Women in Time: Ancient Greece and 19th Century Norway

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When U2’s Bono sings “women of the future hold the big revelations” (Bono “Get On Your Boots”), he is referencing the rise of women’s roles in Africa in the twenty-first century. Yet, this phrase can also apply to women in other time periods such as the turn of the century (from 1800s to 1900s) in Norway, as seen in Henrik Ibsen’s play entitled A Doll’s House, and in ancient Greece, as seen in the Sophocles’ play entitled Antigone. In the play A Doll’s House, the protagonist is a middle-class woman named Nora, who is married to a pragmatic and self-centered man named Torvald. Throughout the play, Nora begins to see that she has been always trying to please others throughout her life and determines that she needs to gain experience in the wider world to find her true identity. In Antigone, the protagonist, Antigone, is a daughter of the house of Lauis, which is a noble, ruling family that has been through much affliction from deaths in the family. When a law forbids Antigone to honor her traitorous (to the state) brother in a proper burial, Antigone disobeys it to honor the gods’ instructions. This act eventually leads to the deaths of Antigone and other main characters. For the twenty-first century reader, it is important to understand how gender roles and relationships vary from time period to time period in order to fully appreciate the equal status of women in today’s society. The authors of the two feminist plays, Antigone and A Doll’s House, portray the two society’s perspectives of women as vindictive people, the limitations of women, and the growing strong-willed quality of some women that start to rise in the respective time periods.

In both Antigone and A Doll’s House, society generally views women as cruel peo...

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...inist approach to literature, the 21st century reader is shown how women’s roles in two different time periods, ancient Greece and 19th century Norway, are quite similar. Both societies include views that women are cruel humans, limitations to women from the state and society, and strong-willed women that are not usually publicized. Additionally, in both of these societies, the limitations of women and the perception that women are vindictive affect women by leading some women, such as Ismene and Mrs. Linden, to believe that they are subordinate people while other women, such as Antigone and Nora, to question this perception. As seen in U2’s song “Miss Sarajevo,” societies can suppress women, yet some women are strong-willed and determined: “...a time to turn your eyes away...for getting on with your day...here she comes to take her crown” (Bono “Miss Sarajevo”).

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