ANTIGONE
the nobility of self-denial
Daughter of Oedipus and lokaste and sister of Eteokles, Polynices and
Ismene, Antigone, like Electra, is a new figure, added by tragedy to the
old myth of the Labdakidae.
Essentially the creation of Sophocles, she is one of the most positive
heroines in ancient tragedy. A loving and devoted daughter, she follows
her blind father, after the disaster, in the unhappiness of exile and
supports him, loving and self-denying, to the end. With the same love
she attempts to mitigate the hatred dividing her brothers and sisters
and to avert fratricidal war. And when the evil is accomplished and
everything is lost, Antigone does not hesitate to discharge the final
debt to her family, even at the cost of life itself.
Disregarding Kreon's order, and placing the unwritten law of family
above the dictates of the wielders of authority, she dares to violate
the tyrant's ban and bury the body of Polynices (which lies before the
walls of Thebes, where it has been thrown to the birds), fully aware
that her action will lead to certain death.
When she is brought before Kreon, she proclaims her action boldiy and
freely. Not only does she not beg for mercy, but she dares openly to
accuse the tyrant to his face of abusing his power. The nobility of
Antigone's action and words transgress the limits of what is allowed to
women and threaten to overturn order. Kreon's reaction is immediate, and
his sentence of condemnation irrevocable:
'While I live a woman shall not rule!
If we must perish, it is better to do so by the hand of man,
and then we cannot be called inferior to women.'
Sophocles Antigone 678-680 (Loeb edition)
Nevertheless, when Antigone is being led to the tomb, her lament is for
the joys of the woman's life that she did not have time to live:
'And now he leads me thus by the hands,
without marriage, without bridal,
having no share in wedlock or in the rearing of children,
but thus deserted by my friends
I come living, poor creature, to the caverns of the dead.'
Sophocles, Antigone 916-920 (Loeb edition)
At the crucial moment, Antigone outdoes all the men in nobility and
becomes an eternal symbol of revolt against injustice. She does this
without contradicting her nature, however, in the manner of a woman for,
as she herself says, 'I was born to love, not to hate'.
'Sing, little Antigone, sing, sing...
I do not speak to you of things gone by, I speak of love;
Bedeck your hair with the thoms of the sun,
dark girl;
the heart of the Scorpion has set,
the tyrant within man has departed'
G. Seferis. Love (Eros)
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