antigone and ismene

Student’s Name: Tutor’s Name: Course: Date Due Comparing and contrasting Antigone and Ismene Notably, there is great variation between Antigone and Ismene on their behavior and their views of women in Greek society and it is these views that shape they choices that each woman makes in the play. The personalities of the two sisters are different as ball of cotton is from tempered steel. Antigone acts as a defiant woman and free spirit contrary to her sister, Ismene who is content to recognize her own limitation as a Greek woman and her accrued inferiority. Form the beginning, the passive nature of Ismene in tackling the oppression of women and improving the position of woman in the society is portrayed. When her sister learns that they by then leader, King Creon had failed to give a proper burial to her brother Polyneices who had been slayed in the battlefield, she confronts her sister and shares the tragic news. However, the helplessness and passivity of Ismene is shown when she responds “No, I have heard nothing” (Sophocles, 344). Form her behaviors and action, Ismene is characterized as traditionally feminine and woman who pays little attention to political affairs and the social wellbeing of women. She even goes ahead and persistently tries to discourage her sister, Antigone from taking certain actions. For instance, when Antigone tells her of her intention to break the law and bury her brother, Ismene argues “We who are women should not contend with men; we who are weak are ruled by the stronger, so that we must obey…. (Sophocles, 346)”. This argument clearly shows the helplessness and the feminine nature of Ismene compared to her sister Antigone. It is this nature that