Antigone

I want to talk something about the women’s role in the ancient Greece and the feminism. In Ancient Greece, women had no social, political, or economic status. They were considered to be inferior to men. And they could not be independent. A woman’s role in ancient Greek society was to take care of the children, prepare meals, and do the housework. They must listen to their husband and couldn’t do anything without their husband’s permission. In the play, Antigone fought against the Creon’s decree. She followed her belief strongly and was not afraid of the authority. Her rebellion was a threat to the Creon. Antigone explored a contrast between the behavior expected of women and the reality of their role in society. Creon expected men to be the primary actors in society. However, opinionated Antigone challenged these notions as she took center stage and presented formidable challenges to the men around her. It was certainly against the norm of a typical ancient Greek woman to rebel against a male authority. This is the reason to believe that Antigone may have shown signs of early feminism. She can absolutely be said to be an early example of a feminist, because she possesses the qualities seen in both historic and modern day feminists. Therefore, there are many other themes in the play, such as love, fate and pride. Love is what had gotten Antigone in this problem. Her love for her brother was so deep and demanding that she sacrificed her life. Haemon’s love for Antigone had made him kill himself when he found her dead body. Creon’s wife’s love for her son had driven her kill herself. At last, confronted with the three deaths, Creon started to realize the power of love and introspected himself. In the end, all of these themes are great factors in the play. We think that it is not only a play about opposing political system. It is a totally tragedy.