Antigone: the female figure in the sophoclean tragedy

Abstract

This paper proposes reading Antigone as a tragic heroine based on the confluence of two perspectives: social reality of the Athenian women during the V and until the C century, as well as the symbolic character of male and female. In the first place, it establishes that in the Greek tragedy the alterity represented by women is transfigured but not unrecognizable. Then, there is a characterization of the concept of tragedy proposed by Vernant and Vidal-Naquet and also by Lesky, the concept of a female operator by Loraux and the specific aspects of the social situation of Athenian females. Third, there is an overview of Antigone´s dialogues in order to establish how this heroin´s actions correspond not only to the tragic conflict of the play but to the female and social condition as well. The conclusion is that, it is possible to think of a tragic sexed conflict, at least in Sophocles’ Antigone, based on the recognition of the female alter in the Greek tragedy.