womenoed Essay on Sophocles' Antigone - Sisters

Sisters

Two sisters destined to love each other, but conflict interrupts their paths. The first's journey is one of self-exploration and discovery; the other's of continual oppression and hardships. Ismene and Antigone are the troubled sisters whose decisions take them on different courses, but these same choices also brought them together. Even though their actions show differently, Antigone and Ismene's morals and philosophies show that they are true sisters at heart.

Antigone shows the attribute of boldness. She is constantly going her own direction. She is a leader, not a follower. "Ismene: What? You'd bury him when a law forbids the city? Antigone: Yes! He is my brother and- deny it as you will- your brother too."(61). This is where Antigone's boldness begins to surface. She is expressing her disagreement with King Creon's law. This is extremely daring of her to do because she is defying the law of the land. On the other hand, Ismene displays the quality of being a coward. She says, "Remember, we are women, we're not born to contend with men."(62). On the contrary to what Ismene's brain tells her to do, her heart is screaming to go and bury her brother, and defy Creon's dishonorable law. It is not until the middle to end of the play that Ismene's true self emerges and she agrees with Antigone. This is just one of the ways Antigone and Ismene are the same at heart, but take different paths to get to their real inner person.

Another outstanding attribute of Antigone is her cleverness. "Antigone: Dear god, shout it from the rooftops. I'll hate you all the more for silence- tell the world."(64). This is in response to Ismene's promise to keep Antigone's burying of her brother a secret. Antigone's cleverness appears here because she found a way to publicly defy Creon and tell others how unjust he really is. Likewise, Ismene is intelligent and comes quick to understanding. In reply to Antigone's above statement she says, "Then go if you must, but rest assured, wild, irrational as you are, my sister, you are truly dear to the ones who love you."(64). Even though Ismene at this moment disagrees with her sister's action, she wittily understood Antigone's notion to want to collectively show her defiance of Creon. These to personalities of Antigone and Ismene also show their similarities in their philosophies.