Much like Antigone, Euripides’ Medea also centers around a character whose fatal flaw contributes to the development of the plot. Medea’s obsessive love for her husband, Jason, triggers her passion to follow through with her plans to murder her children, which leads toward the climax of the play. Like Antigone, Medea is a very determined character although she possesses a different fatal flaw. “For he who was all the world to [her]” leaves her for another and “turn[s] out to be the worst of men” (Euripides 12). Though she “understand[s] the awful deed” she is going to commit, Medea allows her “passion, that cause of direst woes to mortal man, [to] triumph o'er [her] sober thoughts” (Euripides 40). Thus, Euripides utilizes Medea's emotional vulnerability in order to produce a dramatic plot, which eventually leads to a tragic ending.
A Doll's House, however, is not defined as a tragic play like Antigone or Medea, but the protagonist, Nora, also has a fatal flaw that her playwright utilizes as a device for developing the plot. Nora has the need to seek acceptance from her family and others in her community and lacks the self-loyalty and independence to seek and eventually pursue her own dreams. Nora has “existed merely to perform tricks” and has “made nothing of [her] life” (Ibsen 77). Her only desire is “to be able to keep the house beautifully and have everything just as Torvald likes it” (Ibsen 18) and to keep the identity imposed upon her by her father — being a “doll-child” and eventually, a “doll-wife” (Ibsen 77). Being a victim of society, Nora realizes that “happiness is not the question; all that concerns [her family] is to save the remains, the fragments, [and] the appearance” of their lives to the outside world (Ibsen 73). Her initial desire to create the perfect family and be loyal to her husband and children deprives her of the true hardships of life, but this changes once she becomes involved in a scandal for the sake of her husband. Ironically, Nora’s attempts to prevent the separation of her family lead to the development of the plot and eventually, the shocking resolution.
Though all three the playwrights use their protagonists’ fatal flaws to develop their dramas, the climaxes of these plays are developed differently through the use of literary devices pertaining to the involvement of their protagonist in the events that directly lead to the climax. In Antigone, the protagonist is a co-contributor and is directly involved with cause of the climax, which would be the final confrontation between Antigone and King Creon, and both the protagonist and antagonist play major roles in the outcome of the climax. Antigone challenges Creon openly, and Creon realizes that he would lose his manhood and his image as an authoritative figure “if she's not punished for taking the upper hand” (Sophocles 20). Antigone chooses to act in such a way that would make her death sentence finalized. Creon, being the other contributor, delivers the final verdict. With King Creon having “no hope to give[, t]he death sentence stands,” and the play reaches its turning point (Sophocles 40).
Like Antigone, Medea acts according to her own desires with the awareness of the consequences that may occur, and she is also directly involved with executing the climax. She is a “victim of [her] own self-will” (Euripides 39), and she is the one who causes the series of events throughout the play. The drama is focused and developed around her murderous vengeance. Although Jason and Creon cause Medea to fall into her emotional rampage by abandoning her or banishing her, “this lost woman...stretch[es] forth her murderous hand upon her sons for blood” and leads to the execution of the climax by her own will (Euripides 45). Therefore, the entire plot develops entirely from the protagonist's actions. Medea's own decisions, her own fatal flaw, leads to the turning point of the play.
A Doll's House, being the exception of the three plays, has many characters contributing to the climax, and unlike Antigone and Medea, this protagonist is not directly involved in the events leading to the climax nor does she intentionally cause these events to happen. Although Nora, the protagonist, was involved in the forgery, which sets the aftermath that the plot is centered around, the climax of the play occurs when the letter from Krogstad is revealed to Torvald. Mrs. Linde and Krogstad play a major role in the revelation of the letter, especially Mrs. Linde, who pleads that Krogstad “must not recall [his] letter” and that Torvald “Helmer must know all about it” (Ibsen 64). Mrs. Linde realizes that the couple “must have a complete understanding between them, which is impossible with all this concealment and falsehood going on” (Ibsen 64). In doing so, Nora has no choice but to face her husband's confrontation, and the play reaches its climax.
The Greek plays, Antigone and Medea, are written with the protagonists understanding and accepting their actions and with the playwrights using their protagonists' fatal flaws as the driving force for the plot. Following the outline of a tragic play, the climax and resolution are the result of this deadly characteristic as predicted. A Doll's House, however, is unpredictable in determining the extent of Nora's involvement in the climax and also which character plays what role in the outcome of the climax. Ibsen's play can actually be classified as ironic because his protagonist's intentions lead to the opposite of her desired outcome as opposed to the other two dramas.
Whether these playwrights allow their protagonists to be involved directly with the outcome of the climax or not, they still grasp the concept of man and introduce the category of awe at the intelligence and potential of the human species. Though they may be brief and straightforward to a single plot, they provide food for thought that lasts much longer than the actual amount of time taken to read them. All these playwrights maintain the traditions set forth in classical Greek plays by presenting a recurring symbol and archetype of human experience: even as life throws curves, humans must master their fatal flaws while pursuing what they believe in. These three playwrights skillfully develop these climaxes in such a way that allows the reader to feel the pride and joy of what it truly means to be human.
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Works cited
Euripides. Medea. Minneapolis: Filiquarian, LLC, 2007. Print.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. Trans. by R. F. Sharp. Lawrence: Digireads.com, 2009. Print.
Sophocles, and Paul Woodruff. Antigone. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub., 2001. Print.
