Antigone and Medea: Early Feminists?
Antigone and Medea are often considered amongst the first ‘feminists’ in literature. A feminist is one who protests discrimination against women. Both Antigone and Medea live in sexist societies in which they are treated as inferiors because of their gender. Both rebel against powerful men who impose an injustice on them—Antigone defies Creon’s law, Medea gets revenge on Jason. But their motives for rebellion are quite different. Medea’s primary motive is revenge, but she also protests against women’s discrimination. This makes her a feminist. Antigone is motivated by the desire to bury her brother. At the same time she protests against unjust and tyrannical governments. However, nowhere does she make reference to a desire for more equality amongst the sexes, let alone a demonstration of those values that would make her a feminist. Antigone lives in a sexist society in which woman are second class citizens who are expected to mind their own business and do what they are told. When Creon learns of Antigone’s defiance of his decree his anger seems to stem not merely from the burial, but also from the insolence of a woman: “I am not the man, not now; she is the man if this victory goes to her and she goes free
“We were born women—useless for honest purposes, The noise of war, the look of steel, makes her a coward. Medea lives under the same prejudices as Antigone. Again, in her city, women are considered discriminated against. Jason states his beliefs quite directly: Laughter from Jason and his new allies…” (409-410)
Some topics in this essay:
Laughter Jason,
Antigone Medea,
Haemon Ismene,
Medea Antigone,
Creon Medea,
female sex,
female sex honored”,
motive revenge,
antigone medea,
sex honored”,
sexist society,
motives rebellion,
feminist antigone,
lives sexist society,
feminist medea,
primary motive,
motives rebellion medea’s,
makes feminist,
medea’s primary motive,
primary motive revenge,
Join now to see the rest of the essay!
Approximate Word count = 1085
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
Example Essays Home
