Ismene on Love and Hate

by Heidi Bontrager
Under the rule of Creon, women such as Ismene were restricted to follow the rules of the men of that society. At the death of Ismenes brother Polynices, Antigone questions her own sisters heart by laying guilt upon Ismene for not standing up against the ruler of the land in order to give their brother the burial he rightfully deserved. The question lies with Ismene and her feelings towards her sister and her slain brother; does she love them? In some perspectives the approach that Ismene takes is cowardly; however it was the expected approach. If she did in fact truly love each of them with no restrictions she would have joined Antigone in the burial. The fact that she did not says something about the way that she thinks and how she values human life. The way that she lives she could not possibly fully love someone, but only stick to the rules and look to the men for the way that her life should be lived. She fears the rulers and lets herself be governed by their law no matter what Gods it may defy. In a conversation with Antigone, Ismene says, Id do them no dishonorbut defy the city? I have no strength for that (Sophocles 63). She seems to not want to dishonor the Gods, but yet she follows a rule that is set by the King that does just so. She is afraid to die for honor, but when she is alive she has none. She might as well defy the town and die with Antigone for the sake of her dead kin. There is no question that Ismene loves Antigone in the sense that she is her sister and has taken care of her since their parents died. The question is though; does she love her sister enough to leave the ways that she has known and stand up against the town and her powerlessness? Well, this question is answered when Ismene tells Antigone, Youre in love with impossibility (Sophocles 64). Ismene never had enough emotion to die for any cause. She loved her brother, but not enough to give him the rights that he deserved. To be buried like a man and a human being. On the other side of the spectrum Ismenes emotions turned to hate for others. She feared the town with the power that it had over her and the way that situations were conducted within the town. The fact that King Creon would not let her brother be buried made her feel animosity towards the people of the town for the fact that no one else would stand against them except for her sister, even though she herself, could not do the same. She let her idea that she has no power take her over and make her think that she did not have the right to stand up for the love of a sister and brother. Instead she pitied them and kept her inner thoughts to herself. Love and hate are powerful emotions. Sometimes people are confused about what is right and wrong by fear taking them over and turning into hate. This hate keeps individuals from doing what is respectful. In this case Ismenes hate and fear of the city won over the love that she had for her sister and slain brother.

Haemon on Love and Hate

by Alicia Gehlhausen
There is a prevalent theme of love and hate in the play Antigone. Creons son Haemon experiences both of these emotions during the progression of the play. When Haemon is first introduced to us he expresses unconditional love for his father. He respects his fathers kingly powers and decision making abilities and tells Creon that he obeys him (93). However, Haemons love for his father turns into great dislike. Haemon suggests that his father not punish Antigone for her actions. He tells Creon that all of Thebes is in Antigones favor, no woman ever deserved death less, and such a brutal death for such a glorious actionshe deserves a glowing crown of gold (95). Is this play a form of propaganda? Is the Athenian born Sophocles ridiculing Thebes? Is it true that the two city-states did not get along? According the book Ancient Greece, the Thebans were antidemocratic (215) and the Athenian government was democratic. This means that the Athenian government and the Theban government did not see eye to eye. Sophocles has shown this in his play. It is depicted by having Haemon representing the Athenian government and Creon representing the Theban government. Haemon believes that Creon should follow the views of the general public, which are not to punish Antigone for carrying out the honorable duties of the family. The majority of the city of Thebes was in agreement on this issue. Creon on the other hand was looking to future establish his power. He said he would punish anyone who buried the young man Polynices, and that he had full intentions of following through with punishment (68). He had to show Thebes that he would abide by his own words since he was a new ruler (67). This is similar to what a new teacher does on the first day of school. The new teacher can not risk giving the impression of being a push-over because if he does, that is how the students will treat him. Respect is given to those who have control of a particular situation. In addition Creon wanted total power over the city of Thebes, a direct opposite of the democratic Athens. Haemon believes Creon to be insane about his views on how to use his powers (99). --(Haemon's calling Creon insane is a puzzling element in Antigone. To read more about the concept of madness and logic in this play click here. ) The other side of Haemon is that he deeply respected Antigone and everything that she stood for. She went against Creons laws in order to carry out her own personal believes and to burry her brother. Would any other king have allowed her to do this, the burry a so-called traitor of the city? Haemon felt so strongly in agreement with Antigone and disagreement with Creon that he killed himself to prove his point. Is this another story about a doomed love relationship? If Haemon can not marry Antigone while he is living, (99) he will do it in death. Haemon is making a demonstration against his own father. This play is a form of propaganda against Thebes. This plays underlying theme is to promote further dislike towards the Theban government within the Athenian citizens.

The Athenians are encouraged to demonstrate against Thebes. Was Sophocles just a playwright with an innocent script that was only what it appears to be? No, this play has a deeper meaning.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/ismene.htm

ISMENE

The modern

director (of Sophocles' Antigone) has to worry about so many things which are completely unimportant, things which did not concern the orginal actor who was a man in a mask. How old is Ismene? Is she older than Antigone or younger? Or a twin (like Eteocles and Polyneices)? Sophocles does not care about any of this, nor what she would wear, how she should speak etc. But your decision on any of these will affect the way the play comes across. Is she prettier than Antigone, for example? Would you have her wear a dress and long hair while Antigone has a skinhead, DMs and levis? There is nothing in the play to help you here at all! As Sophocles wrote her character, she is the negative to Antigone's positive (or perhaps better the positive to Antigone's negative). She is the norm - Ismene is what a Greek girl is supposed to be like (and Antigone isn't). She believes men are stronger, that authority should be obeyed, that you can't beat City Hall, and that a girl should keep a low profile (especially if her family is already notorious for its freaks). She would fulfil Pericles' blueprint for the ideal Athenian woman (in Thucydides 2. 46): "the greatest glory for a woman is not to be discussed by men at all - whether they are criticising her or admiring her." Ismene does not want to be noticed, or draw any sort of attention to herself. "A modest silence is a woman's crown" as another writer puts it (Euripides' Andromache). So much for her first scene - Sophocles brings her back later purely to highlight Creon's unreasonable cruelty (Antigone is a

terrible role-model for a young girl - but amazingly she happens to be RIGHT) - we know Ismene's innocent, but Creon condemns her anyway - at first. Later he relents, and this is the first sign that he is going to crack up, and try to go back on his wrong decisions. Unusually for Greek tragic characters, Ismene in her second scene now has to play a different role - dramatically her task is to introduce the theme of Antigone's betrothal to Creon's son Haemon. This is not character development - she is still subordinate to the dictates of the plot. If Ismene was not there, it would be hard for Antigone to do it without introducing an irrelevant "lurve" theme. Whether they love each other or not is not important to Sophocles : Haemon is like Ismene, the perfect Greek young man, whose duty first and last is to his father and his family. The heart of the play is that confrontation between father and son - because this was a matter of real importance for Athenians. So - my advice - make her as normal as you can, to highlight Antigone's extraordinary behaviour. I think it would be a very powerful way to do the play (and original!) if in the first scene you tried to make the audience side with Ismene completely. We should see that Antigone is stupid, illogical, and abnormal - which makes it all the more exciting when it turns out she is right!

Antigone & Ismene The personalities of the two sisters; Antigone and Ismene, are as different from one another as tempered steel is from a ball of cotton. One is hard and resistant; the otherpliable, absorbing and soft. Antigone would have been a strong, successful 90s type woman with her liberated and strong attitude towards her femininity, while Ismene seems to be a more dependent 1950s style woman. Antigone acts as a free spirit, a defiant individual, while Ismene is content to recognize her own limitations and her inferiority of being a woman. In the Greek tragedy Antigone, by Sophocles; Antigone learns that King Creon has refused to give a proper burial for the slain Polyneices, 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 helplessness in the light of Creons decree. Thus, from the start, Ismene is characterized as traditionally feminine, a helpless woman that pays no mind to political affairs. Doubting the wisdom of her sisters plan to break the law and bury Polyneices, Ismene argues: We who are women should not contend with men; we who are weak are ruled by the stronger, so that we must obey....(346) Once again Ismenes words clearly state her weak, feminine character and helplessness within her own dimensions. Antigone, not happy with her sisters response chides her sister for not participating in her crime and for her passivity, saying, Set your own life in order(346). For Antigone, no law could

stand in the way of her strong consideration of her brothers spirit, not even the punishment of an early death. Ismene is more practical ; knowing the task is impossible, she feels the situation to be hopeless. It is a wonder, which of the two sisters are really guilty of these chronic charges. Of coarse, Antigone acted so quickly, and failed to take the advice of the moderate sister, Ismene. Instead, going against Creons words, Antigone rashly goes ahead and breaks the law. Antigone is a fool, she must learn that such defiance, even when justified, is not conductive to longevity. Although Antigone is foolish, she is also courageous and motivated by her morals. Proper burial of the dead was, according to the Greeks, prerequisite for the souls entrance into a permanent home. Therefore, perhaps Ismene is also foolish for her quick refusal to help Antigone perform the duty of Polyneices proper burial. Ismene definitely seems hasty in her acceptance of personal weakness. Perhaps in some way, both sisters are guilty of the same tragic sins. Perhaps it is this rashness, more subdued in Ismenes case, that leads both sisters to their own destruction. To my surprise, there is a strange twist in both sisters character towards the end of the play. Antigone makes a rather contrasting statement, Not for my children, had I been a mother, Not for a husband, for his moldering body, Would i have set myself against the city As I have done(368) These words defy rational explanation. To judge from her attitude towards authority and law, Antigone would probably take on any task to preserve family dignity and human justice. In Ismene's final words, she abandons her practical attitudes with a sudden rush of devotion towards the sister she abandoned in time of need. Let me stand beside you and do honor the dead(358). Ismene heroically takes a stand and shares Antigones crime. The two sisters were crushed by the vindictive Creon, yet they were winners in spirit, in their determination , they died together, as one. Nobility shall live in their hearts forever.

Killed by Tydeus, son of Oeneus, who had come to Thebes as a ambassador. Tydeus had been ambushed by Thebans. He caught Ismene outside of the city making love with her lover, Theoclymenus. Theoclymenus fled; Ismene is taken prisoneer. She begs for her life but Tydeus kills her anyway. Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_happened_to_Ismene_after_the_death_of_he r_sister_Antigone_in_the_play_Atigone#ixzz1CAvUY0UD

In the play 'Antigone', Ismene's interest is survival. She is a survivalist who finds security in respect for her perceived place in Theban society and in obedience of the current laws of the city. She sees her place as different from men, whom she defines as stronger and more capable of ruling as leaders. In contrast, she sees the role of women as weaker and more capable of obeying as followers. She finds it more important to be in good standing with earthly powers and royal laws than with the gods and divine laws. Additionally, Ismene wants a circumspect life far away from censure, controversy, and scandal. She in fact is traumatized by the scandals of her parents and her brothers. Her father unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother. The knowledge results

in his own blinding, and in his wife's suicide. Ismene's twin brothers are the royal successors to their parents. But they further scandalize Thebes with their incapability to get along and share power. They end up killing each other, from opposing sides on a battlefield that pits Thebans against Thebans and Argives.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_Ismene's_interest_in_'Antigone'#ixzz1CAw mHRJV

A Point in the Interpretation of the Antigone of Sophocles

Charles Knapp The American Journal of Philology Vol. 37, No. 3 (1916), pp. 300-316

Assumptions and the Creation of Meaning: Reading Sophocles' Antigone

Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood The Journal of Hellenic Studies Vol. 109, (1989), pp. 134-148 (article consists of 15 pages)

Ismene was one of the unfortunate daughters of king Oedipus of the city of Thebes. Ismenes lineage is difficult to explain in ordinary terms because her father was also her brother. Her grandfather, Laius, was the king of Thebes and was married to Iokaste (Jocasta); because of offenses he had committed in his youth, Laius was told by the oracle atDelphi that his son would kill him and marry his wife; when Laius and Iokaste had a son they plotted to kill the child but, through a series of divinely directed events, their infant son, Oedipus, escaped death and was raised in Korinth (Corinth) as the son of king, Polybos. When Oedipus grew to manhood the oracle at Delphi told him that he was destined to kill his father so he left Korinth and returned to Thebes without realizing that Thebes, not Korinth, was the home of his true mother and father; on the way to Thebes, Oedipus met Laius on the road and, after an altercation, killed him; Oedipus also encountered the Sphinx on the road to Thebes and after answering her riddle, she killed herself.

When Oedipus arrived in Thebes he was hailed as a hero for outwitting the Sphinx; he became the king of Thebes and, since Iokaste was now a widow, married her without realizing that she was his mother. Oedipus and Iokaste had four children: Antigone, Ismene, Eteokles (Eteocles) and Polynikes (Polynices); when the children were young adults, Oedipus realized what had happened and that he had, true to the prophecy, killed his father and was now married to his mother; Iokaste killed herself in shame; Oedipus blinded himself and went into a self-imposed exile. Ismene stayed in Thebes but Antigone went with her father as his guide and companion; Eteokles, as the eldest son, became the king of Thebes and exiled his brother, Polynikes. After many years of wandering, Oedipus took refuge in the sanctuary of the Eumenides (the Furies) near the town of Kolonus (Colonus); Ismene found Oedipus and Antigone in the sanctuary and tried to warn him that Iokastas brother, Kreon (Creon), and Polynikes were both seeking his support in the coming confrontation between Eteokles and Polynikes; Kreon appeared in the sanctuary and kidnapped Ismene and Antigone in order to bring pressure on Oedipus to return to Thebes but the king of Athens, Theseus, rescued the young women before Kreon could make his escape. Soon afterwards, Oedipus died at Kolonus; Polynikes went to Thebes with his armies to depose Eteokles but both brothers were killed in the fray; Kreon decreed that Eteokles would have a proper burial because he had died defending Thebes but Polynikes body would be left to the dogs and vultures because he had died in disgrace by attacking his homeland and trying to depose the rightful king. Antigone sought the help of Ismene so that Polynikes could be buried properly but Ismene would not be a part of any plan that might antagonize Kreon; without Ismenes help, Antigone defied Kreon and gave her brother a proper burial. The age of Antigone and Ismene is a matter of debate; their ages are not clearly given but many scholars believe that Ismene was the eldest simply because her actions were mature and reserved. stewart, Michael. "People, Places & Things: Ismene", Greek
Mythology: From the Iliad to the Fall of the Last Tyrant. http://messagenetcommresearch.com/myths/ppt/Ismene_1.html

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