“Antigone” was written by the male playwright, Sophocles, around 440 BC, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written by the female social reformer and author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, more than a millennium later. Despite these great differences, Sophocles and Gilman compose powerful stories with plots focusing on a female character.
According to Schlib and Clifford, the tension created in Sophocles’ play “ exists between the human laws of government, an arena of exclusive male dominance, and the emotional imperative of honoring the death of a loved family member, thus preserving traditions of family and religion—activities important to women” (191). While “Antigone” struggles to live in a society with laws she considers unjust, Gilman’s main character struggles to live in a society that is also “an arena of exclusive male dominance” based on social norms instead of enforced laws, and the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is denied opportunities that would allow her to be “preserving traditions of family…[and] activities important to women.” Antigone and the nameless narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” experience physical and emotional confinement that affects their mental psyche and behavior.
Essay Prompt:
Does confinement have a positive, negative, or combination of effects on the mental state of Antigone and the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper”? In the conclusion, make a connection between the confinement experiences of 440BC characters (Antigone), 19th century characters (“The Yellow Wallpaper” narrator), and real-life people in contemporary society.
