A recent study reported that 6.7% of top earners at Fortune 500 companies are women. This number may seem low and daunting to modern eyes. However, this statistic would probably seem like an unimaginable leap forward in the eyes of female characters in historical fiction. Henrik Ibsen, the author of A Doll's House, offers a look at the restrictions placed on women in 1880, when the book was written. These include limited opportunities for expression, personal fulfillment and free will in a male-dominated society. The same restrictions can be seen as early as 440 BC, when Antigone was written. Sophocles, the author of Antigone, goes into great detail not only about the expectations and roles of women, but also about the treatment of women. Both of these authors, Ibsen and Sophocles, show the hardships that many women have endured throughout the centuries. Their literary works offer in-depth insight into the characteristics of Nora and Antigone, the two main characters of the books, who are not only determined, but also independent and courageous. In A Doll's House and Antigone, by Ibsen and Sophocles respectively, the characters Nora and Antigone are both very independent, despite being written almost 2,000 years apart. Without this feature, neither of these literary works would have been noteworthy, as both are based on the struggles faced by women during the time periods in which these works were written. In A Doll's House, there are many moments in which Nora tells the Author about her independence. “From you I will accept nothing” (Ibsen, 198). Nora says this as she is about to leave Torvald and refuses to take anything of hers with her, truly demonstrating her independence. Although in this modern age one might try... middle of paper... offer a completely alternative way in which women were part of society. Depending on the time period of the player, they can be viewed in two completely different ways. If one were to read one of these texts at the time it was written, the reader might see the text as making a different, perhaps even blasphemous, suggestion about how women should be viewed in society. On the other hand, a reader today can look to these texts to better understand the obstacles women faced in almost every aspect of life. 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.