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Introduction
The role of women in literature and art is a topic explored by various critics, creators, authors, and people throughout the years. Due to the way society has developed, some types of people have found themselves to be at a significant disadvantage in the ways others are used to treating them. Women are one such group of people. Historically, women were often regarded as less human, less valuable, and important. In works of art, women were often relegated to supporting roles, stereotyped, villainized, or otherwise unfavorably depicted. With a change in generations, more attention has come to the struggles of women and their portrayal in media, but the art scene still largely favors men. This can be most easily exemplified by the works of classic authors and works of historic significance. While some of them address the fact that women in society are treated as objects, others embrace the portrayal and use it for the purposes of furthering the plot and eliciting emotions from the reader. In the context of this essay, three works will be examined in their depiction of women and how they are used for the purposes of storytelling. The pieces that will be discussed are Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Antigone by Sophocles, and A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen.
Subservience and Vilification of women
In all of these works, the reader can witness societys attitudes towards women and their actions. In Shakespeares Hamlet, women are mostly portrayed as weak and subservient to men, who are considered to be in control of the situation at all times. Ophelia, for example, is led around and manipulated by men in her life, including the titular character of Hamlet. From the mens perspective, women in the piece are considered to be weak, displaying a condescending attitude towards them. In Antigone, similar sentiments are explored throughout the work. The titular woman is in stark contrast with what people of her time expect from her, which earns Atigone chastising and criticism from the men present in the work. She is contrasted with Ismene, who is meek and timid, playing up the contrast between the expected actions of women and the acts that Antigone is committing.
Men are expected to be primary agents of change and any action, and when a woman tries to fulfill such a role, she is considered to be out of line and belittled for it. The piece manages to both portray the attitudes of the period and highlight the discrepancy between the treatment of men and women in society. The last piece, The Dolls House touches on a similar array of issues in its writing. The main character, Nora, is a wife and a mother, a typical role of a woman in a family. Her husband Torvald, is the one portrayed to be the dominant one in the relationship, and can freely disregard Noras opinions and thoughts. Other women in the play also suffer from the lack of given agency at the hands of male characters, which further highlights the discrepancy between the genders. Women are expected to sacrifice their wishes and personal wellbeing for the sake of a bigger goal, while men think such acts are above them, fully disregarding the strife and suffering the other gender has to endure in silence.
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