The Story of Antigone

Such a focus will therefore be one-sided, viewed through paternal eyes--the patriarchal perspective. Freud sometimes characterized the daughter's perspective, but he was naturally more familiar with the father's (Willbern 75-76).

Any analysis of Antigone must also deal with the Oedipus myth and with the role of the father, as Benjamin indicates:

For Freud, the tragedy of Oedipus was the key to our unconscious desires and our inevitable sense of guilt (Benjamin 141).

Yet, Benjamin further notes that Freud's approach does not take into account the father's transgression, namely the sin of Laius when he tries to murder Oedipus in his infancy, and Benjamin finds that putting Laius back into the story makes this a tale of a father's transgression. Feminist theorists similarly find that Freud's emphasis on other issues shifts the role of femininity in a certain direction and ignores elements that would offer a different perspective.

. . .
peutic standpoint. She shows masculine tendencies toward aggression and self-assertion, for instance, and her development would be judged as warped by the father-daughter relationship. Gilligan makes the interesting observation that the traditional view would have women develop only to a certain point and then stop rather than going on to "adulthood" as do men: The repeated finding of these studies is that the qualities deemed necessary for adulthood--the capacity for autonomous thinking, clear decision making, and responsible action--are those associated with masculinity but considered undesirable as attributes of the feminine self (Gilligan 279). All of these characteristics are seen in the actions of Antigone, and the reaction of Creon is at least in part a reaction against what he sees as masculine attributes and actions on her part. Gilligan specifically discusses the issue in terms of the development of a moral sense, and Antigone's actions are certainly those of an individual who has a strong moral sense and who intends to assert that morality at all costs. Gilligan agrees with Freud that the moral sensibility of women differs from that of men, though she differs from him in terms of her view of the origin of this
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Antigone Oedipus, Antigone Creon, Oedipal Gilligan, Ismene Antigone, Ismene Antigone's, Sophocles Oedipus, , moral sense, Educational Review, Pantheon Books, greek view, central figure, oedipus complex, books 1988, Karnac Books, tragedy oedipus, relationship mother, roles women, antigone oedipus, role women,
Approximate Word count = 1874
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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