Ajayi 1

Adelola Ajayi
Professor Markas
CSS Tutoring
1 August 2017
Antigone Essay
Throughout the Antigone Sophocles portray female characters in different lights. Female

characters essentially are portrayed upon gender relations in ancient Greece. Antigone and

Ismene are two female characters portrayed throughout the Antigone but these women are

completely different. The way they are viewed by Creon also shows that Sophocles intention is

to portray women in close relation to ancient Greece gender relations. Sophocles portrays female

characters in many different ways, some exert autonomy while others do not and are subject to

the wills of the royal men.

Antigone is portrayed as a woman who is independent. Antigone does not follow the law,

that her brother should not be buried, and she buries him giving honor, I say I did it and I don't

deny it...Nor did I think your orders were so strong that you, a mortal man, could overrun the

gods unwritten and unfailing laws(Sophocles 37 450-455). This shows that Antigone does

exert autonomy because she is independent of the law and exercises her own freedom and does

what she wants no matter the consequences. Creon says that he would kill whoever disobeyed

the law anyone who dares attempt the act will die by public stoning in the town(Sophocles 22

35-37); Antigone knows this but still goes ahead and buries her brother she is not pitiable at all

but very brave. Antigone was not subjected to any of the royal mens will in the beginning, until

Creon found out that Antigone went against him, that is when she was subject to Creon,

eventually Creon subjecting her to the law because he did not want to be a slave to a women.

Creon makes decisions because he wants to be superior to women and does not want a woman to

control him, No Woman rules me where I live(Sophocles 542-525) .Antigone expresses her

own ideas and individualism she follows her own rules.

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Ismene is completely different from her sister Antigone. Ismene respects authority and

does not want to go against the law that says not to bury her brother. She tells her sister to go

ahead but don't involve her because she basically does not want any trouble To bury him when

its forbidden?... O reckless one, when Creon spoke against it!(Sophocles 44-47). Ismene does

not express autonomy at all, she does not have independence or freedom, her decisions are based

off of what she will face by the men who are in charge. Ismene can be seen as pitiable because

she does not want to disobey the authority and lets Antigone bury her brother by herself. Ismene

is subject to Creon.

Creon does not want to be a woman's slave.According to Creon, Then go down there, if

you must love, and love the dead. No woman rules me where I live(Sophocles 524-525).

Therefore based upon Creon's ideals women are to follow the authority of men and if it were to

be the other way around the man would be viewed as a slave to the woman. This make women

seem to be pitiable and means that they are subject to the men's will because of Creon's ideals.

Women in Creon's perspective should not be independent or have freedom.

Sophocles portrays Antigone to be brave while he portrays Ismene to be weak and subject

to the rule of men. He portrays women like this to show the role of women and men in Greece,

based upon Ismene and her actions, Ismene portrays the gender roles of Greece while Antigone

opposes it. Ismene is shown to be a pitiable character only because she fears Creon. Throughout

the text Sophocles portrays Antigone and Ismene to be different, Antigone being the stronger

female character and having her own ideas.