Religion has always been a part of human life. Nearly every culture has its own origin story describing how an all-powerful figure, or a few formidable gods created, not just the Earth but humanity as well. These stories are documented in various books that are passed down for the generations. The Jews have the Torah, the Muslims have the Quran etc. Even less practiced religions like that of Ancient Greece is still well documented in stories like the Iliad and the Odyssey. Surprisingly, in many of these stories it’s not the role of the gods that warrant a lot of attention, but the actions of the humans in them. Sarah from the Bible allows her husband to have sex with her slave in order to give birth to a child. Antigone from Sophocles’ Antigone is also quite a curious case. She actually kills herself for no apparent reason. It’s interesting to analyze the personalities of these characters to see if they are genuine, believable and to determine if any parallels exist between them.
Sarah was born as Sarai. She was one of the wives of Abraham. She was said to be very beautiful. In fact, Abraham was very insecure that a man with more wealth and power would steal Sarai away from him. For example, when they traveled to Egypt from Canaan, Abraham instructed Sarah to pose as his sister. This way, no one would kill him in an effort to steal Sarai away. Unfortunately, Sarai was not always as sweet as her looks were. She was very abusive to her former slave Hagar. Despite God claiming that Sarai would be the mother figure of his nation, she was barren and unable to have children, initially at least. She felt it her wifely responsibility to ensure that Abraham had a child. She told Abraham that Hagar would give them a son. Abraham proceeds to impregnate Hagar. This causes jealousy to arise within Sarai, and births a power struggle between the two. Sarai begins to mistreat Hagar, so much so that Hagar runs away. However, an Angel arrives convincing Hagar to return to Sarai. After some time, Hagar gives birth to a boy named Ishmael.
While Ishmael is growing up, God speaks to Abraham again. He tells him his plans to create a nation in Canaan. At this moment the circumcision covenant is born. God then proceeds to rename Sarai as Sarah. More importantly, he promises that Sarah will bear a son, who is to be named Isaac. Initially, Sarah laughs this off, after all, she’s very old. However, she does indeed become pregnant and gives birth to Isaac. This births a new power struggle. Both Hagar and Sarah want their child to be Abraham’s heir. Sarah, who technically owns Hagar and Ishmael sets them free and tells them to leave. Abraham is disappointed, but God tells him that it’s the right thing to do.
There’s something about Sarah that makes her seem so genuine as if she could have really existed in real life. Unlike, some characters in the Bible who are very flat, Sarah has a complex personality. She can’t be defined as either good or bad, but a combination of both like nearly all living humans. She experiences expected and warranted emotional responses to situations. When her slave is able to satisfy her husband’s desire to conceive a son, Sarah feels jealous and acts on her emotions. It isn’t necessarily the good or right thing to do; but her actions don’t make her an evil person, they just make her a person. Furthermore, Sarah has a great sense of reality. She is ninety years old when God claims that she will give birth to a son. Sarah laughs this off. She knows that she’s well past childbirth, after all, she’s 90 years old. However, what truly makes Sarah so genuine is her motherly attitude. She has the same innate desire for the prosperity of her son that most mothers share. She wants Isaac to be Abraham’s heir because she is partial to him. As I said before, releasing Ishmael and Hagar does not make Sarah an evil person, but a person looking out for her own kin.
It can be argued that Sarah can not be genuine due to her ruining her marital bond with Abraham by allowing him to copulate with another woman. It can seem to be a bit of a stretch and an unrealistic thing to do. However, Sarah is motivated by love and what she believed was her duty to ensure that Abraham had a son. It’s not different from impotent couples using a surrogate mother to birth them a child. The fact that Sarah was unable to have kids was not under her control; she had to use the resources that she had, in order to realize her goal of making Abraham a father. Sarah personality is genuine due to its faults and imperfections. No human is without them.
Sophocles is most famous for writing Oedipus Rex, but his most interesting character lies in his lesser known play, Antigone. Antigone, whom the play is named after, is the daughter of Oedipus. She lives in Thebes with her two brothers, Polyneices and Eteocles, and her sister Ismene. After, Oedipus’ death, it was decreed that Polynices and Eteocles would share the throne annually. Eteocles became king for the first year but refuse to defer to Polyneices for the second year. Polyneices raises an army and attacks Thebes. Eventually, the two brothers duel and kill each other. Creon, their uncle assumes the throne. He shows disdain towards Polyneices for attacking Thebes and decrees that he shall not get a proper burial. Eteocles, on the other hand, received a hero’s funeral. Antigone, hears this news decides to go against her uncle’s wishes, which also happens to be the law, as he is the king, and bury Polyneices anyway. She gets caught in the act and is imprisoned. Creon’s son and Antigone’s lover, Haemon tells his father that he is making a mistake and that the people of Thebes don’t support his decision. Creon feels that if he goes back on his word people will mistake his mercy as weakness, as he wants to be a strong king. However, Creon eventually changes his mind and goes to bring Antigone home. However, during the time that has passed, Antigone kills herself. Harmon goes to visit her and sees her dead body and kills himself as well. Finally, Haemon’s mother and Creon’s wife, Eurydice, visits the prison to see her son and niece dead. She too takes her life. Creon comes in to see this tragic scene and realizes that his desire for strength and obedience lead to the destruction of his family.
Antigone is a fascinating character, she defies the first decree that her uncle, and king, issues. She is motivated by love, family and religion rather than the government. Antigone says “the slain man was no villain but a brother.” Despite knowing that he attacked her home, she values her familial bond over the loyalty she has towards the people of Thebes. Ismene doesn’t agree with Antigone and tries to dissuade her sister from disobeying Creon. In response Antigone says “scorn, if thou wilt, the eternal laws of Heaven.”, illustrating that she is motivated by religion as well.
Antigone is a character that seems to be genuine at first. Her motivations reflect those of many actual humans. She isn’t a mindless follower of the rules. She makes her own decisions based on her feelings and emotions rather than the law. Humans are complicated creatures, everyone has many facets to their personality, similar to a well-cut diamond. What makes a character more genuine and believable are the existence of these facets. Antigone has these facets. But, it would not be correct to claim that her existence in the real world would be believable. First of all, had Antigone buried Polyneices outside of Thebes, the whole situation would have been avoided. She could have given her brother a proper burial without angering Creon and breaking the law. Sophocles does not describe Antigone as stupid, and any rational person could have come to that conclusion. One could argue that Antigone acted in the heat of the moment, but that still doesn’t take away from the fact that she kills herself. Loss and injustice are feelings that everyone experiences. Indeed, they do make us sad, but in most cases, they don’t lead to suicide. Psychologically speaking, we are programmed to follow the five stages of loss: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. This is an innate psychological process. What’s more ingenuine is Sophocles’ failure to provide an explanation for Antigone’s suicide . There was no reason to kill herself, as she already succeeded in burying Polyneices. Furthermore, she was sentenced to execution she would have died anyway. Sophocles uses her death as a justification and a trigger for the suicides of Haemon and Eurydice in order making the play more engrossing. Antigone and Sarah are actually quite similar. They are motivated by love and family. Despite Sarah seeming more genuine, the personalities of the characters written by their respective authors are similar. They both defy the wishes of distant relatives in order to help those in their immediate family. Sarah casts away Ishmael and Hagar in order to ensure that Abraham’s inheritance went to Isaac. Antigone goes against her uncle’s decree and buries Polyneices. They both hold their immediate familial relationships at a higher priority than distant ones.
What truly makes Sarah and Antigone notable is their audacity to challenge men in ancient times where women were subordinate to men. Sarah frequently goes against Abraham’s wishes. An example of this is when Abraham does not want to abandon Hagar and Ishmael,but Sarah does anyway. Antigone decided to go against her uncle’s wishes and bury her brother anyway. These characteristics are unique for this time. Antigone was inspired by Homer’s The Odyssey and the Iliad which were about male heroes, having a female protagonist was unusual, especially one who disobeyed her uncle who happened to be king. The greatness of Antigone and Sarah lies in their aboriginal attempt at equality.