Post by jsipe9 on Sept 29, 2011 9:35:25 GMT -5
Sophocles sets out to compare Antigone's fate to that of Niobê's in scene IV to label Antigone as the mortal descendant of the demigoddess. Antigone compares herself to Niobê, “Tantalos’ wretched daughter;” a comparison that is shockingly realistic (225). While gone for her assumption because she is only mortal and Niobê was born to the Heavens, the parallelism between the two women suggests that Antigone is in fact the mortal version of Niobê. Both Antigone and Niobê watched as their loved ones were killed and neither was permitted to bury the dead, whether by law or death. Niobê was a prideful woman who angered the gods in her verbal attacks on Apollo and Artemis’s mother and thus the gods sentenced her to death. Similarly, Antigone angered Creon by going against his will and now she must die on his command. Turning to stone Niobê was killed in loneliness and now Antigone will die surrounded by stone, feeling ”the loneliness of her death” (225). Through these comparisons it stands to reason that Sophocles made Antigone out to be the mortal twin of Niobê.