ANTIGONE
And thou didst indeed dare to transgress that law?
Yes; for it was not Zeus that had published me that edict; not such are the laws set among men by the justice who dwells with the gods below; nor deemed I that thy decrees were of such force, that a mortal could override the unwritten and unfailing statutes of heaven. For their life is not of to-day or yesterday, but from all time, and no man knows when they were first put forth. Not through dread of any human pride could I answer to the gods for breaking these. Die I must,-I knew that well (how should I not?)-even without thy edicts. But if I am to die before my time, I count that a gain: for when any one lives, as I do, compassed about with evils, can such an one find aught but gain in death?
So for me to meet this doom is trifling grief; but if I had suffered my mother's son to lie in death an unburied corpse, that would have grieved me; for this, I am not grieved. And if my present deeds are foolish in thy sight, it may be that a foolish judge arraigns my folly.
This week, the class assignment was to conclued Sophocles' three great playwrights with analyzing "Antigone". What an awesome experience for me to have read, reveiwed, and related to this powerful playwright. Antigone stood up for her beliefs as a sister, a woman, and a god-fearing individual. By her stance in her beliefs, at a time when women were submissive, accommodating, and meek, she became, to me, the first feminist. Antigone sought assistance from her sister, Ismene, to help with the task of simply burying her brother. But Ismene was the typical woman of that time, afraid, submissive, and accommadating to men and their laws. Ismene refused to help in the burial of her own brother because of the new law initiated by Creon, their uncle and new ruler of Thebes, that no one morn over or bury the body of Polynices, brother of Antigone and Ismene, son of Oedipus, and nephew of Creon, who fought against the city of Thebes, and if so, would be put to death. Creon thought of Polynices as a traitor and his body should not have a proper burial and his corpse should rot in the sun for the animals to eat. This act would show all citizen of Thebes what happens to traitors of HIS city. But Antigone saw it different. This act of an improper burial was a disrespect to her brother, her family, and the gods. Antigone defied the law, buried her brother and was sentenced to death.
But not before the very confrontational debate with Creon. This debate is what makes this playwright so powerful. Antigone stood up for her right to bury her brother, to disobey a man-made law, and to honor the gods, for which she felt she would rather be put to death than to give up her god-given rights. HOW AWESOME. 
The class, of four groups, had to each summarize an article on Antigone. My group summarized the article "In Excess: The Body and the Habit of Sexual Diference" by Rosalyn Diprose. This very complex article was filled with repesentation of sexual difference in ethical life. The use of Hegel's own account of habits, by which the body becomes a sign of the self. Although, reading this article was quite complicated, at first, our group managed to enjoy the class discussion and summary of the Diprose writing. Some of the interesting concepts gathered was the many meanings of the body. The body represented the physical body, society as a whole, and the individual within society. It was stated in the article, "the body is the community's work of art and mode of expression. And, in representing the will of all, the body becomes other than itself". Our group was astounded as if a light went off, at the sophisticated work of words. The group was enriched at the abstract use of the mind and body and the correlation to the story of Antigone's awakening and how she transcends into her own. Diprose believes that Hegel's theory of thesis, antithesis, synthesis, would not interfuse for a time when femininity signified a difference which was more than the other side of man. What a great experince for me, analyzing history.
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