Antigone Gender Roles

When Director Ivo van Howe initially conceived the idea of a modern rendition of Sophokles’ Antigone, perhaps he wanted to display the persistence of philosophical issues such as the conflict between law and morality as well as the somewhat stereotypical gender roles of females through bringing the central plot of Antigone to modern society. Despite the great artistic potential of a revival of the play, Howe’s play fails to effectively convey any significant theme or meaning to the audience and instead leaves the audience members, especially the ones who have never read the original play, hopelessly confused. This is caused by the numerous flaws in Ivo van Howe’s confusing and half-hearted directive choices that causes the play to feel shallow.

Many of these choices are manifested in the depiction of the major characters of the play, especially Antigone and Kreon. Instead of depicting the characters as emotionally complex human beings, van Howe instead displays them as shallow models of the ideals they represent. This is strikingly apparent even in their appearance: Antigone’s unkempt clothing showcases her as a brave societal rebel, Kreon’s bald head and expensive suit displays him as a stereotypical villain, and Ismene’s neat female casual attire betrays her complacent and submissive personality. The only saving grace is the appearance of Haemon, whose similar appearance to his father Kreon hides his feelings and support of Antigone. Another flaw in the characterization is the illogical changes in the major characters as the play progresses. Antigone, despite being depicted throughout most of the play as brave and unfaltering, is shown broken down and crying in the tomb, betraying her own personality. Kreon at the end is shown gravely mourning for his dead wife and son, despite that he was never shown throughout most of the play as having any sort of