The director of the movie “Adam’s Rib” George Cukor created a wonderful comedy with some dramatic elements that reflects a precise struggle between a man and a woman that tries to prove the equality of sexes. The audience can notice a wide variety of themes in the plot, but one of the most important is the position of a woman and her rights in society. Cukor represents and compares two types of women, the helpless ones and those who are strong to be equal to men during the post war time.

Equality must exist between both sexes, but it does not give a man any right to betray his wife. From the very beginning of the movie, the director unites humorousness and tragedy in one piece mixing the first impressions to show that life has two opposite sides as there is a large space between men and women. Despite the fact that irony fills out every new scene, even including a cartoonish proscenium and such a short, unexpected announcement as “that evening”, it is evident that the sense of the plot covers some essential themes which seem to be invisible at first. Nevertheless, in the flurry of the day, a young woman Doris Attinger, who is a mother of three children, haunts her dishonest husband Warren Attinger that has been betraying her with a mistress within many years. Intending to punish both of them, Doris took Warren and his mistress by surprise, while they were shamelessly embracing and kissing each other. Shivering and losing control, Doris shot her husband, but did not kill him, having only wounded his shoulder. This situation reveals some nothingness and unfaithfulness of a man that deserves the worst punishment on the Earth, because he does not take care of his wife and children, but tickles his mistress. Moreover, it demonstrates the life’s injustice referring to a general image of a woman that constantly encounters numerous different problems and constantly overcomes them in order to support and save her family. However, Cukor describes this event full of irony portraying the man as a poor creature that does not have any dignity, begging for mercy and saying “Oh, no. Doris, Please!” Such a miserable man cannot give love or care to his family, breaking all moral and spiritual values.

A woman is a frail creature that always needs a male tenderness, love and care to bear all burdens of life, but men often think only about themselves. In the movie, there is one more couple of a husband and a wife that merely adore each other from head to toe. Amanda and Adams Bonner are an exemplary family that lives heart-to-heart spending their free time together and behaving like small children even at work. Amanda is a defender, and Adams is a prosecutor, but at home they are two loving persons with equal rights and opportunities. They take care of one another having tenderness and respect in their relationships despite the fact that Amanda has a very strong character and expresses some feministic thoughts as for the male and female rights. Undoubtedly, such life position irritates Adam, but he tries not to pay attention to it. On the other hand, he indicates that “Crime should be punished, not condoned”. These words confirm Adam’s opinion that women cannot have the same rights as men have, because there is no equality between men and women. Additionally, he insists that it relates to everyone regardless of the sex. Certainly, Adam loves Amanda and he does not want to argue about this fact; so he calls her “honey” and says, “you have been on my mind, baby”. Moreover, Adam presents Amanda a charming hat in the evening to indulge his loving wife.

Men are self-confident creatures and cannot bear strong women, because they feel jealousy when women are more successful than they are. Amanda is very clever and possesses such features of character that define her as a strong personality and a woman who struggles against injustice and limitations of females. Amanda is persistent trying to show that all American women are equal according to the law, and she decides to defend Doris Attenger in the court. Besides, she connects it with a female honor, because women are the most honest creatures. In such a way, Amanda decided to go to the end finding different women that can be a true example of the female power and strength. Certainly, Amanda could not even predict that her husband would not accept her intentions due to his own understanding of the law. Adam does not understand that this case is very important to his wife, and he does not support the idea of the female equality. To his mind, Amanda destroyed their marriage building a wall between them, not realizing that her husband feels weaker and less confident. The problem is that Adam wants to live a simple life spending time with a gentle, kind woman, but not with a rival. The superiority of his wife humbles his male dignity causing a total indifference to her, because he cannot bear that she is more successful than he is. On the other hand, it is difficult to believe that a husband can refuse his wife due to some misunderstanding, even if he knows that he loves her very much. If any problem appears in the marriage, both are guilty, and it is impossible to run away not overcoming it together.