A Comparison Between the Characters of Antigone and A Doll’s House
There have always been fundamental differences between the mentalities of the male and female sexes. At one time, women were considered as a possession of the father or husband. Women were denied participation in public life, they had restricted access to education, and they weren't legally allowed to own property. This oppression of women did not prevent them from fighting for, and obtaining, equal rights. It seems that women followed the laws created by men as long as they didn't conflict with what women believed. When there was a conflict between the laws of men and belief’s of women, then the laws of men were ignored. This is clearly illustrated in the two dramas, Antigone and A Doll’s House.
In the drama, "Antigone", the story revolves around, a young, strong-willed and defiant female, Antigone. She disobeys the order imposed by a male, the King of Thebes, which stated that Polynices should be left, unburied and unmourned, and anyone who broke this decree would suffer death as a punishment. She reacted unselfishly, opposing all that represented power in her world, in order that her brother gain peace and harmony in his after life. She justifies her actions by stating that she was bound to comply with the undying laws of right and wrong in spite of any human laws. It is her belief that Creon's law is inferior to that of the Gods. Therefore by breaking the law she felt it was her obligation to bury her own flesh and blood, and to perform the necessary ceremonial burial rituals. She was accomplishing the doctrine her God Zeus had instilled in her. When Antigone was confronted with her "crime", she denied nothing. As a result she m...
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... of Youth/ A Doll's House/ The Lady From the Sea. Trans. Peter Watts. England: Clays Ltd., 1965.
Jaeger, Werner. "Sophocles' Mastery of Character Development." In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997.
Salomé, Lou. Ibsen's Heroines. Ed. and trans. Siegfried Mandel. Redding Ridge: Black Swan, 1985.
Templeton, Joan. "The Doll House Backlash: Criticism, Feminism, and Ibsen." PMLA (January 1989): 28-40.
A student may wish to begin his paper with the quotes below to create a stronger opening:
Women observe the law as far as there is no conflict with what they believe, while men look at it as an absolute.
"There are two kinds of spiritual laws, two kinds of conscience, one in a man and another altogether different in a woman. They do not understand each other." (Foreword to, "Four Major Plays").
Antigone, as a character, is extremely strong-willed and loyal to her faith. Creon is similarly loyal, but rather to his homeland, the city of Thebes, instead of the gods. Both characters are dedicated to a fault, a certain stubbornness that effectively blinds them from the repercussions of their actions. Preceding the story, Antigone has been left to deal with the burden of her parents’ and both her brothers’ deaths. Merely a young child, intense grief is to be expected; however, Antigone’s emotional state is portrayed as frivolous when it leads her to directly disobey Creon’s orders. She buries her brother Polynices because of her obedience to family and to the gods, claiming to follow “the gods’ unfailing, unwritten laws” (Sophocles 456-457). CONTINUE
This rule over women started to trend in early civilizations. In the early civilizations like Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman, Chinese and Islamic cultures, the societies are said to be patriarchal and women would report to men. In the Babylonian empire, the ruler Hammurabi created something no civilization had ever seen before: a law code citizens were to abide to. This law code was one of the most famous ancient law codes because of the harshness and the women's rights. In the Hammurabi code the social order was really important and exceeded importance of individual right. Hammurabi also emphasized the sacrifice of women’s sexuality just to assure legitimacy. Women were seen as property of men and that obviously isn’t
Antigone’s strength allows her to defend her brother’s honor against Creon, who wants to make a statement about traitors. However, both Antigone and King Creon commit faults while trying to protect the things they love. Antigone should not have died for her beliefs as it puts her loved ones and community in danger, and Creon should not have forbidden the burial of Polyneices as it angers the Gods and causes him great suffering in the end.
Having already been through public disgrace, when her own father, Oedipus found out that he was to fulfill a prophecy; he would kill his father and marry his mother, and this caused Antigone to be full of resentment toward her city. Both of her brothers die in a battle and, Creon, the king of Thebes forbids the burial of one of her brothers, Polynices. This must have driven Antigone to follow her moral law. Considering the love she had for her family as well as her God, she felt that you react upon morals not upon the laws of man. That morale law was to honor her brother and give him the respectful and proper burial that he deserved just as her other brother was given. The love she had for her family was the only thing she had left to honor. Ismene, Antigone’s sister was more fearful of the king’s law then the way her heart was leading her. Her values were slightly distorted.
In today 's society women play a number of rolls depending on what area in the world they live in. Here in the western part of the world we are lucky enough to live in a society where women are able to speak freely and to share what is on their mind. If a woman disagrees with a man 's opinion or something that he says she is allowed to voice her disagreement. However, in other societies throughout the world women do not have as much of a voice. They are expected to be submissive to their husband and respectful when in the presence of other men. The female population is thought of as inferior to the male population. This sort of thinking is very similar to that of the mindset of the sixteenth century. Women were thought of
Dating back to ancient times, the role of women has never reached true equality with men. We can trace this inequality back to as early as the great Athenian society, where life as we know it today started taking form. On the other side of the inequality, throughout the ancient history of the world, the roles and positions that women have had have improved over time. We can see this tracing time from Athens, to Sparta, the Roman Republic, it's Empire and the rise of Christianity. Although some of theses societies lived parallel in time, each one shows a difference in the way they treat women. Each one did not treat women the same, but the end result compared to the beginning is positive for women.
Our previous health care system has many flaws the most predominant problem is that it left many American’s without insurance. A segment aired on PBS reported that “44 million Americans are uninsured and 8 out of 10 of those are workers or their dependents.” I happen to be one of the millions who worked full time—by full time I mean at least 70 hours a week—whose employer didn’t offer employees health insurance. I was not able to afford private insurance yet; I made too much to receive any kind of government subsidies, even after I was laid off, collecting unemployment. Even if you are insured it’s likely you are one of the 38 million (PBS) living with inadequate insurance. Many uninsured people will delay going to doctor or not at all because they can’t afford the ou...
Antigone’s opinions are distinctive as she clearly states her beliefs to Creon after being caught for performing her brother’s burial rituals. Antigone strongly believes that law has no validity when laid by a human as she questions Creon saying, “What laws? I never heard it was Zeus who made that announcement” (Antigone 450). This quote shows her reliance on the Gods for moral direction instead of the kings who reign over her. Although she disregards the law, she also accepts punishment; Antigone is able to follow her opinions and independently rule herself, yet also recognize the societal expectations of law and accept punishment. When being taken by Creon with her sister Antigone takes the responsibility of the crime all herself and recognizes what she did despite not being ashamed of it. One of the main views of Antigone that causes her disobedience is the belief that rulers should not keep loved ones from each other. Antigone clearly states, “He has no right to keep me from my own” this shows how she believes the connection between family overpowers that of a law passed by a vengeful king (Antigone 48). Antigone’s opinions contrast to those of Creon who is a gender biased ruler who sees women as lesser as he states “I will not be ruled by a woman” (Antigone 24). This shows his belief in who is credible within law. Not only does he have opinions on who
Symons, Sarah. “About Human Trafficking.” madebysurvivors.com. Made by Survivors, n.d. Web. 13 April 2014. .
In Sophocles' Greek tragedy, Antigone, two characters undergo character changes. During the play the audience sees these two characters' attitudes change from close-minded to open-minded. It is their close-minded, stubborn attitudes, which lead to their decline in the play, and ultimately to a series of deaths. In the beginning Antigone is a close minded character who later becomes open minded. After the death of her brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes. He decides that Eteocles will receive a funeral with military honors because he fought for his country. However, Polyneices, who broke his exile to " spill the blood of his father and sell his own people into slavery", will have no burial. Antigone disagrees with Creon's unjust actions and says, " Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way." She vows to bury her brother so that his soul may gain the peace of the underworld. Antigone is torn between the law placed against burying her brother and her own thoughts of doing what she feels should be done for her family. Her intent is simply to give her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial so that she will follow "the laws of the gods." Antigone knows that she is in danger of being killed for her actions and she says, "I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down with him in death, and I shall be as dear to him as he to me." Her own laws, or morals, drive her to break Creon's law placed against Polyneices burial. Even after she realizes that she will have to bury Polyneices without the help of her sister, Ismene, she says: Go away, Ismene: I shall be hating you soon, and the dead will too, For your words are hateful. Leave me my foolish plan: I am not afraid of the danger; if it means death, It will not be the worst of deaths-death without honor. Here Ismene is trying to reason with Antigone by saying that she cannot disobey the law because of the consequences. Antigone is close-minded when she immediately tells her to go away and refuses to listen to her. Later in the play, Antigone is sorrowful for her actions and the consequences yet she is not regretful for her crime. She says her crime is just, yet she does regret being forced to commit it.
Sophocles. "Antigone." The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Knox and Mack. New York: Norton, 1995.
In the play Creon goes against the Gods by making it illegal to bury Polyneices, Antigone’s brother because he is deemed a traitor. The burying of a dead body is seen as a necessity by all of Greece as it is an unspoken law of the Gods. Antigone goes to bury her brother so his afterlife will be better. She does it in spite of the law that Creon has made. “It is the dead, not the living, who make the longest demands” (192) She tries to explain to her sister, Ismene, that they must bury Polyneices, but even that close relationship has trouble because of the law. Ismene is unwilling to suffer the consequences of the law, to save her brother’s soul “Forgive me but I am helpless: I must yield to those in authority” (192) Even the two sisters who have just lost both of their brothers have different views on the matter. One will not stray from the law and what is deemed right by their king, while the other will accept any punishment, even death just to do what she believes is right.
Men were taught to be superior to women since the dawn of time, whereas females were looked down upon. Ruled by patriarchy, it was hard for most of these women to do more than just be a stay at home wife. In some of the stories we have read, the women were portrayed as submissive, obedient, with no voice. Women have struggled to break out of this mold and find a voice for themselves. However, some managed to break out of these expectations and standards. Women and men have had to fulfill different set standards before anyone had stepped foot outside the womb. For both genders those standards came with different expectations.
“Scene processing is the term practical to the series of steps taken to investigate a crime scene. Although the methods an...
...ty. She has transformed from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs, all by having faith and perseverance. She believed that she had a higher purpose in life, and that God was leading her on the path to change the world. In fact, her final words on the set of The Oprah Winfrey Show, “To God be the glory” (Flanagan 106). Though she stumbled on this path due to resentment and anger, she returned to her good ways with the stern love from her father and a second chance at life. Winfrey was able to achieve great things by believing in herself and in others. She has contributed millions of dollars to help women, families, and children to be supported in education and in life. What makes Winfrey such a remarkable being is that she was able to overcome her adversities to achieve any goal. Her selfless acts are appreciated by the millions of people that she influences.