Women in Theater

Drama and Theater
English > Comparison
Women Studies

Women in Theater

This paper explores the power relationships of the main female characters in Williams Shakespeare's "Othello", Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" and Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House".

1,820 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2006 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, while there has long been the typecast in drama that men are in control of their women, this is not always the case; many times the women are the ones in charge. The author points out that the female characters Antigone and Ismene from Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" and Desdemona and Bianca from Shakespeare's "Othello" are women who are submissive to the men in their lives. The paper relates that the characters Jocaste from Sophocles' "Oedipus the King", Emilia from Shakespeare's "Othello" and Kristine Linde, and Nora Helmer from Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" are women who are portrayed as strong and in possession of power in their respective relationships.

From the Paper:

"Women are not always subject to the men in their lives though. Many times the women are the ones with all the power in a relationship and men are the ones left with the more compliant role. Such is the case with Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House and two of it's main characters, Nora Helmer and Kristine Linde. These two women each possess the level of power with their respective men that allow them to truly run the show. First off is Nora Helmer, a housewife who is more than she seems to be. At first glance, she appears to be completely dependant on her husband Torvald but the audience soon finds out that this is not the case. When Torvald became ill and near death, Nora took it upon her self to raise the money needed to help save his life, something unheard of in that time, as women were not even allowed to take out a loan without their husband's permission."