Contrast Antigone And Ismene

Sophocles was a Greek playwright who wrote tragedies, and one of his more famous plays is "Antigone." Sophocles is known for his strong female characters and for his insight into human nature. The play, "Antigone," is a great example of this because the main character is Antigone, who is a girl. She is the daughter of Oedipus and is engaged to Creon’s son, Haimon. Oedipus, the previous king, had married his mother and killed his father, which brought a curse upon him and his family. At one point in the play Antigone even blames her death on Oedipus and the curse. Ismene is the other daughter of Oedipus. Antigone and Ismene have two brothers, named Polyneices and Eteocles, that both just died in a war a couple days before the play starts. The …show more content…
Their personalities are drastically different, and this is shown many times throughout the play through their words and actions. The main difference between Antigone 's and Ismene 's personalities is that Antigone is bold, independent, and according to Ismene, “fiery” (Sophocles 689), while Ismene is timid and submissive. Ismene can be considered submissive because she complied with the civil laws. She was compliant because the punishment was stoning, and she did not want to die, even though the law went against the gods ' rules. She is also shown as submissive by Sophocles by her statement, “We are only women, / we cannot fight with men” (Sophocles 688). Antigone is aggressive, confident, and unafraid up until the point of certain death. At the point of death, she is grim and bleak, as any person would be, because, “the sun… shines for [her] no longer” (Sophocles 711). When Antigone is sentenced to death, Creon also sentences Ismene to death for being an accomplice, even though Ismene had refused to help Antigone. When she was sentenced, though, she was willing to die with her sister, but Antigone became mad at her for trying to take credit that was not due to her. Their actions also show who they are and how they are …show more content…
The main conflict in the play is that Polyneices is not supposed to be buried, under penalty of death by stoning, but Antigone goes against that law. She goes against the law so that her brother 's spirit would go to the right place and so that the gods would be pleased. Antigone knew the penalty but, “[she is] not afraid of the danger; if it means death” (Sophocles 690) and she still went through with helping her brother. Ismene did not want to step out of line by helping Antigone, but when she had the chance to get recognized for something that seemed honorable, she wanted to receive the credit. Antigone did not want any of the credit to go to Ismene since she did not help and she tells Ismene straight out, “You would not help me, and I would not have you help me” (Sophocles 701). Antigone also speaks out against the king which shows that she is bold but also irrational and somewhat foolish. Sophocles says that Antigone speaks, “bitterly” (Sophocles 700), to Creon when they are arguing. Antigone tells Creon that he rules by fear, and he thinks he is, “licensed to say and do whatever [he] pleases” (Sophocles 700), and the people of Thebes keep their mouths shut and try to please him because of this. The girls’ personalities and actions have led others to have different opinions about