Social Norms In Sophocles Antigone

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In Sophocles’s Antigone social norms, especially the roles of women in society, are brought into question. The moral dilemma of law versus religion is also examined in this play, and both of these topics can be seen through the relationship of sisters Antigone and Ismene. Ismene strictly following the social norms expected of women creates an emphasis on Antigone’s behavior and enhances the reader’s view of her as the heroine of the story.
Both sisters are strong characters, with a firm set of beliefs on the trials facing them. Ismene feels completely powerless because of the laws of the city, whereas Antigone feels that the powers of the laws are not as important as the rules of the gods. Feeling that because she and Antigone are women
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Although Ismene felt Antigone’s quest was hopeless, she wanted to be there for her sister, and eventually she felt she should stand by her completely and that they should go down together, but Antigone did not change her view. Initially when Ismene refused to side with Antigone, she was met with aggression, being told that saying no would “make me [Antigone] hate you [Ismene]” (108.) Later in the play when Ismene had a change of heart and wanted to share the blame with Antigone, Antigone rejected her because she had no patience for uncertainty, although she didn’t resent Ismene. Antigone understood Ismene’s reasoning, the problem was that her “wisdom appealed to one world” (628) the world of men and their laws, and Antigone’s logic applied to another, the world of the gods and their laws. This line of thinking is vastly different from Antigone’s behavior in the beginning of the play, where Antigone told Ismene that disagreeing with her would “make me hate you” (108), later in the play when Ismene wanted to claim some of the blame for helping give Polynices his burial rites and be executed along side Antigone she was told she could not “share my dying” (615) by Antigone. Ismene being executed would lack honor, she would be dying for something she had “never touched” (616). Antigone felt that because she had not participated in helping to bury Polynices, she should not have the face the retributions for it, and that now Ismene would live her life with shame knowing that she had dishonored the gods and her family, whereas Antigone would have a death with honor. Ismene wanted to do what she thought was right, and that shifted, as opinions so often do, to Creon being in the wrong. In the beginning, Ismene just wanted to keep Antigone safe, offering to “keep it a secret” (99) and reminding her that she was

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