Antigone

Antigone is the play's title character, and she is known as a heroine. Antigone is pitted against her cheerful sister Ismene at the outset of the play. Antigone, in comparison to her beautiful and quiet sibling, is an emaciated, sickly, reserved, and unruly spoilt child. Antigone has boyish facial characteristics and despises her girlhood. She is the polar opposite of the overdramatic protagonist, the traditional blond ingénue as exemplified by Ismene as a child, always placing too much focus on the fulfillment of her yearnings and struggling to grasp the limitations imposed. She is envious of Ismene because she is a modern girl in the world who is respected by many guys. Therefore she shall at some point take way Ismene’s attractive attributes by attempting to seduce Heamon Ismen’s fiancé. She does not succeed, since such body desires are clearly meant for her.

Audience believes Antigone is depicted as a figure of French resistance. Antigone comes as a small girl whose rebels against the authority. She is a no-nonsense lady, as she appears to the audience and Oedipus, the king- a serious kind of girl (Sophocles 7). Although she does not have any lines, her presence is a representation of the legacy of dishonor brought about by Oedipus’s grave errors. Oedipus complains of the life of degradation that his girls shall lead. Sardonically, he wants Creon to look after his daughters when he dies. When Antigone comes back to Thebes to take care of his brothers, she finds out that they are dead. One of the brothers is given a decent burial while the other is not and was regarded as a traitor, Antigone I determined to give him a decent send off. She confronts Creon, this persistence on her yeaning places her in the line of tragic heroes particularly that of Oedipus. Same as Oedipus, her assertion on her desire makes her look ugly, wretched and tabooed. In denying to relinquish it, she goes out of the human community. Just like Oedipus, this is a time of abjection where she loses hope, when her tragic beauty rises up. Her beauty brings about a terrifying fascination. Imene argues that Antigone does not have striking looks as others, however is has the beauty that in many ways stops kids on the street, ways that disturbs and wonders at the same time.

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Antigone is promoted to a protagonist. Sophocles' protagonists often have very tragic ends. It seems Antigone’s fate is sealed prior to the start of the story. Audience learns of the death of her brothers as they fought over their father’s kingdom. Creon, the new king, announces that the body of Eteocles shall get decent burial whereas Polyneices’s body be allowed to rot. Antigone is defiant and is determined to bury his brother against the wishes of the king. Antigone is also a figure of feminine rebellion (Sophocles 7). She is not as drastic as other feminists who may even go to an extent of killing the king; however, she sacrificed her life, attempting to confront the patriarchal society in which she is locked up. The confrontation between Antigone and Creon is a symbol of the struggles men versus women is the society.

Ismene cautions her in the introduction that women are just inferior gender and cannot take on the men. Antigone continues to confront them anyway. When she asserts that her acts were rationalized by devotion to her family as well as the gods, Creon sees her as just delusional woman. Antigone does not give this viewpoint any time and stands before him unapologetic. Her loyalty and resilient is actually some of her strength. She is able to stand for what she believes in despite of many oppositions she gets. She is devoted to her family and wants what she thinks is right on burial of the brother be done.

Antigone is not afraid of death, maybe, that is what gives her the zeal to fight for what she believes in, as she is not afraid to die that is why she fearlessly takes on Creon.
Captivatingly, she seems to be empowered by her emotion that she shall be cursed regardless. Antigone simply believes she has nothing to lose (Sophocles 7). She even talks of her seeming apparent eagerness to die. When they lead her to her tomb; she she describes death, as her potential husband and tomb as a bridal team. Being fearless has really helped her during her rebellion.

Maybe one of the Antigone‘s weakness is that although she is a symbol of feminism, looking at most of her life she is devoted to men. First, she becomes her father’s companion when he was exiled. Once the father dies, she returns to Thebes to support her brothers. One may wonder, if she is a strong feminist, why does she need to support men? There is feeling that she ought to stand on her own and not be around males for her emotional presence. In the end of the play, she sacrifices her life for the dead brother As an independent woman, she ought to choose her own path. She is also very hateful of her sisters. The notion is that she might be a just a feminist hating on another woman.

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Works Cited

Sophocles. Antigone. Dover Publications, 2012.