Read the excerpt from "The Royal House of Thebes." Antigone and Ismene heard with horror what Creon had decided. To Ismene, shocking as it was, overwhelming her with anguish for the pitiful dead body and the lonely, homeless soul, it seemed, nevertheless, that nothing could be done except to acquiesce [to accept without protest]. She and Antigone were utterly alone. All Thebes was exulting that the man who had brought war upon them should be thus terribly punished. "We are women," she told her sister. "We must obey. We have no strength to defy the State." Which archetype does Ismene best represent?
Ismene believes she and Antigone are powerless to oppose Creon and says they must obey the State. Her fearful acceptance of the decision best fits the coward archetype. She is not the villain, since she is not causing the harm, nor the warrior or heroine, who would typically resist or confront it.
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