Antigone & Ismene in Sophocles Antigone :: Antigone essays

Antig peerless & Ismene         The personalities of the two sisters Antigone and Ismene, are asdifferent from one a nonher as night and day. Antigone acts as a free spirit,a defiant individual, while Ismene is content to recognize her limitations as a charwoman in a male dominated society.         In the Greek catastrophe  Antigone, by Sophocles Antigone learnsthat King Creon has refused to give a becoming interment for the removePolyneices, brother of Ismene and Antigone.  Infuriated by this injustice,Antigone shares the tragic news with Ismene.  From her first response, No,I have heard nothing(344).  Ismene reveals her passivity and helplessnessin the get out of Creons decree.  Thus, from the start, Ismene ischaracterized as traditionally feminine, a helpless woman that pays nomind to political affairs. Doubting the wisdom of her sisters plan tobreak the legality and bury Polyneices, Ism ene argues                We who are women should not contend with men               we who are weakly are ruled by the stronger, so that               we must obey....(346) Once once again Ismenes words clearly state her weak, feminine character andhelplessness at heart her own dimensions.  Antigone, not happy with hersisters response chides her sister for not alive(p) in her crime andfor her passivity, saying, Set your own life in graze(346). ForAntigone, no law could stand in the way of her strong retainer of herbrothers spirit, not even the punishment of an early death.  Ismene ismore practical discriminating the task is impossible, she feels the situationto be hopeless.         It is a wonder, which of the two sisters are genuinely guilty of thesechronic ch arges. Of coarse, Antigone acted so quickly, and failed to takethe advice of the moderate sister, Ismene.  Instead, going against Creonswords, Antigone rashly goes ahead and breaks the law.  Antigone is a fool,she must learn that such defiance, even when justified, is not conductiveto longevity.  Although Antigone is foolish, she is also courageous andmotivated by her morals.  Proper burial of the dead was, according to theGreeks,  prerequisite for the souls entrance into a permanent home.Therefore, mayhap Ismene is also foolish for her quick refusal to helpAntigone perform the duty of Polyneices proper burial.  Ismene definitelyseems hasty in her acceptance of personal weakness.  maybe in some way,both sisters are guilty of the same tragic sins.  Perhaps it is thisrashness, more subdued in Ismenes case, that leads both sisters to theirown destruction.         To my surprise, there is a strange twist in both sisters c haractertowards the end of the play.  Antigone makes a rather contrasting