Judith Butler
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Bibliography
Course Hero. "Antigone's Claim: Kinship Between Life and Death Study Guide." Course Hero. 13 Nov. 2020. Web. 3 Feb. 2023. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Antigones-Claim-Kinship-Between-Life-and-Death/>.
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Course Hero. (2020, November 13). Antigone's Claim: Kinship Between Life and Death Study Guide. In Course Hero. Retrieved February 3, 2023, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Antigones-Claim-Kinship-Between-Life-and-Death/
In text
(Course Hero, 2020)
Bibliography
Course Hero. "Antigone's Claim: Kinship Between Life and Death Study Guide." November 13, 2020. Accessed February 3, 2023. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Antigones-Claim-Kinship-Between-Life-and-Death/.
Footnote
Course Hero, "Antigone's Claim: Kinship Between Life and Death Study Guide," November 13, 2020, accessed February 3, 2023, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Antigones-Claim-Kinship-Between-Life-and-Death/.
Judith Butler
2000
Nonfiction
Philosophy, Women's Studies
Judith Butler uses the majority of Antigone's Claim to critique the works of philosopher Georg Willhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) and psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan (1901–81). Her critique summarizes and analyzes each man's interpretation of the character Antigone who features in the plays of Greek playwright Sophocles (c. 496 – 406 BCE). The work also presents Butler's own assertion that Antigone is a powerful figure whose place in the context of kinship opens up a radically new interpretation of the term. Antigone's Claim is studied today as both a work of philosophy and feminist scholarship that seeks to dismantle heteronormative constructs of kinship relationships.
Antigone's Claim: Kinship Between Life and Death refers to claims on many levels. Antigone makes the spoken claim that her action in burying her brother in defiance of the law of the state is justified based on a higher law. She also makes less explicit claims in her actions. Butler sees these claims as redefining the individual's place within the construct of kinship. Antigone's defiance ultimately leads to the death of her body, but her death is in some ways a further defiance. In her death, Antigone defies the cycle of kinship since she does not marry, have children, and perpetuate notions of kinship based on heteronormativity.
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