Interpretation Of Antigone's Polyneices

Professor Schwab’s interpretation of Antigone’s motives differ significantly from what most conventional scholars think of the text. Her belief is that Antigone’s motive for burying her brother Polyneices was not motivated by familial love but is instead motivated by a possible sexual desire for her brother. Schwab points to philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel as evidence of the conventional Antigone scholar. Schwab claims that Hegel idealizes the brother/sister relationship as one that is immune from desire, when in fact, this does not seem to be the case with Antigone. According to Schwab, Antigone’s love for her brother seems to be more than strictly familial. The purpose of this essay is to show that the relationship of Antigone and Polyneices is indeed largely traditional and although there are some textual passages that might support the

To accept the premise of the second meaning is to undermine Antigone’s commentary on authority and dissent. Antigone as her brother’s lover has no moral or thematic point, and it means that Antigone is listening to her own personal desires rather than following a mandate from the Gods or fulfilling a sister’s role in Greek society at the time. In essence, it invalidates the point of the debate between the mortal and godly laws and it paints Antigone as a weak character motivated by a man, which is an altogether too familiar narrative that lacks the depth of the real message of the play. Antigone as a feminist hero shows the potential for everyday people to stand up to authority in order to hold them to the standard of a more just cause; a higher power even mortal humans must answer to. Whether this is interpreted as God, Gods, natural laws or unalienable rights, there is always a greater power that we hold our leaders