PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN SOPHOCLES ANTIGONE “BREAKING OUT “
The ultimate goal of the current feminist movements has always been directed on seeking equality between women and men in general. It is through such changes that women have been in a position of enjoying some rights which they could not in the past. Such rights are and not limited to voting and competing with men in workplaces. Feminist movements have gained momentum in the last few years, but some figures in the history have embodied feminist characteristics of the modern day. A good example can be retrieved from Antigone, a character in Sophocles’ Antigone (Söderbäck, 717).
In Sophocles Antigone, Antigone gender had profound impacts and the meaning of the actions she undertakes in general. One of her antagonist Creon mentions it openly that there was a need to overcome her in whatever it could take, just because she was a woman and her rebellion was not entitled in gender roles and hierarchy (Söderbäck, 727). Her stand against being passive had overturned one of the rules outlined by the culture towards women in particular. Female gender had been subjugated by the culture and was only allowed to act as spectators to the matters around them. And this acted as an encouragement to men, such as Creon, who was eagerly searching for power to put women down with the aim of lessening the possibility of their threat (Tiefenbrun, 35).
In this tragedy, Antigone has been a woman who firmly stood with what she thought was rightful despite the opposition and threats from the people in authority (Tiefenbrun, 39). This comes out clearly when her brothers are killed in the battle and Creon, who at the time was the king of Thebes, declared that only one of the two brothers was to be given an honorable burial while the other one was not going to be buried because he was considered to be a traitor of Thebes’s city. However, Antigone being a firm woman who believed in burying the dead in a human manner, she is determined to give her brother an honorable burial. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
On the other side, Creon has been presented to be determined in ensuring that nobody buries Polyneices and anyone who could try was supposed to be condemned to a death penalty. But despite this stand by the king (Ringer), Antigone seems not to surrender to such threats by the king. And this is a rare stand especially at the time and by the female gender. Antigone considers herself as just loving and loyal sister to his brother and thus can’t allow intimidation as she aims at giving his brother an honorable sent off. Throughout the tragedy, she retains her roles as a traditional woman while also boldly challenging the same depiction (Tiefenbrun, 45).
Being restricted on burying his brother had directly stricken her role as a woman to ensure that the dead members of the family are mourned in an unrestrained sorrow and consign them to the earth (Tiefenbrun, 48). And the denial sets the conflict between the two sexes which thrives throughout the novel. The sense of loyalty to his brother, in this case, leads her to a simultaneous abatement and violation to women responsibility during the time, following and listening to men no matter the situation (Tiefenbrun, 51).
In this struggle to oppose the rule of Creon, the king of Thebes, Antigone has taken the role of a brave woman who is willing to proceed and break the chains of intimidation by gender (Levett). She publicly disapproves the saying that women should be the “effects” while the “causes” being men. Although she gets no support from other women, she starts the fight on her own. We even encounter her confronting her sister and tell her of what she plans. But her sister’s, Ismene, reply depicts a typical woman who has given up and submitted to men’s intimidation fully (Levett). She reminds Antigone of their state as women, and that they were not therefore supposed to contend with men, she goes ahead to tell her that they were underlings and were required to submit fully even to things worse than the case of their brother. This demonstrates the character of “true” women of the time, who feared the subordination to men and could admit and accept anything so long as a man said it. This is what Antigone strives to be an example to the other women but also a lesson to men (Levett).
Unlike her sister Ismene, Antigone seems not to care about getting anyone to help him bury her brother; she commits herself to do it alone beside the consequences to befall her. For to be in a position to mourn her brother, like any other sister could have done, she was supposed to break and boldly challenge the law, and that’s exactly what she was determined to do. This, however, had been declared by the king to be illegal, she goes ahead to stubbornly refuse to give in to Creon, and that resulted in her tragic death (Tiefenbrun, 38).
Women seem to be facing a lot of intimidation in this era. For instance, when the king is talking to his son (Ringer), Haemon on his fiancé’s actions, he strongly emphasizes on the importance of the relationship and the obligation of a man to his father compared to the mother. Also, he puts more emphasis on the importance of a man in the house than a woman (Wiersma, 25). Keenly looking at these two instances, Creon implies that the role of a woman is just to serve and support the man and if not so, she becomes useless.
This is the battle being fought by Antigone. Although alone, as a woman seems determined without any fear to make sure that women are set free from such cases of bondage. She is not getting support from the other women however as it has been depicted by the matter with her sister (Wiersma, 25). She challenges not only the king but also the high power vested in men in general. She is an example of a woman in this novel leading the rest of the women to an attempt of breaking out of the bondage state by men.
Work cited
Söderbäck, Fanny, ed. Feminist readings of Antigone. SUNY Press, 2012.
Tiefenbrun, Susan W. “On Civil Disobedience, Jurisprudence, Feminism and the Law in the Antigones of Sophocles and Anouilh.” Law & Literature 11.1 (2014): 35-51.
Wiersma, Sytze. “Women in Sophocles.” Mnemosyne (2014): 25-55.
Ringer, Mark. Electra and the empty urn: metatheater and role playing in Sophocles. Univ of North Carolina Press, 2013.
Levett, Brad. Sophocles: Women of Trachis. Bristol Classical Press, 2014.