? (Fitts and Fitzgerald 886).
Wertenbaker phrases the question as follows:
Are you aware of that evils appropriate for our enemies are to be endured by our loved ones? (Wertenbaker 7).
In the latter, the importance of the issue to these two women is clear, while in the earlier translation it is not as yet part of the issue as presented in the language.
However, the issues are indicated in this first scene of the play as Antigone makes clear that she wants to bury her brother in accord with his wishes and with the laws of the gods, while Ismene counters that they are only women and that in any case no one should challenge the law of the state, especially in time of war. According to the Greek view of death, as indicated by the gods, the soul of the deceased will never be at rest until the body is properly buried. Burial rites thus have a great importance in Greek society, and these rites are now being denied. It is routine to deny such rites to the enemy, since the needs of the enemy would be served otherwise. It is not routine to deny it to members of one's own group. For Antigone, then, burying her brother is a means of responding to a higher law than that of the state:
I believe I owe more of my time to pleasing the dead below than those here: there, I shall lie forever.
Think as you will, but you will be guilty of dishonoring the gods (Wertenbaker 9).
Ismene comes down clearly on the side of compliance with the laws of the state:
I cannot act against the will of the city (Wertenbaker 9).
She also expresses all of the reasons why Antigone should not pursue her agenda, including the fact that they are only two against a whole city, that they are women who are not expected to battle the men, and that the state is stronger than they. Ismene agrees that the individual has to accede to the state. She also implicitly indicates that the state may come before the gods because the state is here and now and h...