Creon's Gender Confusion By Niall Weldy

p.94: Anarchy—
show me a greater crime in all the earth!
She, she destroys cities, rips up houses,
breaks the ranks of spearmen into headlong rout.
But the ones who last it out, the great mass of them
owe their lives to discipline. Therefore
we must defend the men who live by law,
never let some woman triumph over us.
Better to fall from power, if fall we must,
at the hands of a man—never be rated
inferior to a woman, never.

Creon’s soapbox speech regarding women is revealing in
not only his views on gender, but also how they affect the state. This is indicative to how Creon compares women
to anarchy in conjunction to how men are compared to order and law. Creon’s commentary carries language that specifies
the dangers that women, namely Antigone, can bring to the state in conjunction
to men’s qualities that perpetuate the state.
Creon begins his discourse by aligning women with anarchy. According to Creon anarchy is female: “Anarchy
[…] She, she destroys cities, rips up houses, breaks the ranks of spearmen into
headlong route” (Sophocles 94. 753-4).
Anarchy is a woman and Creon is trying to make the connection that women
decimate civilization and society. When
the new King of Thebes states that she “breaks the ranks of spearmen.” (94.
754), he is pointing out that women also destroy the order that establishes
armies. Women, according to Creon, are
bringers of disorder and suffering.
On
the other hand, Creon compares men to law in opposition to women’s
anarchy: “we must defend the men who
live by law” (94. 757). Men are said to “live
by law” (94. 757) which means that men institute laws and help establish society
since all that society consists of is a
congregation of people all adhering to the same laws. In addition, while women are destroyers of
order, men must be defended. In other
words, society or men must be adhered to in order to perpetuate civilization. Creon’s metaphor puts Antigone at odds with
the state as he tries to morph her into anarchy, an enemy of both man and the
state.
The female is such an enemy that Creon refuses to lose
power to women. If a male must lose
power, then he must lose it to another man:
“Better to fall from power, if fall we must, at the hands of a man-
never be rated inferior to a woman, never” (94. 759-60) In order for a man to relinquish power, he
must give it to a male. Under the
presupposition that women are anarchy by Creon’s definition, then giving power
to women would mean giving it to anarchy.
Men in contrast are the foundation of law and Creon argues that men will
maintain some form of civilization. The
irony is that while Creon is making laws and enforcing them, Antigone is
abiding by the laws of the gods which supersede the laws of man. Creon’s inability to recognize that is what
ultimately leads to his downfall.