Women - Lit Flashcards
how does Antigone reject her role as a woman?
there are many ways in which Antigone rejects her role as a woman within Ancient Greece. When Creon declares that her traitorous brother must not be buried, Antigone ignores this and does it anyway. Even when this lands her in prison and in line for execution, she refuses to repent and apologies to Creon for directly disobeying and embarrassing him.
what does this show?
this highlights Antigone’s unwillingness to conform to societies and Creon’s expectations of her and will stick to her own morals and values. this was extremely controversial in ancient times as women were seen as subordinates of men, supposed to conform and contort to their wishes at all times and could even be punished if they did not do this, therefore Antigone is displaying what would have been extremely bad behavior for a woman in 5th century Athens.
how is Antigone keeping within her role?
however, it can be argued that Antigone is trying to follow societies role for woman by burying her brother, regardless if he was a traitor or not. in 5th century Athens, it was a womens role and duty to bury the dead, antigone, rebellious as she is, is not exception as it is the gods’ will, not the kings. therefore she disobeys Creon in order to fulfill her role and appease the gods, ignoring Creon’s protests as she doesn’t value him above the gods.
what does this show?
this makes us question how rebellious Antigone really is. Although she goes against Creon’s command, her king, uncle and guardian, a man she must by social law obey without question, she is doing it on the gods’ authority, a much higher power than Creon and therefore remaining within the guidelines of her role. Antigone is technically trying to fulfill her role as a woman, but it is clear that there is more to it and she has no problem going out with what social norms dictates in order to do what she wants.
how does ismene mirror Antigone?
Antigone’s sister Ismene, is used to contrast with Antigone’s more rebellious nature as she conforms to the norms of society without question.
what shows this?
at the beginning, Antigone tries to get ismene to go out with the confines of their home to talk, ismene is extremely hesitant as she will be heavily scrutinised and her chastity will be questioned should she leave without a male chaperone, where Antigone does not have this problem and roams freely.
what does this highlight?
this highlights ismenes reluctance to be anything other than the perfect woman, she has an extremely difficult time doing anything other than what is expected of her and fits comfortably in her role as a woman within society and the household as she has a good life and does not wish to ruin that by displaying the same bad behavior as her sister.
what are the moments when she can step outside her role?
However, there are moments when she is able to step outside her role in an attempt to help her sister. When Antigone is sentenced to death, ismene seeks to take some of the blame as she does not want to live if Antigone is not there, she also speaks up against Creon, advocating for Antigone and suggesting he is wrong in his actions.
what does this show?
As Antigone is faced with death, ismene is finally willing to help her and go out with her role, contrasting with her views at the beginning. As she gets over her role as a woman, ismene’s character shifts as she stands up for Antigone and sises to be the timid woman she once was
how does ismene change through Antigone?
before ismene dies, she was able to get out with her role and become a stronger version of herself, even though it was only for a short time, she was a massive contrast to Antigone for most of the play but was able to see past that in order to tell creon he is wrong ans die in solidarity with her sister.
how is medea contradictory?
Medea’s actions and words are two very things, both seemingly contradictory. in her opening speech, Medea states stated that women and sold to their husbands and become their property. she ponders, as all woman of that time pondered, whether her husband will be good or bad as divorce was not an option for women.
what does this suggest?
this suggests to us that she accepts this as being the reality and waits to see what her new husband will be like with anticipation and that she will willingly conform ti this rule within society.
how do her actions contradict her?
however, he actions following this statement go against everything she just said. Medea, ironically, has not had a dowry paid for her, so when she had helped Jason against her father, killing him, and fled from her home, it was of her own accord.
what does this show?
her comments must then reflect since they clearly have a general application and are not specific to herslef. as convention made Euripedes place his stories within Mythical past, he decided make the heroic takes of mythology relevent to his own times by treating the characters as ‘modern’ figures, subject to the pressures of society; therefore, Medea suffers from the norms if 5th century Athens, giving reason to her seemingly contradictory personality.
what are Media’s views like?
Medea appears to have conflicting views between what society expects of her and what she wants to do, ultimately doing what she wants and breaking social norms.
