Ambiguity, Dissensus and Subjectification: Antigone

Abstract

Sophocles' Antigone, an important play that has not lost its actuality throughout the ages, has been the subject of many interpretations, most of which focus on the representative function of Antigone. Accordingly, Antigone represents kinship as opposed to the polis and influences the political sphere by being completely outside of it. For Butler, this interpretation risks overlooking the political nature of Antigone's action because Antigone carries an ambiguity that puts the representative function itself into crisis. In this study, it will be argued that this ambiguity as such points to a possibility of considering Antigone's action as a political act, and this possibility can be put forward by following the attempts of Jacques Rancière to rethink and redefine the political. Such a reading also provides the opportunity to consider Antigone from a different perspective.