Antigone by SophoclesThe character Antigone in Sophocles' play Antigone is one of the most controversial tragic characters in classical literature. The war in his town tore his family apart, caused the death of his two brothers and gave him a reason to fight against the king, his uncle. His uncle, Creon, decides that his brother, Polyneices, should not be buried because he is a traitor, but according to his religion, his brother's soul will not go to the afterlife as long as he will not be buried. To defend her brother, she illegally buries his body and is subsequently sentenced to death. With her complex thought patterns, daring actions, and the end she meets, the character of Antigone sparks debate among critics as to whether Antigone is in fact a tragic heroine. She can be seen as a martyr heroine, dying of love and religion, or as a fanatic woman who lacks the ability to think rationally. How the role of Antigone is interpreted can also help interpret Sophocles' view of women and politics. Considering that she is a heroine who died for her beliefs, this shows that Sophocles was seeking to prove that women deserve to be treated as equals and as citizens of Greece. Sophocles, like Antigone, was born into a privileged family in 496 AD in Colonus, a small town near Athens. His life was full of stories of war and heroism. When he was young, the Athenians defeated the Persians at Marathon. Later, he witnessed the burning of his house and the Parthenon by the Persians as well as the construction of a new Parthenon. During the last years of his life, the Peloponnesian War raged on a large scale. Sophocles was a general and war hero during part of this period, but also middle of paper....../sophocles.htm. December 10, 2004. Holland, Catherine A. “After Antigone: Women, the Past and the Future of Feminist Political Thought.” American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 42, No. 4. October 1998. JSTOR. http://links.jstor.org/s. December 8, 2004. Saxonhouse, Arlene W. “From Tragedy to Hierarchy and Back Again: Women in Greek Political Thought.” » The American Political Science Review: Vol. 80, No. 2. June 1986. JSTOR. http://links.jstor.org. December 8, 2004. Sophocles. Antigone. Ed. George Young. New York: Dover Publications, Inc, 1993. Sophocles. Antigone. Ed. RC Jebb. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/sophocles-antigone.txt December 17, 2004. Willner, Dorothy. “The complex of Oeduipus, Antigone and Electra: woman as hero and victim.” American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 84, No. 1. (March 1982), pp. 58-78. JSTOR. http://links.jstor.com December 6 2004.