Conflict Of Power In Antigone, A Doll House And The Story Of An Hour

In the following dramas: Antigone, A Doll House, and The Story of an Hour, there is a conflict of power between the male and female characters. In Antigone a young woman goes against her male superior and disobeys him in a display of self preservation. In A Doll House a woman defies the odds and save her husband only to leave him for another life. Lastly, in The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard believed she was free from her husband 's control only to be disappointed upon his unexpected arrival. All three of these women have been suppressed by a male for most of their lives, but incredibly and even depressingly were able to gain some sense of freedom, at one point, and possibly for just moment.

In the play, Antigone, a young, soon to …show more content…
Throughout their marriage Torvald called Nora offensive names and believed she was not capable of doing much more than cooking and cleaning the house. He especially thought she was no good at keeping money. “You’re an odd little one. Exactly the way your father was. You’re never at a loss for scaring up money; but the moment you have it, it runs right out through your fingers; you never know what you’ve done with it” (Ibsen 1730). Nonetheless, it was when Torvald became very sick that Nora showed her ability to manage money which gave her the power to get the medicine that Torvald needed she even committed a crime to get it. At the end of the play she left her husband and their fantasy marriage in the ultimate display of power and …show more content…
Mallard has recently been struck with the news that her husband had been killed in a railroad accident. When she was told the news she wept violently at once but then went up to her room. Looking out the window she sees the beauty of the new spring life emerging from outside, which symbolizes her own life and how she was now going to live it for herself. “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature” (Chopin 16). She thought she was free from her husband 's will. She thought she had gained the power that had always kept her from truly being free and perhaps for a moment she had. Unfortunately for her, the news of her husband 's death had been false and to everyone 's surprise he came home that same day and upon seeing her husband Mrs. Mallard supposedly died of heart disease. Mrs. Mallard for a short amount of time had a new power over her life and knowing she lost it, in the end, killed