Even after the birth of Christ the world’s societies were strongly patriarchal.
Obviously, things weren’t too good for women before that either. Proof of this is the fact that misogyny is
quite evident in the last of Sophocles’ Theban plays and Drama is supposed to
reflect the society to which it belongs. However, Antigone’s actions challenged
the ideals of her era. She stood up to the men of a time and place where women
were practically considered slaves, which is why she is widely considered to be
one of the earliest feminist figures in literature.
If we look at
the social structure in the play, we can see that all important posts are
occupied by males, such as: the messenger, the prophet, and the sentry. And
let’s not forget how Creon got the throne after Oedipus’ death, despite
Antigone and Ismene being his next of kin, simply because females weren’t
allowed to rule and Creon was their closest surviving male relative. In fact,
women as a whole are almost invisible throughout the play, we hear of them but
we scarcely see them. Antigone, is the only female character that actively
participates in the action with the males. She’s the only woman that does
anything important or brave and she is punished for it.
Then, we have Ismene, who is a representative of
the women of her time. She is scared, weak, useless and submissive to the will
of men. She’s so afraid of the males of her entourage that she’s willing to
abandon her sister when she needs her the most and to leave her brother
unburied, his soul forever tormented.
Ismene is the kind of woman that
misogynist societies strive on, she is
told that she is inferior and she
believes it:“I am not strong enough”. She is obedient even to injustice because
her society brainwashed her with gender roles: men are supposed to be big and strong and
women should be weak and quiet. She exhibits those beliefs when she says:
“O think, Antigone; we are women; it is not for us
To fight against men; our rulers are stronger than we,
And we must obey in this, or in worse than this.”
Patriarchal societies tell women to be like Ismene, and
women as weak as Ismene will not object to being so ill-used.
Despite all
this, Antigone does not submit to conventions. She does not see her gender as
an obstacle keeping her from achieving Holy justice and she will stop at
nothing to accomplish her goal. She is the opposite of Ismene and so the
opposite of the women of her society, she is not weak, she is not obedient and
she does not take family ties lightly:
“Is he not my brother, and yours, whether you like it
Or not? I shall never desert him, never.”
Antigone also exhibits great strength, something
uncharacteristic of what men like Creon think a woman should be, she proves
that by going through with her dangerous and risky plan even after learning
that she will have to do it alone when Ismene refuses to help her:
“Go your own way; I will bury my brother;
And if I die for it, what happiness!”
It should also be noted that what enraged Creon most, was
not that he was defied, but that he was defied by a woman, his niece. To Creon,
women should be compliant and docile, abiding by men’s laws. But Antigone
breaks this “rule” and rebels against the strongest man in the kingdom, the king.
She does not accept society’s definition of a woman and she does not do what is
expected of her by other people. She is an independent individual who does what
is right no matter the consequences.
Antigone, a play
written in 441 B.C., shows the typical reaction with which even modern
societies, respond to change and the rise of the oppressed. Antigone was a
woman that did what no man dared to do. She buried her brother despite the
edict forbidding it and she took responsibility for her actions unlike Ismene
who refused to share the task with her despite its noble nature. Antigone
clashes with her society, specifically with its males but gains the respect of
the people because she did what was right by the gods rejecting what was
considered right by a mortal man.
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