Antigone Research Paper
Antigone and the Contemporary Feminist
The feminism movement is a moderately new advance, which has grown increasingly popular over the past two hundred years. Even though the venture of women gaining equality with men is relatively fresh, women who have stood alone as feminists have been around for a surprisingly long amount of time. Antigone is only one example of a classic role model to contemporary feminists. Antigone is comparable to modern-day feminists for three reasons: she confronts an authoritative institution run by men, attempts to defend her state from an intrusive supremacy, and she refuses to conform to her culturally uniform role as a woman. To begin, Antigone as a fictional character in Ancient Greek literature is a …show more content…
We see Antigone's wild, unwomanly side best when she is with her sister, Ismene. Ismene is carefully portrayed as a good, obedient, curvy woman. She would never think of overstepping the boundaries that are allotted to women in Thebes. She expresses her true interests when Antigone asks her to partake in the forbidden burial of Polynice.
"No. We have to keep this fact in mind:/We are women and we do not fight with men./We're subject to them because they're stronger,/And we must obey this order, even if it hurts us more./As for me, I will say to those beneath the earth/This prayer: "Forgive me, I am held back by force."/And I'll never aim too high, too far." (5).
Compared with her sister, Antigone seems unruly and passionate about her struggle. Antigone is the opposite of Ismene, being slender and outspoken. She refuses to obey Creon, who is not only a man, but also her king, her uncle, and her future father-in-law. It is possible that she choose to take a stand against Creon simply because he symbolizes everything that would block a feminist from progressing as a woman in Thebes. Antigone is essentially battling against a symbolic figure that modern-day feminists have been battling against for years. Without the support of her sister, Antigone decides to march on
The feminism movement is a moderately new advance, which has grown increasingly popular over the past two hundred years. Even though the venture of women gaining equality with men is relatively fresh, women who have stood alone as feminists have been around for a surprisingly long amount of time. Antigone is only one example of a classic role model to contemporary feminists. Antigone is comparable to modern-day feminists for three reasons: she confronts an authoritative institution run by men, attempts to defend her state from an intrusive supremacy, and she refuses to conform to her culturally uniform role as a woman. To begin, Antigone as a fictional character in Ancient Greek literature is a …show more content…
We see Antigone's wild, unwomanly side best when she is with her sister, Ismene. Ismene is carefully portrayed as a good, obedient, curvy woman. She would never think of overstepping the boundaries that are allotted to women in Thebes. She expresses her true interests when Antigone asks her to partake in the forbidden burial of Polynice.
"No. We have to keep this fact in mind:/We are women and we do not fight with men./We're subject to them because they're stronger,/And we must obey this order, even if it hurts us more./As for me, I will say to those beneath the earth/This prayer: "Forgive me, I am held back by force."/And I'll never aim too high, too far." (5).
Compared with her sister, Antigone seems unruly and passionate about her struggle. Antigone is the opposite of Ismene, being slender and outspoken. She refuses to obey Creon, who is not only a man, but also her king, her uncle, and her future father-in-law. It is possible that she choose to take a stand against Creon simply because he symbolizes everything that would block a feminist from progressing as a woman in Thebes. Antigone is essentially battling against a symbolic figure that modern-day feminists have been battling against for years. Without the support of her sister, Antigone decides to march on