In Tennessee Williams and Henrik Ibsen's A Streetcar Named Desire and Hedda Gabler, respectively, the main characters use metaphorical masks to feed their fantasy lives. Through their use of symbols, imagery, and setting the masks are born, as the women try to avoid the reality of the gender roles that they obviously don't fit in. Unfortunately, these masks are all the characters have, and once removed their worlds begin to unravel and fall apart.