Ambivalences of the logos: A reading of Sophocles’ Antigone

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Rafael Guimarães Tavares da
• Data de Publicação: 2024
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Codex : Revista de Estudos Clássicos
• Texto Completo: https://revistas.ufrj.br/index.php/CODEX/article/view/59153
• topic: Ancient tragedy; Sophocles; Antigone; Creon; Gender studies; Greek tragedy; Gender studies; Tragédia antiga; Sófocles; Antígona; Creonte; Estudos de gênero; Tragédia grega; Estudos de gênero

The tragedy Antigone by Sophocles is usually read in Modernity through a contrast between values and perspectives defended by the homonymous character and those favored by her uncle and ruler of Thebes, Creon: oikos [family] / polis [city]; female / male; religion / politics; unwritten laws / written laws; etc. Some contemporary readings even propose a positive understanding of Antigone’s attitudes, as opposed to those assumed by Creon (characterized as negative). In this paper, I advance an interpretation that is based on a philological reading of the play — also informed by anthropological studies attentive to gender issues and certain sociocultural practices — in order to problematize this type of simplified dichotomous treatment. I intend to indicate that there are some elements of Antigone in Creon and vice versa, arguing in favor of a more attentive understanding of the nuances in the presentation of these characters, as well as in Sophocles’ tragic reflection: what is at stake here is not a simple solution to the dilemmas of existence, but a problematization of the human condition, divided between family and city, female and male, religious and political commitments, striving to exist.