Men’s Egos Exposed in A Doll's House and Antigone

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“I would not be a queen for all the world.” (Henry VIII) King Henry sums up in one short sentence the attitude that men have had towards women for ages. For centuries, men have been treating women like second-class citizens. They have always thought of themselves as superior. In the plays Antigone and A Doll’s House there are obvious examples of the conflicts between men and women. In the play Antigone, the character Antigone broke the law to do what she thought was right. Creon, her uncle and the king, was frustrated that she did not listen to him because women in that time period always did what they were told. In A Doll’s House the main character Nora, has taken drastic measures to save her husband’s life. However, she broke the law by getting a loan to pay for the trip to save her husband. When her husband finds out she has to pay off a loan, he becomes furious and doesn’t even ask why she did it. He was too focused on the fact that her actions would make him lose his manly pride. In both of the plays, men have demonstrated that they can be very obstinate, controlling, and are often too worried about their pride when it comes to women.

Men have demonstrated over the years that they can be very stubborn when they do not get their way. They have not only shown this quality in real life, they have also shown it in plays such as Antigone. Creon, one of the main characters in the play demonstrates this characteristic by saying, “Stop-before you make me choke with anger-the gods! You, you’re senile, must you be insane?” when he learns that someone has disobeyed his law. (Sophocles 25) Men felt like they had the superior role in society, so if they did not like the outcome of the situation, they often ove...

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...r way, are very controlling, and are too concerned about their pride and that needs to improve. In the end of Antigone, Creon ends up losing everyone he had loved. The way that he had acted ended up being his downfall. In the end of A Doll’s House, Helmer loses his wife because he realizes that the way he was treating her was not the way she wanted to be treated and since he did not change his mind, she left him. Both plays are excellent examples of how men’s egos dictated their behavior, and in the end, it ruined them.

Works Cited

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. World Literature: An Anthology of Great Short

Stories, Poetry, and Drama. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw Hill Glencoe, 2004.

140-202. Print.

Sophocles. Antigone. World Literature: A Anthology of Great Short Stories,

Poetry, and Drama. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw Hill Glencoe, 2004. 14-57. Print.

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