Introduction
Ancient Greek tragedies are marked by the poets’ use of moral, social, and political themes to unveil human character and relations. One such tragedy is Antigone, written by Sophocles; it features a strong female character in opposition to an oppressive, politically bound male. Since Antigone crosses the limits of her subordinate gender role by rebelling against Creon’s tyranny, the analyzed tragedy portrays the fatality of a woman’s moral struggle against politicized male dominance.
This paper aims to discuss the theme of gender roles in Antigone through the lens of the dichotomy of human and divine laws. Indeed, it is claimed that despite Creon’s adherence to human laws in his decrees and actions, his morality and ethics are diminished under the strengths of Antigone’s devotion to familial values and divine laws. Antigone is a true heroine since she defies man-made political laws and instills natural law and ethics despite the patriarchal tyranny.
Gender Norms in Ancient Greek Culture and Society
Ancient Greek society and culture were predominantly patriarchal, allocating the central role of decision-makers to men. Indeed, as stated by Alguzo, women were subordinate to men throughout all aspects of life (379-380). Men ruled the political sphere and were the primary decision-makers, while women were allocated the roles of housekeepers and child bearers. In such a manner, the participation of females in political law-making was restricted to their role as mere objects of decisions made by males. The inclusion in the world led by men was perceived as a violation of well-established rules, which was feared by most women. Indeed, a “traditional Greek woman was not expected to interfere in politics or violate the laws of men” (Alguzo 380). Thus, a woman in ancient Greek society was meant to perform her duties within a home and a family with complete subordination to men’s laws.
Being derived from social representation, the cultural representation of women reflected their oppressed position in a patriarchal society. Importantly, it was perceived and promoted as a norm with the criticism toward any disruption of the established rules. Indeed, the lack of women’s ability to perform independently in the social and political realms has been essential to ancient Greek culture (Stine 302). However, an abundance of classical plays demonstrates that an alternative model of gender role distribution was represented in literature. Indeed, as stated by Stine, “looking at other classical plays, it was not unusual for a woman to take on an active masculine role to meet her desires” (302).
Similarly, researchers state that “Sophocles imagines women as subjects, not objects, which is one reason that feminist political theorists have been repeatedly drawn to the play” (380). Thus, given such a significant level of women’s underrepresentation in the political domain, the depiction of a powerful and rebellious woman in Sophocles’ tragedy is viewed as a manifestation of feminist values.
The Relation between Female Presence and the Political Realm
The conventional opposition between feminine and masculine features is used in the tragedy to blur the supposed gender roles and challenge the manifestations of values within and beyond the political realm. In the play, Antigone’s brothers Polyneices and Eteocles, both die in the civil war against each other in an attempt to gain power. After their death, King Creon, Antigone’s uncle, proclaims Eteocles as the one deserving of fame and Polyneices subject to public shame without the right to be properly buried.
His decision is the manifestation of human political laws due to the rules in the state regulating the decisions related to warfare and power distribution. In his speech to the crowd, Creon states that Polyneices “wanted to lead his people into slavery. This man will have no grave: it is forbidden to offer any funeral rites” (Sophocles 9). By the power of his kingship, Creon forbids to take Polyneices body from the battlefield, letting “birds and dogs feed on his limbs, a spectacle of utter shame” (Sophocles 9). He desperately establishes and abides by the political rules where the “character of his mind” necessitates him to be strict and reliant on followers’ obedience (Sophocles 9). Thus, the mindset, decisions, and actions of Creon manifest his proclamation of human laws ruling society and politics in Thebes.
However, Antigone represents a completely opposite mindset and approach to proper actions, adhering to natural or divine laws rather than man-made political ones. Indeed, she fearlessly and decisively defies Creon’s laws and decrees and wants to bury her brother’s body despite the forbiddance. At the very beginning of the play, Antigone explicitly disapproves of Creon’s immoral decision and is determined to perform her familial duty to pay respect to her brother by burying him according to proper funeral rites (Sophocles 2-3). Her singlemindedness and “righteous anger” are perceived as coherent and natural since her decision is based on undeniable moral values (Dawson 130).
Validating her decision in the conversation with her sister, Ismene, Antigone says about Polyneices that “he is mine. And yours. Like it or not, he’s our brother. They’ll never catch me betraying him” (Sophocles 3). For her, betrayal is more harmful than being stoned to death for disobedience to human laws. Thus, the opposition between Antigone and Creon, as two dominant characters in the play, represents the opposition between women’s adherence to natural laws and men’s adherence to the laws of humanity and politics.
When confronted by Creon, Antigone admits that she buried her brother despite the announcement of its forbiddance. When asked why she violated the law, Antigone asks, “what laws? I never heard it was Zeus who made the announcement. And it wasn’t justice either” (Sophocles 19). With these words, the protagonist explains that she will abide by the laws of deities and nature and not merely a corrupt human being.
Gender Implications for Political Decision-making
Importantly, given Creon’s belief that man-made laws have the ultimate power over all citizens, his tyranny is motivated by his fear of being defeated by a female. Indeed, when validating his decision not to dismiss Antigone but to punish her, Creon states that “there must be no surrender to a woman” (Sophocles 29). For Creon, it is better that “if we fall, better a man should take us down. Never say that a woman bested us” (Sophocles 29). This utterance demonstrates that Creon abuses his power out of fear to give a woman any power of influence. He is more motivated “to preserve authority, rather than defend the city, as he claims (Alguzo 384). For Creon, it is easier to rule obedient citizens like Ismene, a fearful woman with no inclination to interfere with the world of men, who represents the complete opposite of Antigone.
Antigone’s Central Role as the Main Protagonist in the Tragedy
The centrality of Antigone’s role in the play might be argued as a metaphorical depiction of the opposition between male and female centrality in society. Indeed, according to Dawson, Antigone’s character features only in the prologue to the play and in its second and fourth episodes (129).
In the rest of the episodes and in the final scene, she is either not mentioned at all or referred to implicitly or explicitly. However, Creon “not only issues the proclamation which triggers the plot; he is central to all five episodes, and the exodos is about him” (Dawson 129). Thus, such an inconsistency between the intended centrality of Antigone’s character, which appears in the title of the tragedy but is not entirely in focus throughout the whole plot, implies gender role dichotomy. Indeed, using such an approach, Sophocles emphasizes the diminished role of females in a patriarchal society, where the actions and decisions of male rulers outweigh even the most significant moral deeds of compatible females.
Conclusion
Conclusively, the investigation of gender roles in Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone has revealed that the portrayal of the main protagonist as a heroine was justified by the strength of her morality and character to defy patriarchal laws. Despite the traditionally accepted subordinate role of women in ancient Greek society and culture, Sophocles challenged the conventional gender roles by opposing Antigone to a powerful patriarchal tyrant Creon. This opposition of the two characters represents the clash of two sides, namely the morality and ethicality of natural laws and the oppression and corruption of human political laws. The devotion of Antigone’s character to her values and familial duties despite the threat of death and suffering establishes a strong feminist theme in Sophocles’ tragedy, which remains relevant in contemporary societies.
Works Cited
Alguzo, Nouh Ibrahim Saleh. “Familial Relationships in Ancient Greek Society: An Analytical Study of Sophocles’ Antigone.” Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University, vol. 47, 2019, pp. 379-387.
Dawson, Terence. “Gender and the political in Antigone.” Exploring Depth Psychology and the Female Self: Feminist Themes from Somewhere, edited by Leslie Gardner, Catriona Miller, Routledge, 2020, pp. 125-136.
Sophocles. Antigone. Translated by Paul Woodruff, Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Web.
Stine, Kaitlyn. “Act Wisely Little Girl; The Performance of Law and Gender in Antigone and The Eumenides.” The Cupola, vol. 16, 2021, pp. 301-313.