The Greek drama Antigone, written in the fifth century by Sophocles, is the story of how far a sister will go to honor her recently deceased brother. Oedipus, king of the Thebans, seems to have had two sons: Eteocles and Polyneices. Eteocles banished Polyneices from Thebes to Argos, his father having died. Polyneices, the prince of the Argives, married and tried to take possession of Thebes from his brother. In the ensuing battle, Polyneices and Eteocles cut each other’s hands.
On whose death Polyneices and Eteocles, the uncle of Creon, became king of Thebes, and he allowed no one to honor Polyneices with a funeral or a simple prayer, but allowed a suitable burial service in honor of Eteocles the hero. The two were brothers as well as sisters, Antigone and Ismene. Antigone, Polyneices did not believe that he should not receive burial, and so he did not prepare a new law and plans to give his brother the burial he deserved.
Oedipus believed that it was against the law of the gods not to honor a man who had fought valiantly in battle, but to drown his body and to be dragged away from the ships. Antigone asks her sister Ismene for help in preparing a secret burial in honor of her deceased brother. Ismene objects, saying that women are just and have no place in breaking laws made for the public good. Antigone tells Ismene that she must do what she thinks is right, but Antigone will carry out her plan to bury Polyneices if necessary.
Antigone, because Ismene has sworn to tell no one of the secret of the burial, Polyneices begins the rite of burial with Antigone, but Creon is caught in the process and brought to trial for the crime. Creon demands that Antigone tell Polyneices why she had to be buried, since she knew the magnitude of her crime. Antigone tells Creon that he was only doing what everyone in his kingdom was thinking of doing. He replies to Creon by telling him that he is the only one who would honor a traitor to the kingdom. But Antigone declares that she does not only think what she has done right, but that she keeps the rest of her opinions public. Creon then orders Ismene to be taken, probably having written to Antigone for his sister’s help. At this time, however, Ismene agrees with Antigone and wishes to die together with her sister.
Based on this story and my readings in my Western-civilization class, I came to a conclusion about men and women in ancient Greece. It seems that in Greek society, men, as long as they were faithful to the republic, were held in a greater respect than women. It seems that while men can go to war, run the government and speak their minds, women stay at home /a>, the care of family matters is necessary and usually they stay out of the way of the men of the community.
