Sophicles’s “Antigone” and Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” have their own points of view and attacks within their plays. The concept and context are also different from one another. The “Antigone” is about the life of Warlords during the period of Oedipus while the “A Doll’s House” is a bout a woman who longs for freedom. However, despite of the fact that they are significantly different from one another, there are few details that these two plays become similar – their symbolic images.
Antigone’s concept of ‘gray world’ is similar to Nora’s room; Creon;s attack is also similar to Torvald’s outrage; and Eurydice’s knitting is similar to Nora’s interaction with her children. These connecting images show the path of the play in completing their main idea. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss these related symbolic images as a way of understanding and analyzing the two plays. Antigone’s ‘gray world’ is a symbolism of isolation and imprisonment, the same with Nora’s room.
Despite of the beauty and good ambiance inside the room of Nora, she still feels atht she is a prisoner with no choice but to obey the rules of her authority. Both Antigone and Nora depict the formation of isolation in a world that they should become free and secured. Through these occurrences, the ‘gray world’ and Nora’s room gives the reader the understanding of the protagonists’ characterization and conflict. Both Nora and Antigone struggle to find their escape and in the end, they resolve their personal conflicts.
Creon’s attack on the other hand is similar to Torvald’s outrage. Creon attacks Antigone to obtain power. This is also the point of Torvald after reading the letter. Torvald and Creon do not realize how they create terrible situation to ruin the lives of the female characters in the two plays. Creon’s attack symbolizes overpowering while Torvald’s outrage is a depiction of discrimination against Nora’s womanhood. Both Creon and Torvald want to use their masculinity to control women.
However, both of them do not succeed because Antigone and Nora survive from all the pains, hardships, and struggles that they have gone through in the hands of male characters. Eurydice’s knitting symbolizes her life like Nora’s interaction with her children. As what the play is trying to convey in Antigone, Eurydice knit is the thread if her life. Once everything is stopped, she will die. It means that her existence depends on her knitting inside her room. It is also the same with Nora’s case.
She continues to play with her children for they are her source of strength. Even if Torvald is Nora’s source of weakness and prejudice, her children are her life. Once she stops from seeing them, Nora will also become lifeless. These instances show that Nora and Eurydice have their source of strength and purpose of existence. If people behind them steal these important aspects of their lives, nothing will happen to them – for these serve as their blood and heartbeat.
As a conclusion to this, even if Antigone and A Doll’s House are totally different from one another, there are still emerging concepts, which make these plays interrelated to one another. Through the symbolic images that this paper has discussed, the characters, scenarios, and actions played a significant role in defining the issues and analyzing the context of the wholeness of the plays. Therefore, we can say that Antigone and A Doll’s House are similar through specific details despite of their literal differences in period and social context.
Reference
Ibsen, H. “A Doll’s House. ” Sophicles. “Antigone. ”