Antigone 904-920 and the Institution of Marriage

Woman's Third Face: A Psycho/Social Reconsideration of Sophocles' Antigone

“…If Antigone's single-minded devotion were for her kin group, or even her natal kin group, as Murnaghan 1986 andNeuburg 1990 have argued, her treatment of Ismene is incomprehensible and inconsistent. Ismene is the last representative of Antigone's natal family, as she details for Antigone in rather bald terms at 49-57.…”

“…ÉAr°!kein at 75 and 89 may have erotic coloring as well. 48 The exact meanings of Antigone's and Creon's words in this section have been discussed endlessly; see Brown 1987with references, Blundell 1989 The best discussion to date of Antigone's acknowledgment of this replacement remains Murnaghan 1986, who limits herself, however, to the problematic lines 905-20. Most valuable is her demonstration of the consistency of Antigone's logic in her final speech with views expressed in Eumenides, Herodotus (Intaphernes' wife), and Pericles' funeral oration.…”

“…10 Sophocles' Labdacid mythology in 8 Results have varied. Murnaghan 1986 and Neuburg1990 provide the important distinction between blood and marriage kin in Greek culture. The recent articles of Sourvinou-Inwood (1989) make the mistake of positing a blanket equivalence between the apparent intent of long-standing social institutions (e.g., Greek marriage) and the intentions and views of individuals (here Athenian males).…”

Antigone’s ‘Nomos’

“…In other words, the exceptional circumstance that legitimizes her disobedience is the extinction of her lineage, so distinctive and unique that it demands special consideration from the citizens. The former does not mean that the obligations of burial do not exist towards-or would not have been performed for-husband and child (and certainly not that the members of this second family are simply replaceable [Murnaghan 1986;Neuburg 1990]). It would be more accurate to say that, if she had to perform the burial for her husband or child and if that action entailed defying the legitimate authority of the citizens, Antigone would find fewer reasons to justify an act of disobedience on their behalf.…”

“…This is not an easy task for Antigone. After all, she is doing something quite exceptional, perhaps even subversive, for her time and place: as a young woman she is (1997), Murnaghan (1986), Sourvinou-Inwood (1987-88), and Machin (1981). Other authors who have dealt directly or indirectly with this issue will be mentioned when appropriate in the text.…”