Antigone, Ismene And Sexism In Ancient Greece

In the tragedy Antigone by playwright Sophocles, the main protagonist Antigone and her sister Ismene are mourning the death of their brothers Eteocles and Polynices after a war for control of Thebes in Ancient Greece. The sisters are in a disagreement about the fate of Polynices’ corpse, as King Creon who took control after their deaths, declares him a traitor. Antigone wants to recover the body of her brother and give him the proper burial to honor him. “Has he buried one with honor? But he has shamed the other. Disgraced him!” (748) Ismene states that they are not powerful enough and that they need to know their place, they need to follow the law. Gender roles and inequality are a powerful theme in the play Antigone. Ismene and Antigone are the victims of the patriarchy, and the women of today can relate.

“How can we fight men? / We must accept these things/ I’m not free, I must obey whoever’s in charge.” (749-750) Ismene says this to Antigone when she asks for help. Ismene is a product of her environment and she is the classic example of the oppression of women in Ancient Greece, where women hold back their own feelings and pride and listen to their husbands and the men that have rule over them. Honestly, this is surprising considering many of the powerful gods that were worshipped in this culture happen to be female. Antigone is fired up. She is the daughter of Oedipus who was known for his anger and rage and she channels that through her actions. She believes in honor and loyalty in the name of her brother Polynices. Ismene and Antigone are totally different in this way. Ismene is very fearful of the law and one could say that Antigone is mentally sick or “reckless” for continuing to pursue his body when Creon had declared that anyone who takes the body will be stoned to death. (748)

Creon is now the ruler of Thebes. He is a hardened man who is extremely sexist. He goes around thinking that men are supposed to be superior to women and that all men wanting power should always abide by the old laws and create new, should seek council and follow it but he has this warped sense of what is right and wrong. He mentions that when you provide a life to useless children, the enemy wins. (764) “What makes a son prouder than a father’s thriving reputation.” (765) Where are his priorities? We must remember that Creon is also their Uncle through their mother. If he was the king or not, he was already an authoritative role in their lives. He says, “While I’m alive, no woman governs me.” (761) Is it any wonder that Ismene abides by the new rules? That she does not want Antigone to be involved? Does she not feel the anguish of loss of her father and her brothers as one lies deteriorating for the town to see? Naturally she does. Along with trying to take partial responsibility when Antigone eventually is caught, and Cleon wants to punish them both claiming that Ismene at the very least conspired to get the body. This is his own family. Imagine what he would do to the people he did not know that betray him.

One may think that Cleon was intimidated by a woman doing something out of place, who does the opposite of what she is told. His son Haemon is in a marriage arrangement with Antigone. Haemon says “I’m yours, father, I respect your wisdom.” (764) It seems that there are many “gender roles” that are represented here. Men become warriors, and must be full of might and power, they are owned by their fathers and they own their wives. Haemon is expected to fit this role and Antigone is expected to follow her duty as a woman and marry somebody chosen for her. Creon rattles off a list of his expectation for a man and says that a woman is to never distract a man. That it is better to be defeated and lose your power by the hand of a man then to be outdone by a woman. (765) So, he decided that instead of stoning her to death in the city, he will seal her in a tomb while she is still alive. He did not want a big pubic spectacle of her death. So, she decided that she was going to take control herself and committed suicide. Haemon intended to take his father’s life. He ended up taking his own. His mother had found out and shortly followed suit. (781)

The sexist undertones of Antigone are still relatable today and that is troubling. It is sad that after this length of time, the message is still loud and clear, but nobody is listening. At this point a woman still has not taken the highest political role as Commander in Chief of the United States of America. This is due to the “women are weak and controlled by emotion” mentality. Women have watched for years as men are offered extra opportunities, get paid more and women are still being taken advantage of by men in powerful positions. Men suffer from barbaric and media made expectations. They are told they need to be leaders and are represented as built and in shape, as powerful when they yell and dictate and are told that they can harm women and maybe nothing will happen. Ismene would be representing many women that stay quiet and are passive to the desires of men due to the mindset they were raised upon. Antigone is what we should aim to be. Nobody should control our actions if they do not harm another. Not for the sake of anarchy but for the sake of humanity. We need to recognize each other as people and not just conform to the gender normativity and sexist ways of our past. How do we break free? We can come together as men and women and stand for what is right, just as Antigone did. We are humans first and foremost. Antigone and Ismene are the surviving female casualties of loss and war. They handle their situations differently and Antigone refuses to be a victim while Ismene is weary as a law abider and product of sexism in ancient Greece.