Antigone In Sophocles Play example essay topic

Victor Gabriel 12/17/2002 period 1 Compare and Contrast Nora and Antigone "A Doll's House" and "Antigone" were plays from two different eras. Despite the fact that Sophocles' play was written in ancient Greece and Ibsen created his masterpiece in 19th century Norway, both plays are meant to convey similar ideas. The main characters of both plays (Nora and Antigone) battle the surrounding them society in order for their individual rights to be recognized. Both Antigone and Nora step into the spotlight as a female hero who has been put in a compromising situation and is forced to decide whether it is more important to follow what society dictates, or go with what they feel is moral and just. Both characters are desperately trying to brake the chains that are holding them by defying higher authority. My first point of comparison of these characters is their position in society at the beginning of the play.

Antigone in Sophocles' play is a member of a ruling family of Thebes - a city-state in Ancient Greece. She is the member of the ruling class. Money obviously do not play a significant role in her life. Her time is preoccupied with relationship with her family. She is a woman in a society predominantly controlled by the voice of men.

She does not have a word in deciding the outcomes of major decisions. On other hand, Nora is a housewife and a wife of a banker in Norway. She is a mother to three kids, and her everyday responsibilities include taking care of the kids and keeping the house cozy and warm. Like Antigone, Nora is a woman in society that is dominated by man.

She does not have a word in major financial decisions of their family. Her voice is not heard and it can't be heard because Helmer manipulative behavior suppresses every desire to state her own opinion. She is not treated like a woman, but as a puppet with multiple strings attached to her. The second issue is the family values of each of the characters. I personally think that for Antigone family is more of the way to organize a ruling group of people. Family for her is a group where power and authority of the leader is not questioned.

And she realizes that she is nothing but a link in the chain, that there is no room for her personal emotions and opinions. Family is obviously important for Antigone. She opposes Creon in order for the dead body of her brother to be buried properly. Nora, however, being the most important thing in her life considers taking care of the people she is tied to, make her family be loved, keep them safe, and protect her kids and her husband. As you may notice, however, there is no natural bond that formed between Nora and her kids.

Her kids are always with the nanny. So she sees her kids as a nominal representation of their actual existence. Both characters are willing to sacrifice themselves in order to protect their families. Nora forgoes the crime of forgery to save her husband and secretly work afterwards to pay off the loan. Antigone goes against the ruler of Thebes, risking her life in order for the body of Polynices to be buried.

Third aspect is motives that are driving both characters to conflict. Antigone is faced with the death of both brothers, one who is to be buried with full military rites, while the other, under dictate of the king, is to be cast aside and allowed to rot in the sun. She places family before the law, and ventures out to give her brother a proper burial. In A Doll's House, Nora too must decide where the line between right and wrong is drawn. In order to save her husband's life, Nora forges her father's name on a promissory note. Both women thus break the law using similar justifications.

Antigone does so under the premise that the Gods said that all men deserve a proper burial. Nora commits her crime with the belief that since it is saving a life of her loved one, her situation is an exception to the rules. The last point of comparison are the goals of both characters. For Antigone they are obvious: to properly bury her brother. She is a single voice to oppose tyranny and bring out the fact that the decisions of Creon contradict with the rules set by God. Nora wants to live the life she always wanted.

She wants to act and to be treated like a real woman. She does not want o be a doll in a fake relationship where she does not have a word. Though both plays were written during different time frames, both have a lot in common. By defying authority above them, both characters set the stage for modern individualism and are the roots of feminism. Ibsen.