Question

Read the excerpt from "The Royal House of Thebes."

Antigone and Ismene heard with horror what Creon had decided. To Ismene, shocking as it was, overwhelming her with anguish for the pitiful dead body and the lonely, homeless soul, it seemed, nevertheless, that nothing could be done except to acquiesce [to accept without protest]. She and Antigone were utterly alone. All Thebes was exulting that the man who had brought war upon them should be thus terribly punished. "We are women," she told her sister. "We must obey. We have no strength to defy the State."

Which archetype does Ismene best represent?

the villain
the heroine
the warrior
the coward

Answer 1

the coward

Ismene admits fear and submission—“We must obey. We have no strength to defy the State”—and chooses acquiescence rather than action, which fits the coward archetype.