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Ismene

Literary Character
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Sister of Antigone, cautious and law-abiding in Sophocles’ tragedy

Detailed Definition
Ismene opposes Antigone’s defiance of Creon, representing prudence and fear of state power. In poetry, she symbolizes the tension between compliance and resistance, often reinterpreted as a voice of survival versus martyrdom, and the complexity of sisterhood in moral conflict.
Example
Example in poetry:
Ismene in Sophocles’ "Antigone" is the cautious sister, her voice of reason contrasting Antigone’s defiance; In modern adaptations (e.g., by Anouilh), Ismene becomes a symbol of political compromise; Poets reference Ismene to explore familial loyalty versus moral duty; Her name evokes the quiet resistor in poetic drama.
Additional Notes
Ismene, Antigone’s cautious sister in Sophocles’ tragedy, represents law-abiding reason versus Antigone’s defiant conscience; her literary character is crucial for studying binary oppositions in tragic drama and the rhetorical construction of ethical positions in poetic dialogue.
Also Known As
Ismene of Thebes
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