Ray Nakagawa
Essay Writing
Antigone + Article
Antigone Essay
For countless years men have mistreated, and abused the rights of women. The
fact of which the women are less valued than men is one of the main themes in the
Greek Theatre “Antigone”, and is one of the main issues in Iran. In “Antigone”, it is
written and shown how women are inferior to men, and that a woman shall control no
men. As for Iran, women are starting to stand up for their rights, and are trying to
fight against the men for a better life.
One of the main themes that are being portrayed in the Theatre “Antigone” is
the way women are being treated, and abused in the city of Thebes. In Thebes,
women are always thought to be the ones that are controlled by men, and are the ones
that have the least freedom in the city. Through out their lives, they are always under
the authority of a male, and the one that shows the strongest hatred toward women is
the hubris commander Creon. He is a dictator like commander who is strongly
determined not to yield to a woman. Due to his strong hatred, he seems to not trust a
woman at all, “But a woman will never rule me while I am alive!”(p.41). He never
allows woman to fight against him. This causes a conflict between Creon, and
Antigone, and also with his son, Haemon. The conflict between these characters not
only shows the strength of the woman, but also gives an example of how the women
are starting to stand up for themselves to regain their rights. Even after his own son
stood up against him to protect a woman, Creon still does not accept the fact that men
cannot stay superior forever, and instead feels ashamed for his son who respects a
woman, “This man, it seems, is fighting on the woman’s side.”(p.55). Sophocles
expresses the arrogant pride of the men inside Creon’s characteristic. This pride that
exists in him causes him to stay hubris, and ultimately results to him not treating the
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women equally as the men, “For now on they must be women and not go wandering
outside.”(p.43). These actions that Creon takes is what Sophocles wants people to
realize. Sophocles wants to communicate how men have foolish prides that results
with women suffering from the men’s self-centered behaviors.
Iran is a country, which is facing a similar problem in real life. In 2007,
Iranian women around the country gathered around in different cities to fight back at
the men for all the abuses they have done for the past several years. Most of the
women who gathered have stated that the men have consistently beaten them, and that
they had had enough of it. They felt as if they were being treated differently from the
men, even at their houses and at their jobs, “Women do not have a proper status in
society”. In the past, Iranian women had simply endured these abuses done by the
men, but in recent times things have changed, and now women have started to fight
back by filing divorces, and reporting the abuse done by the men. As a result not only
do the privileged people in Iran file for divorces, but also women from the lower
classes are starting to fight back. This change in society seems to have a huge impact
in the way women are being treated in Iran, “Today more than 60% of university
students are women”, but this does not mean the abuse is over. Religion still plays a
huge role on how the man acts towards the women in Iran. In this country, people are
very conservative to the Muslim theory, and it is in the legal code of this theory that
states men have superior power over the women. This code keeps the male to have the
superior power over the female, and this is why the government has arrested many
campaigners for women rights. The pressure put by the government is still massive,
causing the abuse in Iran for women to continue.
The theme that is being passed along in the Theatre “Antigone”, and the issue
that is occurring in Iran is based on the same idea, which is how women are being
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Antigone + Article
treated differently as men. Both writings communicate reasons why mistreatments
occur. In Antigone, the main reason was based on the foolish pride of a man. In Iran,
the main reason was based on the belief they had. The article states that religions have
a major affect on how people will act in their daily lives. Both writings also
communicate how women suffer majorly through the abuse of the men. In Theatre
“Antigone”, Antigone and Haemon had to suffer through death because of the abuse
Creon has been doing to the women. In Iran, many women have been beaten, and is
forced to file divorce papers and report men to the police, “One in five marriages now
end in divorce”. The two writings share similar ideas of how the women are being
treated around the world.
Even though there are many similarities between the two writings, there are
differences as well. The differences for example are how in “Antigone” Creon never
seems to understand the mistake of abusing women only until he suffers through
death of his family. But in Iran, though the ratio of people filing for divorce is
increasing, and more women are fighting back, it still does not change the fact that
men still continue to do it. Even after they are fought back at, because of their belief,
and their legal code, they feel that they are doing the right thing. The difference
between a theatre and reality is the fact that opinions of people do not change as
easily as it is thought.
By reading and analyzing the two different writings, “Antigone” by Sophocles
and the article about Iran, we can definitely see that the issue of the inequality of
women is a huge issue. Sophocles, and the women in Iran are both wishing, and are
fighting for the same thing, and that is the equality of the sexes, and the stop of the
abuse done by the men. Women around the world are starting to be motivated to fight
back, and stand up against the men, but still things are not as easy. Some men
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Antigone + Article
continue to feel they are better than the women, and some religions continue to keep
legal codes that states men are superior. But Sophocles and the women know that by
sending this theme across, it can help motivate more women to stand up for their
rights, and to put a faster end to this abuse done by the men.
Bibliography
Fathi, Nazila. Starting at Home, Iran's Women Fight for Rights. 2009.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/world/middleeast/13iran.html?pagew
anted=all>.
Sophocles. Antigone. Cambridge : Cambridge University Pres, 2003.
Ray Nakagawa
Essay Writing
Antigone + Article