antigone and ismene

Abstract

[Name] 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 makes her Antigone to lament in response by saying “Set your own life in order” (Sophocles, 346). Evidently, in ancient Greece women were largely devalued and were only respected only by their ability to give birth. Those who never fulfilled their social obligation were humiliated and exiled from the society. It is this reason that most of playwriters always presented the social oppression that women faced. In the play, Antigone is presented as an obstinate woman who actively disobeys the civil law and always does who she believes is good and right. She is contrasted with her sister, Ismene who from the beginning refuses to take the stance of Antigone and actively disagrees with her plan. From the beginning, Antigone vows to burry his brother despite being forbidden. Her implicit determination and assurance supersede the accrued women expectation to be different from men, especially those men who in authority. Her lexicon is relatively masculine throughout the play. She is moderate in reference to gender and uses moderate words such as mankind and human to refer to people unlike other characters who specifically mention gender in order to degrade women. For instance, King Creon actively uses the jibe “you foul creatures” with the objective of degrading the social position of women and present as weak beings. Through Antigone actions, it is evident that her intention unlike that Ismene is to break the gender roles as perceived by the Greek society rather then upholding them. She appears to resist the misogynistic laws that were common in the society and it is this notion that guides most of decision she made and most of the actions she took. When she is confronted by King Creon due to her decision to perform the burial rites, she is unnecessarily pugnacious where she contends ‘I am convicted of folly by a fool’. Her actions in front of the king clearly shows her hot-headedness and hamartia probably inherited from her father Oedipus. Fundamentally, based on their actions, both Antigone and Ismene are both trying to perfect women by taking relatively different social stance. Ismene prefers to be passive and conservative and approaches social issues in a rather reserved manner. On the other hand, Antigone is rather progressive and tends to prefer taking actions are defiant to the status quo which contributed to oppression of women. She is tragic hero who largely believes in her moral duty to do the right thing without considering the accrued consequences of her action. On the other hand, Ismene actively follows the law with the objective of staying out of trouble. She is more concerned with...