves is suicide, and taking pleasure from that is all the worse… that is exactly why Antigone is a sick masochist in every aspect.