One of the most devastating problems for the Classical Greeks was thewomen's issue. Women in Classical Greece were not citizens, held noproperty, and indeed were not even allowed out of the house exceptunder guard. Their status differed from that of the slaves of Greeceonly in name. This alone, however was not a problem -- the problem wasthat the Greeks knew, in their hearts, that this was wrong. Indeed,their playwrights harangued them about it from the stage of Athenscontinually. All of the great Grecian playwrights -- Sophocles,Euripedes, Aristophenes -- dealt with the women's issue. All of themargued, in their various ways, that the women of Greece were not nearlyas incapable and weak as the culture believed them to be. All of themcreated female characters of strength and intelligence. But in"Antigone," the discussion reached its peak. Antigone herself, as shestands upon the Grecian stage, represents the highest ideals of humanlife -- courage and resp! ect for the gods. A woman, she isnevertheless the exemplum for her society. But how are we to knowthis? Does the author let the audience know that it is Antigoneherself, not Creon, the "noble-eyed imperator" (453), who is to bebelieved? It is almost inconceivable that the audience would be meantto ignore Creon's apparently skillful arguments, for he appears torepresent all that the Athenian should strive for. He stands forobedience to the State. Surely it is his voice we should obey.Sophocles does let us know where the truth lies, and he does this,amazingly, partly through his characterization of Creon. Though Creonseemingly says intelligent things, there are clues that he is not to betrusted. One would be his discussion of incest with Ismene. Tornbetween her duty to God and her duty to the State, Ismene, in the thirdact, has run to Creon, planning to tell him of Antigone's actions inthe graveyard: "O, not for me the dusty hair of youth, / But let us nowunto the palace go" (465), she cries.
