From the beginning of this play, Antigone is shown as a ruff and strong character. She is not afraid of men or authority. Nor is she your typical female, obeying orders, and acting like a "lady." She starts off the play by being rebellious, especially when she chooses, against Creon's orders, to bury her brother. .
Antigone decides against everyone's orders and advice and attempts to bury her brother. She does this because she believes that it is what is right, so she sticks with her instincts and goes to bury Polynices. After she is caught and is brought to Creon, it is obvious that Creon is more upset than he usually would be by a typical violator of the law. He is clearly insulted and disgusted because the enemy, the criminal, the violator is a woman. .
At this point, the basis of the male and female characters is clear. It seems as if men are considered to be the strong ones, the victors, and to be anything less would mean being the ultimate in weakness, the opposite of a man: a woman. This is the basic premise of the "men as a standard" system. The society dictates that men are men because they are men, and women are women because they are not men. Thus, if men are strong, capable, and intelligent, women are precisely the opposite: they are women because they lack these positive qualities, and are thus weak in body, mind and spirit. .
Antigone has gone and done something that clearly required strength of character, audacity, and fearlessness. She has taken the role of a man, and has denied Creon this same position by refusing to submit to his intimidation. Creon is appalled by Antigone's show of strength and is convinced that this is evidence of his own weakness. After he punishes her, he suggests that she is a woman again (has no control). This again shows the patriarchal society, men are strong-women are not.
However, throughout the play Antigone continues to show her strengths as a woman and refuses to give in to men.
