Antigone - typical Athenian woman?

The character Antigone shows many distinctions and personality traits that can help relate her to a modern feminist. When Antigone chooses to stand up and challenge a powerful male of that time, her uncle Creon, it shows her strong will and independence. She is the only one who has enough strength and bravery to speak back to a man. Antigone takes a strong stand, representing the highest ideals of human life – courage and respect for the gods. She had such strength and excessive pride that she disobeyed Creon’s law by burying her brother, Polyneices, with honor. It is said by the king that whoever resists his laws will die, but whoever doesn’t resist will live on. To an ancient Greek audience, this may serve as a warning, but to those of the modernity, it shows that Antigone died only for what she believed in. By refusing to be obedient to these laws, she is violating one of the primary rules of her culture. However, both the audience and the reader see at a ver

These characteristics combined make Antigone appear as if she is a women presented in modernity, rather than a classic Greek woman.

Through these reasons, Sophocles presents Antigone as more of a modern feminist than Ismene, a typical Athenian woman. Antigone was more fiery and rebellious, whereas Ismene was passive and timid; Antigone stood behind civil law, whereas Ismene followed moral law. These differentiations are what demonstrate between a woman in a modern light and another character in Greek tradition.

In an opposing view, Ismene, Antigone’s sister, is a typical woman in the Athenian society, in terms of being obedient and considerate. Contrasting Antigone, she is a follower rather than being a defiant individual. Even though Ismene is wise, in terms of knowing the consequences of such rebellious actions, she is neither independent nor strong-willed. When Ismene hears the tragic news of her brothers from Antigone, she reveals her passivity and helplessness in the light of Creon’s decree. Ismene is afraid to stand up for herself, and unlike Antigone, accepts the will of the King, “I must yield to those in authority” (Prologue 50-51). As Ismene doubts the intelligence of Antigone to break the law and bury

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