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Antigone Gender Roles Essay

1218 Words5 Pages

In Antigone by Sophocles, Antigone and Creon are the main characters, each a girl and a boy. Antigone is an assertive and bold young woman in her community where women are seen as just subjects. Creon perceives women as beneath him. Sophocles portrays the women in the play with no rights nor any freedom. Gender roles are portrayed over and over in the play by blatantly disrespecting women and giving men all the power. In ancient Greece (Where and when the play was set), women were expected to be obedient and submissive, they were considered lower than men and were not allowed to do everything a man could. On the other hand men were seen as big, strong, and brave heroes. These gender roles are greatly shown throughout Antigone. Creon is the …show more content…

Not only is Creon and Antigone’s relationship affected but Ismene’s relationship with Antigone is also affected throughout as she has to pick between her obedience to the King of Thebes and his laws and her own sister’s loyalty. “We are only women, we cannot fight with men, Antigone! The law is strong, we must give in to the law in this thing, and in worse.” (Sophocles 50) Ismene is a rule follower and does not like conflict, she loves her sister but sometimes that isn’t enough to not obey Creon. Ismene just wants Antigone to drop it and forget about anything related to disobeying Creon, so they are both safe and don’t get killed. “What do I care for in life when you are dead?” (440) Ismene wants to take half of the blame for the burial of Polyneices but Antigone does not like that because if she refused to help at first and feels like she just wants all the attention, Antigone and Ismene's relationship is not the closest now because of the way Ismene is acting, trying to get the attention on

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