Erik Conti
Professor Mignano-Brady
EGL 102
March 6, 2017
Gender Inequality in Literature and the Modern World
Throughout history, there has been a pattern of the unequal
treatment of men and women. Different societies have shown the tendency to
favor men over women when it comes to certain tasks or even ideas. It was only
in 1920 that women in the United States were even given the right to vote. That
is outrageous considering that the U.S. is the most independent country in the
world, but it gives a good perspective on how women were actually undervalued.
Both “Antigone” by Sophocles and “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee
Williams do a phenomenal job at portraying the mistreatment of women in the
year 441 B.C. and in the late 1940’s. Sophocles and Williams both expand upon
the reader’s awareness of gender inequality with concrete examples of men
talking down to women or even verbally and physically abusing them.
In “Antigone” by Sophocles, King Creon shows his clear bias
against women and eventually has one killed. The beginning of the play sets the
scene by explaining the battle that killed both Eteocles and Polyneices (the
brothers of Antigone and Ismene). King Creon had buried Eteocles but made a
royal decree to let the body of Polyneices rot in the streets. This obviously
angered Antigone and she took it upon herself to bury the body. This leads into
the confrontations between Creon and Antigone that successfully exemplify Creon’s
poor attitude toward women.
After Antigone’s
confession, Creon says “I swear I am no man and she the man if she can win this
and not pay for it.” (Creon 528-529) This shows that Creon considers men to be
supreme to women. He believes that Antigone is the “man” because she will be
victorious if she successfully buries the body. This means that he portrays men
as winners and women as losers. After Antigone is sent away, her fiancé Haemon
comes to speak to his father Creon. During the conversation Creon says “Do not,
my son, banish your good sense through pleasure in a woman, since you know that
the embrace grows cold.” (Creon 699-701) In this statement, Creon is trying to
convince his son to let Antigone die. He shows his misogyny by generalizing
that all women eventually shy away from their husbands and treat them poorly.
At the end of his conversation with Haemon, Creon says “So we must stand on the
side of what is orderly; we cannot give victory to a woman. If we must accept
defeat, let it be from a man; we must not let people say that a woman beat us.”
(Creon 728-731) This quote is another clear example of Creon’s discrimination.
He makes it seem as if a woman being victorious is one of the worst things that
can happen. Apparently if a woman defeats a man, it is extraordinarily
degrading to the male. Lastly, once Haemon stands up to Creon and tells him
that he is insane, Creon responds by insulting women one last time. “You
woman’s slave, do not try to wheedle me.” (Creon 814) By referring to Haemon as
a woman’s slave, he is implying that women easily have control over men. During
that time period, nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, men
controlled women at the time. Creon reveals to readers the truth about gender
inequality in 441 B.C.
“Antigone” is not the only play in which gender inequality
is prevalent. “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams provides even
clearer examples of how women have been mistreated in the past. Granted, “A
Streetcar Named Desire” takes place almost 2400 years later, but the treatment
of women by men remains fairly similar. This play takes place in New Orleans in
1947. During this time period, racism and sexism were abundant throughout the
United States. In the beginning of the play, Blanche Dubois has just arrived at
her sister’s (Stella) apartment for the first time. She is there because she is
going through a tough time in her life back at home and wanted to spend time
with her sister for comfort. Little did Blanche know, she would also be meeting
her sister’s misogynistic husband; Stanley.
In the beginning of
scene two, Stanley is having a conversation with Stella before his poker game.
Stella and Blanche are about to leave for dinner when Stanley says “How about
my supper, huh?” (Williams 32) This is only the beginning of Stanley’s rudeness
toward women. Here, he is implying that it is the woman’s job to make her
husband supper regardless of her plans for the evening. Later on, Stanley
discovers that Blanche has lost their family home; Belle Reve. He is suspicious
that Blanche sold the estate and kept all of the money for herself. Due to his
suspicions, Stanley actually goes through all of Blanche’s things and throws
them all over the room. This is another example of a woman being mistreated. It
is extraordinarily rude to go through a woman’s personal belongings and throw
them all over the place. Later on during a poker game, Blanche and Stella enter
a room full of men in order to greet them. While greeting a woman, it is
considered respectful to stand when she enters the room. Stanley’s friends were
about to stand up then Stanley says “Nobody is going to get up.” Here is
another example of Stanley’s complete lack of respect for women and his
indecency in general. To this day, men still stand up when women enter the
room. At the end of the poker scene, Blanche and Stella turn on the radio to
listen to some music. Almost immediately, Stanley loses his cool and throws the
radio out of the window. This was extremely disrespectful to both Blanche and
Stella. It is almost as if Stanley were implying that nobody cares about their
musical tastes and they need to be quiet. Right after throwing the radio out
the window, Stanley charges after Stella. Stella screams “You lay your hands on
me and I’ll…” (Williams 56) The audience hears a loud crash and scream shortly
after, leading them to believe that Stanley has struck Stella with his hand.
This is obviously completely unacceptable. No man should ever lay a hand on a
woman. Unfortunately, in the early 1900’s men hitting women was not uncommon.
In scene ten of “A
Streetcar Named Desire” Stella is rushed to the hospital to have her and
Stanley’s baby. Stanley takes full advantage of his quality time with Blanche
in a rather gruesome manner. After changing into his silk pajamas, Stanley
essentially forces himself upon Blanche. Blanche screams “Stay back! Don’t you
come toward me another step or I’ll…” (Williams 130) This is when Stanley grabs
her wrist and her body goes limp. The audience of the play does not see anything
except for Stanley carrying Blanche’s inert body into the bedroom, leaving them
to draw the conclusion that he rapes her. There is no greater form of
disrespect for a woman than rape. In today’s world, a person could go to prison
for eight to nine years if convicted of rape. This goes to show that rape is
taken extremely seriously today. Unfortunately in the 1940’s people managed to
get away with it. Williams created Stanley as a big and powerful man that was
easily able to take control of Blanche. This shows that gender inequality could
potentially stem from the physical difference in strength between men and
women. Williams created Stanley as a strong, short-tempered character in order
to characterize the obnoxiousness of men and disrespect for women during the
time period.
In today’s modern world, gender inequality is not nearly as
prevalent as it was in 441 B.C. and in 1947. The fact is gender inequality does
actually still exist. Women do have the right to vote and serve in the
military, which is a great step toward equality. Unfortunately, this is not
true in every country of the world. In 2015 in Saudi Arabia, women still did
not have the right to vote in elections. They also were not allowed to run for
any political position. This shows that gender inequality still exists in the
world today. Saudi Arabia isn’t the only country that exemplifies gender
inequality. The United States itself has a clear problem with salary
differences between men and women. This is also known as the gender pay gap.
According to Warren Farrell of The New York Times, “Nothing disturbs working
women more than the statistics often mentioned on Labor Day showing that they
are paid only 76 cents to men’s dollar for the same work.” (Farrell 1) There
couldn’t be a more obvious example of the phrase “gender inequality”. Women are
doing the same exact work and are performing on the same exact levels as men,
yet they are paid less for all of it. This issue needs to be addressed by both
politicians and CEO’s (Chief Executive Officers) in the near future.
There is quite a big time difference between 441 B.C. and
1947, yet Sophocles’ “Antigone” and Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named
Desire” show that gender inequality has been an aspect of human culture for
centuries. Whether it’s Stella being physically abused by Stanley, or Creon
being too stubborn to concede to Antigone, both plays clearly exemplify what
problems women have faced throughout time. Fortunately, things have certainly
improved for women in most parts of the world. Some countries even have women
presidents. Even though gender inequality has been improved upon, it has not
been extinguished. If more pioneers such as Sophocles or Tennessee Williams
find ways to make people aware of gender inequality, then the possibilities will
be endless for both women and men in the future.
Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Intrroduction to Literature 12th
Edition. New York, London. W.W. Norton
& Company, 2016. Print.
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. New York.
Penguin Putnam Inc., 1974. Print.
Farrell, Warren. (2005, Sep 05). Exploiting the Gender
Gap. New York Times Retrieved from https://hs1.farmingdale.edu:2093/docview/433172008?accountid=8066
Dewey, Caitlin. "7 Ridiculous
Restrictions on Women’s Rights around the World." The Washington
Post. WP Company, 27 Oct. 2013. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.
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