Essay On Women In Antigone

In the play Antigone women are represented as women who are strong and capable of making wise decisions. The play use Ismene and Antigone to show how woman are portrayed in this society. Traditionally women are portrayed as weak and submissive and Ismene is viewed that way. Ismene betrays her sister Antigone she is a coward and refuses to help her because she fears Creon and to break the law. Ismene gives in to what she feels is her hopeless role as a woman. She begs her sister to reconsider her plan of bearing her brother, feeling that they should do women work not to interfere with men work. Ismene suggests that ‘women are not made to battle men. The rulers now are stronger than the ruled. We must obey.’(Sophecles442BC:3). This shows that she is submissive. She fears of being murdered and she obeys the law. Ismene does not speak her mind she respect her role as a woman.
The women in Antigone are portrayed as second class citizens they have no say in the city of Thebes. Women are portrayed as being oppressed but they handle their oppression in different ways. Antigone is women who break from the chains of oppression; she is defiant and rebellious to the laws of the city of Thebes, she defies the law by giving her brother Polynices a decent burial. The law was that he was to …show more content…
The difference causes them to have issues with one another even though they are strongly tied by their sisterhood. The way in which think and react in various situation is much different. They are both strong and passionate women but what they desire is different at first. Antigone is carried with this desire to have a glorious death and to uphold proper burial rate. Antigone challenges the traditional gender roles women and men countenance. She believes that a woman should be brave and strong even at the risk of challenging men’s authority. Ismene’s choices and principles are determined by women’s inferior