In the article “Antigone's Other Choice”, author Sarah Iles Johnston analyzes the cultural aspects of the decision of the character Antigone to commit suicide by hanging. Johnston suggests that the examination of the cultural context of suicide in Greece might illuminate the value that Greeks placed on virginity, marriage and family ties. She begins by stating how in a tragedy, the sacrifice of a virgin is for the anticipated good of the women's society in these types of plays. Of course, the author states, that this is an elaboration of what happens in reality: “a virgin must “die” every time that a married woman - the only sort of woman who can produce the ties between families and the new sons that a town desires - is created” (2). Johnston
