Antigone’s tragic flaw is that she is too passionate and strong-willed for her own good. She insists on burying her brother, Polyneices, even when the king forbade it. When asked why she ignored his demand Antigone replied, “I dared. It was not God’s proclamation” (783, 64-65). Antigone is telling Creon that rather than listen to his man made laws that she would rather follow the higher authority of the God’s.
Shakespeare uses language, structure and dramatic devices to convey and create the effect of strong emotions through his ambitious characters, which is similarly portrayed in laboratory with the narrator’s strong and bitter emotions towards her husband’s infidelity. These characters can also be compared to the narrator of Porphyria’s lover whose intense emotions of love become too overwhelming for him to handle. Both Shakespeare and Browning show Elizabethan society as patriarchal, where men were considered to be the leaders and women subservient. Women were regarded as the weaker sex not just in terms of physical strength, but also emotionally. Women were also depicted as kind and caring as well as being the perfect mother and housewife, on the other hand men were portrayed as brave, strong and loyal.
In conclusion, Lady Macbeth asserts her dominance and takes over situations through her superior personality. To start, the characters drives are on different levels as well and help prove the point why they are opposites. Both characters maintain a desire and drive for power but Lady Macbeth's actually drives her counter parts proving her to be the superior of the two. Her drive for power happens to be so ridiculous that it controls Macbeth's actions. She basically questions his man hood at one point and and claims she would slay a baby for him.
She seems to be only happy when she has control over her husbands. They have to hand over this power because without their consent she has a battle on her hands, both challenging the other for dominance in the relationship. The Wife of Bath's Tale resembles what she described of it in her prologue. Although The Wife of Bath contradicts herself, essentially she comprehends the link amongst her. The wife of Bath’s tale is the struggle of who has the bigger pants in the relationship.
They do not belittle themselves as housewives; instead they “compete” with their partners. And because of this competition, they could very well be pushing them away. The interaction between the male and female are different because of this ongoing war between the genders. “That’s because they’ve been raised to think of men as the enemy. Armed with this new attitude, women pushed men off their pedestals.” This is from “The War on Men”.
There are many similarities to be drawn between the relationships of the protagonists and their spouses, but there also many differences. The traditional roles are reversed and ignored in the start of the play; opposed to Ibsen's A Doll's House (which is the reverse). It's hard to draw comparisons between Torvald and Macbeth, as they are very different characters. Though they are both ambitious, their roles and personalities differ greatly; where Torvald controls in his relationship, Macbeth submits. Shakespeare subverts gender roles like this throughout the play, such as when Lady Macbeth decides her husband is unable to commit the atrocities to sit on the throne and taunts him, insinuating things about his manhood and claiming he has "th' milk of human kindness" (Act 1, 5.15) implying that he isn't strong enough to kill King Duncan.
Although Edna has taken control of her own life, she is still not happy with her life because of the many different types of love she has experienced. Alcee loves her but she only uses him as an affair while her husband is doing business. Robert truly loves her, and she felt the same way about him, but he can’t have her, because her husband already owns her. Edna doesn’t want to be owned by anyone, but no matter how many times she rebels and takes control of things, men still think of her as a possession. Edna ends her life in search for herself, and her
For example, Antigone seems to be impervious toward Creon’s misogynistic ways; however, her sister, Ismene, is seen to be internalizing the idea that women are insignificant compared to men. We see the impact that this sexist culture has on Ismene when she tells Antigone, “We must remember that by birth we’re women, and, as such, we shouldn’t fight with men. Since those who rule are much more powerful, we must obey in this and in events which bring us even harsher agonies… Since I’m being compelled, I will obey those in control. That’s what I’m forced to do. It makes no sense to try to do too much” (77-85).
In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet’s father is a controlling, brutal and selfish person. Despite his concern about her happiness, he forces her to agree to the important decisions he makes for her, without considering her opinion. For example, when Juliet refuses Capulet’s decision for her to marry Paris, he responds very cruelly. He starts talking to her in a very harsh way, calling her names like “disobedient wretch,” “baggage,” and “hilding” (lll, v, 160-169). He also mentions that he feels like hitting her.
The fact that they were single, innocent, powerful women made them available for their families to choose their mate. Clarissa and Sophia are two completely different characters in a similar situation. For example, the desire of not wanting to marry the men their fathers had chosen for them. Another example, is both women standing up to their fathers and running away in order to escape their fate. Clarissa as well as Sophia both hate their chosen ones.