Comparing the Duties of the Individual in Antigone and A...

Duties of the Individual in Antigone and A Dolls House The main theme that can be seen in both plays, Antigone and A Dolls House, is the duty to oneself as opposed to the duty to the state or to society. Should the two women, Nora in A Dolls House, and Antigone in Antigone, do what the state and society wishes them to do or should they follow their own conscience? Both plays focus on the conflict between individual laws and the state law, disobedience and obedience, and understanding oneself. In Antigone there is the contrasting view of the state law against the divine law. The state law may have some similarities to the divine law but they are not the same. For example the divine law†¦show more content†¦Some may think that it is wrong that people should oppose the states laws, and should just follow them, but then they will never get to have their own beliefs and never have a better understanding of themselves in the end. In Antigone there is the state and its laws, but in A Dolls House we see more of the society, and the laws it enforces on the individual. The societys rules prevent the characters from seeing and expressing their true nature. When Krogstad tells Nora that the law takes no account of good motives, she cries, Then they must be very bad laws (Ibsen page #). This causes a problem for the main female characters, in deciding if what they are doing is right or wrong. At the end of A Dolls House Nora realizes that she has lived as a doll, as her fathers doll and then as her husbands doll, and has accepted the church and society without ever asking any questions about them. Then she questions herself whether the society she lives in is correct in its beliefs, or if what she thinks is correct and requires that she oppose society itself. But now I intend to learn. I must try to satisfy myself which is right, society or I (Ibsen page #). In the end she goes with her beliefs and opposes socie ty, but at a great personal cost, because she had to leave her children behind. Some people will think that opposing the society is right and some will think that it is wrong. In the two plays there are the images of