Antigone Essay Research Paper In ancient Greece — страница 2

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her. This plan was thwarted because Oedipus was kept alive and fulfilled the prophecy by killing his father and marrying his mother. The fact that Jocasta tries to do what is best for the city shows that she was probably more outspoken than most women back then. As Antigone was her daughter, this highly aggressive behavior was more than likely passed on from Jocasta to Antigone. Sophocles has somewhat touched upon this issue in a way, which intrigues the mind with the possibilities. The play Oedipus the King sets up the next play, Antigone, with a valid reason for her out spoken manner. In The Republic, Socrates has many conversations where he voices his opinion of people in general as a whole and really does not specify or elaborate on women as a whole. Socrates seems more

intrigued with understanding the human thought process and evaluating how humans draw the conclusions, they come too. Socrates seems to conclude that most people are told what to think and how to think and he proves that most people conform to think what they have been taught to think, therefore most not really having a thought process of their own. Sappho was a female who wrote poems indicating early women in Greece were more than mere objects to be viewed from afar. Sappho is sarcastic in her poems, as illustrated in A Wedding Toast; We drink your health, Lucky bridegroom! Now the wedding you asked for is over Aphrodite has surely outdone herself in doing honor to you! Sappho was outspoken about how women were treated. She was seemingly bitter towards the way women were viewed

and treated in ancient Greece. In the poem, Prayer to My Lady of Pahos, she writes: For let her run, she will soon run after; if she won t accept gifts, she will one day give them: if she won t love you she soon will love although unwillingly (Pg. 5) Sappho s, work was threatened to be destroyed, because she didn t fit the stereotype. She spoke outwardly of her bitterness toward the way women were viewed and treated. She felt that woman were treated as objects rather than as human beings with feelings and thought. Sappho s felt woman should have had more say in their own destiny s and should have been allowed to voice their opinion as freely as men. Antigone speaks like a true warrior and a man, for she does what is brave not cowardly. She stands behind what she believes and is

willing to carry out her convictions without a second thought or hesitation. Antigone would rather die at the hands of the city laws than defy the laws of the God. It has been stressed and proven repeatedly that the women of Greek society should be submissive, obedient, and seen, but not heard. Then we have Antigone, who is an extraordinary character created by Sophocles. Antigone acts for and in the perspective of the prevailing conventions of society and politics, as a man breaking the mold so to speak. Antigone goes against what is to be believed the typical Greek woman; she exhibits certain masculine traits. Her presence is felt with such a force in this literary work. Invoking mixed feelings in those who read it. Is Antigone a fool or a heroine? She believes the Gods will

hold her in great honor, and this means more to her than any law of the city.