In days gone by females have been proven to be weak and submissive, they might obey their male counterparts and stay back again to look after the kids and the home. All decisions were made by the men and women had to stick by it without the exceptions. Females were also said to be irrational rather than important. Patriarchy has been obvious in many literary works as time passes ranging from ancient Greek plays to the plays of Ibsen. The very long time compliance of the ladies towards the man dominant culture has resulted in an outburst in the females which is shown effectively in the works of Medea and A Doll's House. Euripides in his play has used Medea as a representative of most women's thoughts, of pain, injustice that finally leads to rebellion and family breakdowns. Medea is created as an antithesis in a population of male dominance as Euripides has made her clever, decisive who dominates male character types and handles situations. In Ibsen's A Doll's House, Nora is raised to be a perfect daughter, partner and mom under the pressure of male dominant society. The name itself shows that A Doll's house that she actually is puppet with the strings in the hands of the men in her life, whether it is her spouse, her dad or even Krogstad.
In A Doll's house, from the beginning we see that Helmer is the dominating man while Nora is the follower, " Perfectly, equally you say, trovald. ". If the audience perceives Nora eat macaroons in technique and conceal the packet and clean the crumbs of her face, as Helmer will not wish it shows Helmer to be almost just like a dictator who supervises Nora's food habits as well as her speech. Nora is forbidden to use foul language inside the house, "I would simply like to say: Damn"! and her desire to do so signifies her latent rebellion. Through the entire report Helmer addresses her using animal imagery "my singing bird" "my skylark" - poor birds maintained in captivity and is made to sing on the tunes of its grasp. The use of such canine imagery results the magnification of the amount of authority and amount of the commanding vitality which is possessed by Helmer over Nora.
" little songbirds must keep their pretty little beaks out of mischief; no chirping out of tune! "
Torvald control buttons her dress as well as prescribes her social behavior, "Torvald would like me to go as a Neapolitan fisher-lass, and party the Tarantella. " Even the picture where we see helmer at the piano and Nora dance is a classic example showing how Helmer makes her dance to his tunes. He questions Nora's understanding of electric power in their marriage and reminds her of the position quo, "Nice of you because you let your hubby have his way?" By all these incidences we see complete male dominance by helmer over nora.
Similarly in Medea by Euripides, we see male dominance, "Old ties give spot to new ones. As for Jason, he no longer has a feeling because of this house of ours. " This shows us how the men in the modern culture were considered to be superior and hence when Jason determines to re-marry, no one except the suppressed group of women object from this decision. Creon, the politics patriarch, purchases Medea dictatorially, "to leave my territories and exile, And take with you together with you your two children. " 10 Medea is shown to be weakened and powerless first, "And poor Medea is slighted, and cries aloud on the vow they made to one another, the right hand clasped in eternal promise" Medea's moans and cries fit the patriarchal gender prescription of the psychologically unstable woman, this also portrays that with out a husband a partner would not have the ability to make it through in the population.
Male people in both has question the intellect of the feminine protagonists. Krogstad typically underestimates Nora, " either you haven't a very good memory, or else you do not understand much about business. I'd better make the positioning a bit clearer for you. " and shows how females were thought of by men and needed men to help them in understanding. This is also noticeable in Medea as Jason underestimates Medea's reaction towards his betrayal, first by hoping her to simply accept this decision, "Usually do not consider painful what is healthy, / Nor when you are blessed, think yourself lucky" and then fails to comprehend her power of deception which is the consequence of her outstanding intellect ironically praising her on her behalf obedience when she actually is planning the murder of his new partner " However now your brain has turned to better reasoning. In the end you have come the right decision brilliant woman that you will be. " pg 29
Women aren't only portrayed as stupid but they are also morally corrupt as well, "Practically all juvenile delinquents come from houses where in fact the mother is dishonest. " Says Helmer. This shows us that the way the men put the complete blame on the women society firstly rinsing themselves off responsibility and second of all this shows us that how women could be easily suppressed and accused by men. Jason generalizes all women to be irrational erotic beings working at the amount of basic intuition, "Nevertheless, you women have got into such a state of mind that, if your life during the night is good, you think you have everything but, if in that quarter things go wrong, you will consider your best interest". Females are seen as a problem by Jason and also that if the women did not are present it would rid the world of most their problems, "and women not need been around. Then life would have been good. " Females weren't well known by the society and this debasement clearly implies why Nora wishes to end up like a male body and not a woman, " I only wish I'd inherited a few more of daddy's features. " She has enjoyed the self-reliance that she's experienced working and repaying the loan as they have identified her with the more powerful varieties, "it was almost like being truly a man". Krogstad dark-colored mailing Nora for employment in her husband's loan company and Nora not being able to do anything shows the guy overpowers the feminine easily.
To the end of the text messages we see however that Nora and Medea become subversive towards the patriarchy, an psychological outburst is seen in both characters plus they resolve to improve the situation. Medea in this discussion with Jason shows men to be fragile " And platinum does more with men than words. " pg 31, Specifically Jason is whown to be self deluded as the gift items to Glauce help change her mind of not banishing her children and not Jason's influence on her behalf. This shows his incapability. Medea deceives King Creon and his daughter into fatality by poisoning the gifts she had directed for the royal house. King Creon has been proven to act very ridiculous and fragile by unable to control his feelings on the loss of life of his child which lead also leads to his death much like the tendencies women would show, "and the unhappy man quit the ghost, no longer could hold up brain. " Pg 39 Jason shows himself to be fragile by begging Medea whom he once dominated to have the ability to see the dead bodies of his children, " Let me, I beg you, Touch my males fragile flesh. "
Helmer who used to dominate Nora is also begging her too never to leave him, "I still own it in me to improve" and "Couldn't we continue living her elike brother and sister here. . ?". Nora is breaking through the patriarchy of the contemporary society and has made her own decision to live a life a 3rd party life. She actually is sick and tired of living life to the tunes of her hubby, she is betraying her most sacred work toher children and partner, Nora is no more worried about her obligations and desires to live life as per her wishes, " If I'm ever to reach any understanding of myself and the things around me, I have to learn to standalone. That's why I cannot stay here along with you any more. "
Nora rebels against everything that helmer orders her to do and has made decisions even without informing him, "It's no use forbidding me anything now. I'm taking beside me my very own personal possessions. I don't want anything of yours, either now or later. ". Nora is subverting and rebelling against patriarchy which is shown in her firmness to leave helmer and not caring about her sacred work.
On comparing both texts on basis of patriarchy, both creators show the protagonists to be weak and overpowered by male dominance and then towards the finish to the effect of which the protagonists have been seen subverting and rebelling against the patriarchy.
