Merely looking at the surface, one can notice that both the authors have done away with

the conventional system of having a male lead in their plays. In my view, the basic similarity between the plots of both the plays is about how an individual is put in a compromising situation and is compelled to decide whether to follow what the society dictates or to follow his/her own conscience. Both plays centralize on the conflict between the individuals prerogative and the conservative laws of the land (topic). Nora Helmer, the female lead in the play The Dolls House plays a strong character that is forced to do something that was unacceptable by her spouse but it was obligatory for her to take that step to save her husbands life. Nora was a woman of intuition and always followed her own principles. This made her do things that her husband Trovald was strictly against, like taking a loan and worse, forgery, something that the society was against but her husbands life was in danger and she did not have any other alternative left with her. Thus, she goes against the norm to support her cause and later on after the bizarre turn of events, she successfully defends herself and manages to restore her lost pride. The decision made by Nora was undoubtedly irresponsible and thus, she had to brunt of her husbands wrath in the concluding scene but at the same time one shouldnt overlook the deplorable condition Trovald was in. Her decision should be perceived as loyalty to the husband instead of calling it a breach of law. She is forced to walk out on her family when Trovald, her husband takes a jab at her prestige and uses derogatory words against her. The way Nora Helmer goes all out against her husband to defend herself and retaliate to all the allegations leveled against her and annul the offensive terms (liar, hypocrite and a criminal p. ) hurled at her by Trovald is truly praiseworthy. Trovald felt that if he had not confronted Nora the way he did it would have belittled his self respect and his image in the society would have been of a man who had to stoop to his wife. Trovald did not want his image to be tarnished like that. Henrik Ibsen, the author makes him out to be a very feeble character that is more apprehensive with the way he will be perceived in society and was too stubborn to see that he could go wrong. He was egoistic and self centric and these traits come out towards the end when the moment he realizes that the situation is not as grave as he is making out to be and his self respect isnt at stake he forgives his wife and makes

innumerable attempts to calm her down. This incident speaks volumes about his fickle nature. This is when Nora loses her patience and pours her heart out to Trovald. She makes him realize that she had always been treated like a doll in a dolls house. Time and again she had to adapt herself to fit into this male dominated world and alter her own opinions to synchronize them with her father before marriage and her partner now. She realizes that her husband had never really loved her and that he always thought that it was pleasant to be in love with her. She even taunts her husband while referring to her capability of raising his children the same issue had been raised by her husband a few moments after he comes to know about the loan taken by Nora and the forgery. Nora knew that what she had done was wrong but she never anticipated that kind of a backlash. Nora's secession from society was shown by her decision to leave Trovald and her children. Though she was crestfallen at the prospect of leaving her husband and her children, she really wanted to break free from the housewife mould and look forward to a new life. Nora epitomized the woman of today in the nineteenth century, a period in which the importance of women had diminished and their role in society was reduced to sitting at home and looking after the family and not to intervene in the affairs of men. The character of Nora Helmer chose to speak out against this injustice and gender linked bias. She was aghast when she realized what her husband thought of her. Trovald accuses her of being a person of no religion, morality or sense of duty and even goes on to tell her that she was incapable of raising his children. Nora Helmer tells Trovald that she had never been happy post her marriage, she had just been merry. She wanted to educate herself; she wanted to live life on her own terms and did not want to be accountable to anyone for the decisions made by her. She expected Trovald to support her after learning about the forgery fiasco but Trovald was too busy pondering over his pride, his image in the society and in the meantime forgot about her sentiments. Nora tells Trovald that she had stopped believing in wonderful things happening and storms out of the house.

Likewise, Antigone, the central character of the play Antigone by Jean Anouilh is about a young woman who was faced with the death of both her brothers, Eteocles and Polynices out of which the former was to be buried with complete military rites and would be given a proper burial while the latter was to be cast aside and allowed to putrefy in the sun. This decree was passed by King Creon, the ruler of Thebes since he considered Polynices a

rebel and a traitor and for conspiring his fathers murder. King Creon puts too much value on his authority; so much so that he was willing to put a decree that defied the divine laws. He considered his laws to be equivalent to the word of God. Antigone refused to accept this edict; she thought it was unfair to punish anyone beyond death thus being a doting sister and a fearless young woman she decided to take it upon herself to give her deceased brother a proper burial. Besides, she felt that people who are not buried for ever wander in the search of rest. In spite of being reprimanded by the soldiers on two occasions and being warned by her sister Ismene to not go against the law passed by King Creon -who was to be her uncle and her fiancs father, she decides to go against the decree passed by the king. During the first instance she uses a little tin spade which belonged to her brother Polynices. She gets caught initially but is let off by the soldiers. The soldiers seize the spade with which she was scraping the ground. The next day she uses her hands. Expectedly, she is caught by the soldiers and taken to King Creon. Here, she gets involved in a heated argument with the King. King Creon is pretty courteous to her initially since she was his niece, his to be-daughter in law and a queen herself. Thus, he tries to explain to her that her brother was a traitor and that he deserved the punishment that he got. He advices her to go back to her room and give up the idea of burying Polynices else he will be forced to give her a death sentence. King Creon thought it was necessary that Thebes should smell the body for a while. I myself would have preferred to have your brother buried, just for reasons of hygiene. But to make those clods I govern understand whats what, the city has to stink of Polynices for a month. The intention uttered by King Creon was excruciating and it actually portrayed Creons true character regardless of how amiably he spoke to Antigone. He even tries to poison her mind against her brother informing her about all the criminal activities he was involved in, his tussle with his father, his behavior towards his siblings etc. Though, Antigone had already made up her mind that she did not want to live any longer as she feared that her married life would not be any better since she had to live with Haemon, Creons son, who was more likely to acquire Creons personality traits and tantamount to a disgraceful human being like his father. Thus, Antigone gives up her family, her love and more importantly her life to stand by her cause, be it on the grayer side but still she had the courage to challenge King Creon on an idealistic level. She had the audacity to use offensive words against Creon in his own backyard. The way Antigone used to conduct herself from something as miniscule as not letting the soldiers hold her arms to something as significant as voicing her opinion against the injustice imparted to her brother was utterly admirable.

She epitomized the dignified woman of her age when women were treated as wood, as objects. She was not someone who chose her battles. Though she never supported her deceased brother in his endeavors, she felt that there couldnt be a greater punishment than death and to not allow any one a proper burial was certainly unsympathetic. Antigone fights for her brother right till the end despite knowing that she is fighting a lost battle. Unfortunately, she passes away but her death left a lasting impact on Thebes as even Haemon and his mother kill themselves. Thus, King Creon had to lose his family just because he did not allow an individual a burial. In both the plays the female protagonists are fighting a lone battle against the domestic and the political systems respectively. In spite of coming from two different backgrounds and they plays which are set in different time periods altogether both the women are facing similar problems, both of them were unsatisfied with their lives and miffed with the men in their lives and hence, had similar ways of tackling these problems too. Antigone does so under the premise that the Gods dictated that all men deserved an appropriate burial. Similarly, Nora commits her offense with the conviction that since it is saving a life, her situation is an exception to the rules set by Trovald.