The personalities of the two sisters;
Antigone and Ismene, are as different from
one another as
tempered steel is from a ball of cotton.
One is hard and resistant; the
other: pliable, absorbing and soft. Antigone would have been a strong, successful
90¹s type woman
with her liberated and strong attitude towards her femininity, while
Ismene seems to
be a more dependent 1950¹s style woman.
Antigone acts as a free
spirit, a defiant
individual, while Ismene is content to recognize her own limitations and
her inferiority
of being a woman.
In the Greek tragedy ³Antigone², by Sophocles; Antigone learns that King
Creon has refused
to give a proper burial for the slain Polyneices, brother of Ismene
and
Antigone. Infuriated by this injustice,
Antigone shares the tragic news with
Ismene. From her first response, ³No, I have heard
nothing²(344). Ismene reveals her
passivity and
helplessness in the light of Creon¹s decree.
Thus, from the start, Ismene
is characterized
as traditionally ³feminine², a helpless woman that pays no mind to
political
affairs. Doubting the wisdom of her sisters plan to break the law and bury
Polyneices,
Ismene argues:
We who are women should not contend
with men;
we who are weak are ruled by the
stronger, so that
we must obey....(346)
Once again
Ismene¹s words clearly state her weak, feminine character and
helplessness
within her own dimensions. Antigone, not
happy with her sisters
response chides
her sister for not participating in her crime and for her passivity,
saying, ³ Set
your own life in order²(346). For Antigone, no law could stand in the way
of her strong
consideration of her brother¹s spirit, not even the punishment of an early
death. Ismene is more practical ; knowing the task
is impossible, she feels the
situation to be
hopeless.
It is a wonder, which of the two sisters
are really guilty of these chronic charges.
Of coarse,
Antigone acted so quickly, and failed to take the advice of the moderate
sister,
Ismene. Instead, going against Creon¹s
words, Antigone rashly goes ahead
and breaks the
law. Antigone is a fool, she must learn
that such defiance, even when
justified, is not
conductive to longevity. Although
Antigone is foolish, she is also
courageous and
motivated by her morals. Proper burial
of the dead was, according to
the Greeks, prerequisite for the souls entrance into a
permanent home. Therefore,
perhaps Ismene is
also foolish for her quick refusal to help Antigone perform the duty
of Polyneices
proper burial. Ismene definitely seems
hasty in her acceptance of
personal
weakness. Perhaps in some way, both
sisters are guilty of the same tragic
sins. Perhaps it is this rashness, more subdued in
Ismene¹s case, that leads both
sisters to their
own destruction.
To my surprise, there is a strange twist
in both sister¹s character towards the end
of the play. Antigone makes a rather contrasting
statement, ³Not for my children, had I
been a mother,
Not for a husband, for his moldering body, Would i have set myself
against the
city As I have done²(368) These words defy rational explanation. To
judge from her
attitude towards authority and law, Antigone would probably take on
any task to
preserve family dignity and human justice.
In Ismene's final words, she
abandons her
practical attitudes with a sudden rush of devotion towards the sister she
abandoned in time
of need. ³Let me stand beside you and do honor the dead²(358).
Ismene heroically
takes a stand and shares Antigone¹s crime.
The
two sister¹s were crushed by the vindictive Creon, yet they were winners in
spirit, in their
determination , they died together, as one.
Nobility shall live in their
hearts forever.
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