Just because Ismene's name is impossible to pronounce doesn't mean she shouldn't be analyzed...

When reading the story of Antigone, I was intrigued by the character Ismene right away. For some reason, I found myself siding and reasoning with her and going so far as to defend her in class discussions. In this blog, I am going to look further into the subject of why that is.
In class, many regarded Ismene as a push-over and the weaker of the two sisters. Although I would not completely argue against the fact that Ismene is the weaker-minded of the sisters, there is something about her actions that causes me not to immediately dismiss her and the all-together inferior. She tells Antigone that she will not aide her in burying their brother because of the consequences they will receive if they do so. This shows that she is smart, not merely a coward. I mean, realistically, when faced with the option of doing something honorable or being sentenced to death, although many people would like to think that they would take the honorable route, in the end humankind will do almost anything to avoid their own mortality. Ismene is simply acting as Antigone's voice of reason. In addition, no matter what decisions Antigone makes, no matter how absurd they may be, Ismene stands by her. The same can definitely not be said for Antigone. Though Antigone preaches honor and respect, she does not practice it. Although Ismene does not walk the walk, she does not talk the talk. That to me is more honorable than Antigone, who does not follow through with what she supposedly believes in in every aspect of her life.

Eventually, Antigone ends up dying after doing something she believes is right and honorable: burying her brother. However, her death is her own doing and therefore the two events are actually unrelated. Ismene is able to fly under the radar, so to speak, and only puts her own life at risk when defending her sister in an action she does not even agree with to begin with. I am not in anyway insinuating that it is right for Ismene to forgo what she thinks is right for fear of consequences, just that Antigone obviously had things going on in her life that would cause her to commit suicide and that burying her brother is not as heroic as it might seem at first. Antigone makes it seem that she is not afraid of death because that is how much she cares for her brother, yet the fact that she is not afraid of death might simply be a bonus when she decides to bury her brother.

Ismene is a constant throughout the story. Not only is she supportive, she is reasonable and level-headed. Accordingly, Ismene is one of the only characters who does not have a tragic demise.

The Meaning of Life

In Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilych, Ilych is faced with one of the longest and most feared mysteries of life: death. Not only does the main character have to come to term with death itself and the death of those around him, he must come to terms with something that places a much heavier burden on him; his own death. By beginning the story with Ilych's funeral, the reader out of instinct immediately disconnects with Ilych because it is assumed that he will not be appearing later in the story. However, we are forced to take another glance at the person we thought was dead because of the way Tolstoy dives back into the story of his life. In the same way, Ilych's friends all try to disassociate themselves from the dead as much as possible and throughout his life Ilych looks at death as something that only others face in order to disassociate himself from it in order to ease the fear of death itself. The characters of the story think that the more they choose to avoid thinking about their own mortality the more chance they have of expanding their lives indefinitely. 

It is not so much that Ilych and his friends do not know they are at some point going to die or that they are not expecting it, it is that they do not think it will happen to them any time in the near future. This is why, when experiencing so much pain in his side and mouth and when soon learning that no medical professional has a cure or even an idea of what his disease is to begin with, Ilych starts to have panic attacks. He finally realizes that death is not as far away as he had hoped and as a result, starts to question the meaning of his life. 

Ivan Ilych uses different methods to try and cope with the fact that he is nearing death. By referring to death and his own mortality in general as "It," he uses the same method that people use when referring to subjects they might not want to talk about or think are sensitive by using euphemisms. He thinks that by calling death "It" the reality of his mortality will become less real. Ilych also tries to cope by "replacing it with other proper and healthy thoughts," yet the thought of his own mortality keeps coming back to haunt him because nothing can seem to compare in level of importance. He also experiences periods of jealousy and hatred, especially towards his wife whom he believes is not being as sympathetic to his pains as she should be. Ilych turns against everyone he knows in an attempt to regain control of his life. 

Just as it is human nature to immediately disconnect from a character in a book that has died in order to lessen the emotional impact of simply reading about death, it is also human nature to try and ignore thoughts of ones own and sometimes imminent death in order to lessen the impact of the idea that humans are in fact, mortal. When Ilych thinks of death, he thinks of the death of others, not that of himself. As he tries to accept the fact that he is deathly ill, he still can not help but think, "It cannot be that I ought to die. That would be too terrible." As much as it is instinct to avoid confronting the thought of death, it is necessary to do so in order to live a fulfilled life (587).