Women's Empowerment In Sophocles Antigone

Susan Glaspell, famed playwright and novelist, brought feminist empowerment through her stories which featured a variety of struggling female leads. Her plays Trifles, Women’s Honor, and The Verge, to name a few, are notable plays which feature feminist themes that display the consequences of the oppression of women (Bartlebty.com). In focusing on Trifles which offers a more distinctive understanding of , which, Glaspell covered during her days at The Des Moines Daily News (School handout), one can begin to piece together the severity of the conditions women faced in an era that shrouded men with praise and women with condemnation. The subject in Glaspell’s play focuses on the dark turn abuse and isolation can take once a woman reaches her breaking point and turns

Mary Wollstonecraft was a key component in the movement of rights for women. Her philosophies on equality were a precursor for women around the world who would join together and fight back against the injustice they faced due to their gender. Wollstonecraft promoted her ideals during the middle of the 18th century at a point in time where rights for women were non-existent and she lived her whole life without any true rights of her own. Years after her death, her values were continued by women who were trying to gain the right the vote. The fight for the rights of women has continued since then and still continues in modern feminist movements.

The rights and social structure of women The play Antigone written by Sophocles, is a story about a young woman who breaks the decree law by burying her brother, and is being punished for disobeying the law. She thought what she did was right, even if it meant there was a consequence such as putting her life at risk. Creon, the recent new king of Thebes, and also the young girls, Antigone 's uncle found out that she broke the law and sentenced her to death. She is willing to do anything to carry on with her plan of giving her brother, Polyneices an honorable and proper burial. Since Creon gave their brother Eteocles a proper one, she believes that he is wrong for not giving Polyneices one.

There exists a very real relationship between the Female Gothic novel of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century and the social context of women at that time. This new class of fiction is essentially treated by women as it addresses women’s experiences offered an opportunity to address “the hidden, unspeakable reality of women’s lives: not just their lives in the private inner world of the psyche, but also their social and economic lives in a real world of patriarchal institutions” (DeLamotte 165). Notwithstanding the success of male Gothicists, Gothic fiction is perceived as a female-dominated genre as Leonard Wolf writes: Despite the triumphs of Lewis and Maturin, the Gothic novel was something of a cottage industry of middle-class

Lady Macbeth was clearly the more responsible for the murder of king Duncan but overall, Macbeth’s murderous reign has made the cold-blooded character the more evil character in the play. Lady Macbeth may have been more responsible for king Duncan’s death, but she had never expected Macbeth to kill countless of other people just to keep his throne. “I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none.” - Macbeth - Act 1 Scene 7 Line 47 to Line

After hearing this, Macbeth decided to murder Duncan. Macbeth’s ego had a major impact on his behavior. “Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem to have thee crowned withal.”(act1 sc5 32-33) If it was no’t for his own ego, he would have never been influenced by the witches and Lady Macbeth to kill Duncan. As soon as he murdered Duncan, his ego took over and he became insane with power and paranoia. This made Macbeth responsible for what he did to Banquo and Macduff’s family.

While women remained conservative and subservient, this novel roused the spirit of feminism which led to the change in women’s social status by the end of the nineteenth century. Through Catherine, the main protagonist, whose strong and rebellious character was evident throughout the novel, she was able to portray the female consciousness that rejects and abhors the male-dominated society she lived in. She also possessed a strong sense of independence, and sought for happiness through her struggles and battles against the patriarchy. Despite the idea of women being depicted as weak and incapable of thinking for themselves, Catherine’s persona showed that the gentle grace and civility of a Victorian woman did not suit her – she grew up to be wild and unrefined – unlike her sister-in-law,

Cunegonde essentially divulges that men were imposing their thoughts on her without care for her feelings. This reveals Voltaire’s intention to disclose the inequalities of social standards on females and their feelings of oppression. (grammar???) No matter what horrors are happening to and around a woman, she is unable to prevent or assuage the situation. The moment the Thunder-ten-tronckh family gets murdered by the Bulgars, the lovely Cunegonde gets ravished

Feminism plays a major role in hundreds of cultures, as it raises attention to civil liberties of women across the globe. Applying this to Antigone, it was certainly against the norm of a typical ancient Greek woman to rebel against a male authority. This is reason to believe that Antigone may have shown signs of early feminism. Women in ancient Greece were generally fearful that rebellion against male authority would lead to unfortunate circumstances. The fact that Antigone went against the orders of Creon shows definite female power.

1960’s Feminism Like I mentioned earlier, “The Help” seems to be an imperfect depiction of the 1960’s so far. And again, feminism was shown in the most stereotypical ways. Yes, it was very empowering to see how women can be liberated, but it was very cliché, feminism could have been shown in much more meaningful interesting ways. A hint of feminism in The Help may be most evident in post-college Skeeter, the young woman who questions restrictions placed on her by society 's traditions. Her Southern socialite best friends have conformed to expectations by marrying, having children (or trying to) and even questioning why Skeeter stayed four years at Ole Miss to finish her degree, while they were dropping out of school.