Character Analysis
Like her sister, Ismene will also have a reprising role in Antigone. Read more about her here.
Antigone’s sister Ismene isn’t quite as cool as Antigone, but she’s up there. She comes riding in on a horse, wearing some kind of fancy tunic that must be her signature style because Antigone recognizes her immediately. She, like her sister, is faithful to her father even after he’s been disgraced and exiled.
She doesn’t have quite the gift for words that Antigone does, however; Ismene really doesn’t get all that many lines in Oedipus at Colonus. But she reinforces her sister’s loyalty by mirroring it. She’s willing to go looking for the things her dad needs to make an offering, and she, just like her sister, is kidnapped by Creon and rescued by Theseus.
We could call Ismene an intensifier; she’s not all that important on her own, but her presence intensifies Antigone’s important role. Talk about being overshadowed.