Have you ever wondered what women were like before the liberation movement of the 70s? In the plays Antigone, by Sophocles, and A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen, women are represented as weak, subordinate to men. However, both protagonists of the play, Antigone and Nora, show their strength and courage when they go against society. Antigone shows how strong she is when she goes against the king's decree and buries her treacherous brother. To save her husband's life, Nora asks for a loan which was not permitted to a woman in the 19th century. Both of these actions show that these two women were strong enough to go against society's beliefs and do what needed to be done. It is important for men and women to express their opinions and feelings in a relationship because there needs to be a balance of power. Sophocles and Ibsen show how society placed restrictions on women from 5 BC to 1800, portraying Antigone and Nora as intelligent, determined, but submissive women. For starters, throughout history women have been considered less intelligent than men. However, Antigone and Nora prove to have more intelligence than the men around them. First, Antigone shows Creon to have more intelligence than him when she chooses to follow the laws of the gods, while Creon only makes more laws that contradict the laws of the gods. Antigone makes her position known to Creon on his edicts when she says, “Nor do I think that your edict had such force that you, a mere mortal, could prevail over the gods, over the great unwritten and unshakable traditions” (Sophocles 30). Furthermore, Creon thinks he is the most powerful person, yet Antigone is intelligent enough to know that no one has more power than the gods. He proves it when he discovers... in the middle of a sheet of paper... heir to lives to be happy. Indeed, Antigone and Nora challenged the norm for women of their times when they demonstrated their intelligence and determination. However, Antigone and Nora played at submitting to men just to please them. The portrayal of women as weak compared to men is totally opposite to what Antigone and Nora showed in their actions. Sophocles and Ibsen showed their foresight regarding the times they lived in when they had a strong and independent woman as their protagonist. Works Cited Ibsen, Henrik. A doll's house. World Literature: An Anthology of Great Stories, Poetry, and Drama. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw Hill Glencoe, 2004.140-202. Print.Sophocles. Antigone. World Literature: An Anthology of Great Stories, Poetry, and Drama. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw Hill Glencoe, 2004. 14-57. Press.