the man as a husband. They consulted together on the potential birth of a child and their main goal was to produce good offspring. All of the power lied within the hands of the husband. (Xenephon)In the exerpt from “Antigone”, Creon the king represented human law and Haemon, his son represented divine law. Creon was the new King of Thebes and was a strict ruler of the state. On the other hand, Haemon, his son was influenced more by the divine law of gods. They clashed because of their difference in views of women. They disagreed with each other in the treatment of women. Antigone was grieving for her dead brother who broke the law by accidentally marrying his mother and Creon had no sympathy for her what so ever. As punishment, Antigone’s brother was left unburied so that his corpse would be further ruined by the weather and animals. If the body was mangled, then it could not be worshipped. Antigone didn’t want to leave his side because she felt that she owed allegiance to her family instead of the state. So she tried to bury him in the dirt which made Creon angry. Creon was looked at as a bully by the rest of the community but he refused to be beaten by a woman because he could never be weaker than woman kind. He refused to give in to a woman because he believed that women were inferior to men and therefor not be listened to. Haemon felt deep sympathy for Antigone and argued against his father’s opinion. Haemon did not believe that Antigone was sick with disease like his father believed. In the end, Antigone committed suicide. Haemon saw this and he took his own life too. As soon as Creon heard of this happening, he is left in despair. Creon also admitted that his fate had brought him down and his life was permanently warped because he tried to rule above the gods. This showed that while Haemon respected Antigone, the King did not, so there were no laws giving women rights or political power. (Sophocles)I...
