Jaylynn Peck

Dr. Paffenroth

Core Humanities

10/4/99

Antigone

Throughout history, women have always stood in the shadows of men. In many cultures, the role of women has always been to be seen and not heard. As one of the first feminists in world literature, the character Antigone, of Sophocles’ Oedipus Cycle, displays fine characteristics of a great female leader in order to stand up against male dominance for her religious, political, and personal beliefs. When the king denies her brother, Polynices, proper burial, Antigone goes against state law by burying him herself in order to protect heavenly decree and maintain justice. In doing this, she steps out of her place as a woman in a male dominated society.

In order to characterize Antigone as a feminist, it is important to study Antigone’s early childhood, which displays the origins of the characteristics found in her that make her a feminist. In Oedipus of Colonus, Sophocles illustrates these qualities that Antigone possesses. During the first twenty years of her life, Antigone spends her time secluded from society with her blind, exiled father, Oedipus. Sophocles sums up her childhood in the following soliloquy by Oedipus:

"Since her childhood ended and her body gained its power, has wandered ever with me, an old man’s governess; often in the wild forest without shoes, and hungry, beaten by many rains tired by the sun; yet she rejected the sweet life of home so that her father should have sustenance" (Fitzgerald 104). Because she is secluded, Antigone never has to take her place in society as a woman. Without a female role model to show her how a woman is supposed to act, there is no one to raise her as a woman. She spends her days taking care of her blind father and leading him. She is his eyes and thus sees through the eyes of a male. She does not see the barriers that faced most women of the time. A sort of role reversal takes place between her and her father. She takes the position of the father and head of the family while her blind, helpless father acts as the child dependent upon Antigone for survival. She is in charge of making the decisions, caring for him, and being his shoulder as well as his eyes. In leading him and caring for him, she develops herself into a much stronger woman than the women of her society, becoming strong both mentally and physically. It is during this time in her life that Sophocles develops Antigone’s most important trait, her strong will.

Years later, after Oedipus’ death, Antigone uses the characteristics and qualities that have developed inside of her through the years towards fighting for that which she believes. When the king denies her brother a proper burial and makes it illegal for anyone to bury him in Sophocles’ Antigone, Antigone decides it is up to her to take justice into her own hands and give him a proper burial. As a feminist she stands up to male dominance in order to make her views heard.

Antigone forces her political and religious views on the male dictator and his domain when she places heavenly decree above state law by burying her brother, Polynices. In ancient Greece, it was believed that if a body were not buried, the spirit would roam the earth and never reach heaven. By not burying Polynices’ body, King Creon took the power of the gods away by deciding that Polynices did not deserve to go to heaven. Antigone gave these powers back to the gods.

Not only does Antigone stand up for her political and religious beliefs, but she also protects her personal ones when she buries her brother. Throughout The Oedipus Cycle, Antigone places family above her own life, and she refuses to let a man stand in her way of keeping her ideals. She buries Polynices out of her own loyalty to her brother even after her sister, Ismene, refuses to take part. The contrast between Antigone and Ismene symbolizes the difference between feminists and women too intimidated by men to stand up for their own values. This is clearly illustrated when Ismene says, "We are only women, we cannot fight with men, Antigone" (Fitts and Fitzgerald 191). Antigone, however, as a feminist continues with her plans and buries her brother anyhow. Not only does she bury him once, but she reburies him after they find his body the first time showing she will not quite in the face of men. Antigone makes up in every way for the strong will and determination that Ismene lacks. These qualities are what separate the Antigones of the world from the Ismenes, those women that act and those that let men dictate their lives.

In further analyzing Antigone’s interaction with Ismene, the only female character in her life, one can see many of the other traits, which Antigone possesses, that resemble those of men. The way in which Antigone speaks with Ismene is in itself very masculine. Instead of consoling her sister, who has also just lost two brothers, Antigone is cruel to her for not taking part in illegally burying their brother. Instead of being caring and understanding, she becomes angry and at the end of their conversation says, "Go away Ismene: I shall be hating you soon, and the dead will too, for your hateful words," (Fitts and Fitzgerald, 193). In this opening dialogue of Antigone, Sophocles illustrates another quality usually seen in males, her obsession with glory and death. In a time where men received all the glory, it seems ironic that a female would be preoccupied with it. When Ismene refuses to take part in Antigone’s plan to bury their brother, Antigone becomes obsessed with taking all the glory herself. Even when King Creon tells her she will face death for her actions, she remains as proud as a male. Later, when Ismene tries to share her punishment with her, Antigone replies, "You shall not lessen my death by sharing it" (Fitts and Fitzgerald, 212). Her obsession with receiving glory for her actions leads to her obsession with death. She is proud to die, and she begins speaking of death more and more throughout the play as her own death approaches her. While most women her age are looking forward to getting married and having children, Antigone looks forward to her honorable death.

In studying Antigone as a feminist, it is also important to see the situation from the men’s eyes. Before Creon finds out who is liable for the burial of Polynices, he immediately assumes that a man is responsible for this act. He orders that the sentry bring him the "man" who is to be held accountable for the crime committed. When the sentry brings in Antigone, Creon asks why he has brought her because he cannot imagine that a woman did this. He is embarrassed that a female is defying him and this crushes his male ego. Throughout the whole play, Creon spends his time trying to recapture his manhood, which Antigone continues to walk all over. Sophocles displays this in Creon's conversation with Haimon, his son and Antigone’s fiancée, when he says, "And no woman shall seduce us. If we must lose, let’s lose to a man, at least! Is a women stronger than we?"(Fitts and Fitzgerald 218). In the end, Antigone proves that she is stronger than the male, Creon, when she kills herself causing Creon to lose. Creon at this point has caved in by deciding to bury Polynices and free Antigone, but it is too late. She dies an honorable death for future feminists.

Since Sophocles wrote Antigone, there have been thousands of literary works about feminists and their movement to let their voices be heard over men. Through her strong will and bravery, Antigone made her political, religious, and personal beliefs seen. She died in order to win against men even when no one else would stand up to male dominance. For these reasons, Antigone is a prime example of a great feminist in world literature.

WORKS CITED

Fitts, Dudley and Robert Fitzgerald. The Oedipus Cycle.

Trans. Sophocles. Florida: Harcourt Brace & Company,

1977.