Question

How do the play’s main characters (Creon, Antigone, Ismene) see themselves? How is this similar or different from how they are perceived by others?

Answer 1

Creon sees himself as wise and intelligent, but that is not how the citizens, his son, or Antigone sees him. Antigone sees herself as a woman who is supposed to have limited power, but she knows differently. Ismene sees her as rash, and Creon thinks of her as a traitor.

Ismene is seen by Creon as a transgressor, though she refused to help. To Creon, Antigone and Ismene are one in the same.