What are the effects of the contradictory elements in the behavior of Blanche and Stella in Tennessee William's A Street Car Named Desire and of the Antigone and Ismene in Sophocles's Antigone?

In Antigone the character of Antigone is very loyal to her family. She plans to bury Polynices without any fear of laws. She says to Creon after accepting that she had buried her brother: “…Nor did I think your edict had such a force that you, a mere mortal, could over ride the gods, the great unwritten, unshakable traditions… But if I had allowed my own mother’s son to rot, an unburied corpse- that would have been an agony…” (82). She is very concerned about the status her family has had. She thinks she is the only savior of the status that her family has had. She assumes that, that by doing this she would be doing something heroic but she is mistaken as she as we see later in the play that she is inviting Creon to humiliate her, which exactly happens later on.  Ismene, Antigone’s sister, refuses to help her, as she is a good citizen and wants to obey the law and Creon. At one point she says to Antigone, “What? you’d burry him when the law forbids the city?” (61). Sophocles tries to show that Ismene is being intelligent and is aware of the fact that it is better to stay alive and maintain the name of the family rather then keeping the status without any member if the family essentially being alive. She had a slight idea of Antigone’s fate she did want to stay alone as she is shown to be a more obedient character. She uses the law as a pretext for the above-mentioned reasons.  

Antigone is shown to be a very stubborn as well as optimistic to an extent of foolishness. She has decided to burry her brother, she is proud to do it. She makes sure that she does it irrespective of the resistance caused by Creon. She is shown to be a very brave character as well. When Ismene tells her not to what she is doing. She replied, “…I will burry him myself. And even if I die in an act, that death will be a glory…” (63). She does not care about her fate as long as she is victorious in carrying out what she was planning to do. Ismene, shown as a very clever girl tries to make Antigone understand and deals with the situation more maturely. She realizes the consequences of what Antigone is planning to do and therefore she has a different perspective of the situation. She explains this to Antigone by saying “… I, for one, I’ll beg the dead to forgive me- I’m forced, I have no choice – I must obey the ones who stand in power. Why rush to extremes? It’s madness, madness.” (64) Ismene is a very considerate sister. Later on in the play when Antigone is sentenced to death she even pleaded in front of Creon to save her life but all in vain.

   

   

        Blanche has always been living in illusions. She thinks that she is living in reality but in fact she is not. She is always presenting fake personalities. Her former husband shot himself after she publicly showed her hatred for his homosexuality. This experience with him makes her degrade herself to love whoever she can, who provides her with protection for a certain time and satisfies her sexually.  She brings herself into an illusion for the longest time as she erases those bad experiences. At one point she says.  “ I don’t want realism… I don’t tell truth, I tell what ought to be the truth”(109). When she is raped, that is the first time she actually sees reality. She tries to explain this to Stella, but she does not believe her because of the illusion she had created and showed till that point. Stella is totally different and she lives in reality.  Stella’s standing up against Stanley proves her real approach to things, because she knows that she is actually in love with him and is getting the love back which makes her believe that she is living in reality. She could go to any extent to keep her marriage. She is simplistic and is happy essentially with Stanley.  

        

        To conclude, both Williams and Sophocles represent the contradiction in us in choosing to make their protagonists one half of a sister relationship, the other half representing law order, conventional and social norms. Blanche here is has had immoral sexual relations with men in her past life and Antigone is trying to burry her brother although it is against Creon’s laws. Both the protagonists do not pursue the norms of the society and go completely against it

         

        In case of Antigone she is inflexible, hopeful and very hasty.  Her fate is completely because of her own mistake. She dies in the end.  In Williams play, Blanche is living in illusions she is doomed in the end by becoming an alcoholic and ends up getting raped by Stanley.

        

        Ismene is dealing cleverly with the situation and tries to save her sister. Her sister suppresses and she is shown to have a lot of influence over her. Stella is living in certainty rather then her own idealistic world. She is also obscured by her sister but she ends up standing next to Stanley and gives birth to his child.

     No matter what ever the case is. Human begins are bound to take shape according to the environment they are living in but their individual characters determine the result.  

                     

                                                                                                     WORD COUNT: 1348

 

        

                     

     

 

           

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