"Antigone" is the root of a deviation in Greek drama due to its strong female lead. The play displays a woman asserting her independence and taking a stand against the patriarchal monarchy found at the time. Moreover, there is a philosophical battle fought in the play dealing with the controversy of the Greek ideals. These aspects and more are evident in the excerpt given for study, for it is apparent that this passage is the thesis statement of Antigone's actions throughout the play. One can easily notice, through these lines, that Antigone's character does possess many contradictory facets, and that could be seen as owing either to the fact that she is merely a particularly damaged product of an outrageously dysfunctional family or to the fact that she existed centuries ahead of her time. Upon reading the required passage, the image of a Greek hero, Hector or Achilles for instance, comes directly to mind. Defying, rebelling, disobeying and challenging were never traits of a woman at 500 B.C. These were traits of a stereotypical hero with muscle strength and fighting abilities; thus, Antigone “as a first impression" can be considered as a woman "impersonating a male hero, or as a woman with masculine traits." In a phallocentric era, disobeying a king suggests a masculine character. No woman would dare to transgress her gender limits and stand up to a man “let alone a king." However, Antigone's words "I did not think your edicts strong enough  are profoundly unusual, courageous and lack gender bias altogether. Her expressions show strong traits of vanity, pride, courage and stubbornness. Her honor comes first; therefore, she grants herself the privilege of "thinking  then defying “ her brother must be buried against all gender and civic obstacles. This characteristic can, without any doubt, be considered masculine, for a woman would have been too blind with grief to fight for honor or even consider it. Men, not women, reveng