Nonconformity and Defiance in Literature

Paper Summary:

Questions of social conflict between the society and individual are discussed in the literary works of Sophocles, Henrik Ibsen, and Tennessee Williams. The paper shows how these renowned playwrights utilize the theme of defiance and the nonconformity of the protagonists in their plays with a twist: instead of putting the situation in its proper, "normal" order as what the society expects them to be, these playwrights opted to defy the norm of "normalcy" in their plays. Instead, Sophocles, Ibsen, and Williams ended their plays by justifying their protagonists's actions and resolutions at the end of the play. It explains how the main characters of the plays leave an indelible mark in the minds of the audience because of the radical means and ways that they chose to act in order to assert themselves and to not become, again, the victims that they were before. The following texts discuss the important points mentioned, using support material and passages from the texts of each author's plays.

From the Paper:

"More often, in the depiction of real life situations and events in literature, conflict happens in cases where the protagonist acts or behaves that defies the norms dictated and followed by the society. Non-conformity and defiance to social norms is a theme that has been discussed and analyzed in numerous works of literature. However, defiance and non-conformity in these cases result to resolutions that restore one again the status quo in the society. What if literary works uses this theme without returning things back to the proper order of things, or restoration of the society's norms and standards?"

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