Ancient Greeks and Romans lived in a very male-dominated environment. Sophocles shows in this play that although men are in charge, women could be strong, wise, and capable of making the moral choice. Two women characters are used to show the difference in the way that women normally would act. The two characters are Ismene and Antigone. Antigone was the righteous and rational character that women look up to, and Ismene is the quiet girl that lets men talk to her like she is dirt. .
The way that men treated women in the days of ancient Greeks is appalling. Creon is a perfect example of how men treated women so poorly. He is a very sexist man that defines the many characteristics of a typical man in the days of the ancient Greeks. Several examples in the play show that Antigone is a woman that is very capable of making moral decisions on her own, although Creon does not see it that way. First Antigone opposes Creon's law and buries her slain brother; because in her mind it was immoral not to. When he learns that someone has broken his law and buried Polyneices he is very anger and bitter. He is even more infuriated when he learns that a woman has broken his laws. He thinks that Antigone went against the law and buried her brother to spite him. When she really did it because she felt that it was the moral thing to do. It is obvious that she is a very strong woman, because she is brave enough to go against the laws of the land that the king has put in place. Creon tries to show Antigone that a woman can never win against him by giving her a life sentence of imprisonment. Secondly, Antigone tries as hard as she can to show no fear that she will spend the rest of her life locked away in a cave. She is a very brave woman, that takes all the credit of breaking Creon's laws. This sort of action ultimately proves that Antigone is a courageous woman and is willing to stand up to men, which was completely against what any other woman would have done at this time.