Early Feminism and Parallels to Modern Feminist Ideals in Antigone Anonymous 11th Grade

The word “feminism” was first officially coined by French socialist Charles Fourier to be used to describe equal rights and social standing for women in the 1890’s. Throughout time, the meaning has changed, but the underlying principles have remained the same. Even before the coinage and common usage of the word, feminist movements and works have emerged in different societies all throughout the world. There is no official “feminist” honor presented to any one thing to make it a legitimate feminist piece of work, but rather, various interpretations dissect these novels, movements, protests, pieces of art, and so on forth, to assert whether they can be considered feminist in nature or not, whether by precursory glance or by analysis of deeper meaning. In Sophocles’ Antigone, the title character herself, though not quite a modern-day feminist by one’s standards now, is an example of such a rising feminist in early literature before feminist movements and writings became more common. Being the central character in this story gives Antigone more independence than previous women characters. Her independence is one of the main features which makes her and her story early feminist examples; while Antigone does not pass the Bechdel...