As Creon establishes his superiority over women, Sophocles introduces Antigone as the opposing force to this patriarchal view. Antigone portrays a strong willed and proud defiance of Creon which in turn gives the reader the idea that she is not to be viewed as a typical woman of Greek society. In the opening scene, Antigone makes it very clear that she acknowledges the consequence of death by violating Creon’s edict stating to her sister, Ismene, “And even if I die in the act, that death will be a glory” (86). This is a very strong statement held with pride that comes across very similar to Creon’s ego, which demonstrates both power and masculinity, two terms that were unheard of and never to be used to describe a woman. Antigone holds morals of being a “lone individual, refusing to away or be swayed by any in the community” (Lines). Also, like Creon, Antigone portrays uncompromising morals in her belief that her brother, Polynices, deserves a proper burial by stating, “I’ll lie with the one I love and loved by him” (87). Towards the end of the play, Antigone still holds strongly to her beliefs and original motivation with the inability to deny her wrongdoing by stating to Creon, “I did it. I don’t deny a thing” (493). The depiction of Antigone as strong and unafraid of a man even in the moment of death is an extreme contrast against Creon’s patriarchal belief of the inferiority of women.
By the end of Antigone, Creon is stripped of all sense of strength and pride he originally possessed. While Antigone died a very noble death, never losing sight of her beliefs, and “by being true to her one-sided devotion to her brother” (Epstein), Creon shamefully watches his family members die. Through an overbearing competition of battling egos, Creon does eventually fold and wishes to see his own life taken as well, “Oh god, the misery, anguish—I, I’m churning with it, going under” (1434-1435). Furthermore, Creon proceeds to say, “Take me away, quickly, out of sight. I don’t even exist—I’m no one. Nothing” (1445-1446). It is a shame Creon has to be scolded by a blind prophet, “You, you have no business with the dead, nor do the gods above—this is violence you have forced upon the heavens” (1101-1103). Three tragic deaths could have been avoided at all costs if pride was pushed aside for even moments. The emotion that is now demonstrated by Creon is a massive deviation from a powerful, proud ruler he once represented throughout the majority of the play. Overall, Antigone’s pride and strength far surpassed Creon’s due to his cowardly demise which in turn proved she had successfully challenged the belief that women remain inferior to their male subjects in Greek society.
Throughout Antigone, Sophocles established a very strong foundation between a patriarchal view of women in Greek society, and a ruler who clearly defies it which stemmed a conflict between two very similar characters, Creon and Antigone. The defiance Antigone establishes with Creon takes the negativity out of a woman’s role in society and creates a positive one that demonstrated that simply defying a superior power can sometimes be sufficient enough to defeat it altogether. Unfortunately, Antigone is a very strong play based on stubbornness between two forces that ends in taking the lives of three family members. However, Creon in turn learned a very valuable lesson from Tiresias, “All men make mistakes, it is only human. But once the wrong is done, a man can turn his back on folly, misfortune too, is he tries to make amends, however low he’s fallen, and stops his bullnecked ways. Stubbornness brands you for stupidity—pride is a crime” (1132-1137).
WORKS CITED
Epstein, Paul. The Recovery of a Comprehensive View of Greek Tragedy. N.p., 1996. Web. 27
June 12. <http://www.mun.ca/animus/1996vol1/epstein.htm>.
Lines, Patricia M.. "Antigone's Flaw." HUMANITAS XII. 1 (1996): 9.
http://www.nhinet.org/lines.htm. Web. 28 June 2012.
Sophocles. Antigone. Trans. Robert Fagles. Literature and the Writing Process. 6th. ed. Eds.
Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, and Robert Funk. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice,
2002. 605-640. Print.
by
brit33abs (student)
