Essay on Feminist Protagonists in The Awakening and A Doll's House

Nora only achieves maturity when she leaves her husband and children. Through her abandonment she was able to receive closure on the aspect of her life that was preventing her from reaching her full potential. Prior to her leaving, Nora explains to Torvald what she must do for her best interests. "I have to try to educate myself," she says, "You can't help me with that. I've got to do it alone. And that's why I'm leaving you now" (Ibsen 192). Torvald responds by saying that she has no right to neglect her duties to her husband and children. Nora explains, "I have other duties equally sacred...Duties to myself. I believe that, before all else, I'm a human being, no less than you-or anyway, I ought to try to become one" (Ibsen 193). Nora reprioritizes her life and realizes that she needs to cater to her personal needs and establish a life of her own before she can tend to the lives of others. Ibsen is implying that the woman

The final reason for Edna’s escape from her troublesome life is the failure of her relationship with Robert. Edna was able to find some form of escape through her desire and hope of being with Robert, but when those plans fell through Edna feels as if she has nothing to look forward to, nothing to live for in life. Robert realizes that he and Edna will never be able to have a true

In Henrik Ibsen's, A Doll's House, the character of Nora Helmer goes through the dramatic transformation of a kind and loving housewife, to a desperate and bewildered woman, whom will ultimately leave her husband and everything she has known. Ibsen uses both the characters of Torvald and Nora to represent the tones and beliefs of 19th century society. By doing this, Ibsen effectively creates a dramatic argument that continues to this day; that of feminism.

During the feminist movement many female authors began to write novels about female emancipation. In these novels, the protagonist experiences enlightenment where she discovers that she is living an incomplete life that society has oppressed her into. Before the movement, society forced women into roles that were inferior to men and they were thought of as men’s property. Harold bloom states, “The direction of The Awakening follows what is becoming a pattern in literature by and about women…toward greater self-knowledge that leads in turn to a revelation of the disparity between that self-knowledge and nature of the world” (Bloom, Kate Chopin 43). Moreover, Chopin viewed women’s independence as a personal challenge more than a social struggle, which contradicts her literary works. According to Harold Bloom, “Chopin’s novel was not intended to make a broad social statement but rather that it indicates that Chopin viewed women’s independence as a personal matter”(Bloom, Bloom’s Notes 58). In the past, the novel was banned because of its connection to the feminist movement.

    A second similarity is that Edna and Nora each had an awakening about her own marriage.  Edna's awakening took place early in the novel, while Nora's awakening occurred at the end of the play.  The realization that she was not happy taking care of her husband, house or children began Edna's awakening.  Represented by the quote, "An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish" (Chopin 14).  Edna feels the entrapment of her marriage that has been present subconsciously, and it fills her mind and soul with pain and hurt.  At the end of "A Doll's House," Nora announces to her husband the need to leave the marriage due to the oppression caused by his power over her.  Nora feels as though their marriage has never been a true marriage, and that Helmer and herself never truly knew

The Awakening’s protagonist is Edna Pontellier; She is a twenty-eight years old mother of two. Consequently, her appearance is slight that of what a mother should look like, she possesses "quick and bright" eyes, which compliment her thick, wavy, yellowish brown hair" (9); While Edna 's physique is "poise and movement" (27). Despite this, Edna does not want to assume the role of a mother; Edna wants to be free from social assumptions of what a lady and even mother should be during the 1800’s. Independence is her goal, and she is not letting anything, or anyone gets in her way. This is why she has an affair with Robert Lebrun. Edna is symbolized in the story through multiple birds, which in the end tell a story in and of itself

But they need not have thought that they could possess her, body and soul" (504).  Although Edna did perform her duties as a wife for some time, she is not the typical housewife.  She does not worship her husband or idolize her children, which makes both Edna and Leonce begin to sense that Edna is different from the other mother-women (Lin 1).  Edna never realized the reasons she neglected her duties as a wife until she fell in love with Robert and acknowledged that her desires and needs exist outside of her marriage.  Thus, after her experiences with Robert, Edna is ready to neglect her husband even more, because she now realizes that her husband is holding her back from her needs.  When Leonce tries to make Edna act like the other women that obey their husbands, his attempts to control Edna further instigate Edna's desire for independence from him.  For example, the scene when Edna is lying in the hammock, Leonce says: "I can't permit you to stay out there all night.  You must come in the house instantly," Edna replies: "I mean to stay out here.  I don't wish to go in, and I don't intend to.  Don't speak to me like that again; I shall not answer you" (492).  Edna is carefree and spirited, and she refuses to conform to her husband because she does not want to lose herself.  Becoming the perfect, obedient wife would mean losing her individuality, and Edna realizes she can gain no fulfillment

When Edna returns home later that day, she finds out that Robert is leaving for Mexico. She is rather upset with this news and afterwards leaves to go home. "She went directly to her room. The little cottage was close and stuffy after leaving the outer air. But she did not mind; there appeared to be a hundred different things demanding her attention indoors." (42) She tries to ignore that his leaving and not telling her affects her so much. Yet she declines an invitation from Madame Lebrun to go and sit with them until Robert leaves. When Edna sees him leave it tears her up inside that her companion, the one person that she felt understood her, is leaving: "Edna bit her handkerchief convulsively, striving to hold back and to hide, even from herself as she would have hidden from another, the emotion which was troubling - tearing- her. Her eyes were brimming with tears." (44) Edna's life is not complete when Robert leaves:

The remaining question for the reader is: Does Edna's suicide show that she succeeded or failed in her struggle for independence?

In the beginning, Nora acts and speaks like a child saying things like “Pooh!”(Act 1). Ibsen showshow he thinks dependant and uneducated woman are naive and almost childlike. Nora and Torvald’s relationship is almost exactly how her and her father’s relationship had been, with the man completely controlling Nora, and Nora acting like an obedient child. Nora had not been independent with her father and when she marries Torvald she is also completely dependant on him for everything she wants or needs. Both Nora’s father and Torvald coddle Nora and treat her like a delicate doll so she is never fully is independent. At one point in the play Torvald even admits he finds Nora more attractive because of her dependence on him. Christine Linde is

Unexpectedly, Robert and Edna become extremely close with each other by summer's end. Unwilling to further his relationship with a married woman, Robert leaves the country for Mexico. Furthermore, Leónce truly believed he had no obligation to care for his children and that it was Edna’s duty to do so. “If it was not a mother’s place to look after the children, whose on earth was it?” (Chopin 7). In society’s eyes, all a man needed to do was support their kids financially while the woman supported them in other ways. Chopin focuses on two other female characters in the story, Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz. These women are examples of how women should be in the nineteenth century. Adele was an example of a "motherly woman.” She would gladly sacrifice anything to care for her children, husband, and household, while Edna would not. Edna finds both role models lacking and begins to see that the life of freedom and individuality that she wants goes against society. Not only did society have a specific look on how a women should be, but Leónce as well, towards Edna. “’You are burnt beyond recognition,” he added, looking at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage.” This shows how Edna is not an acceptable color according to her husband’s wishes. Edna had specific guidelines to follow

Nora has been the one who has given up all her personal beliefs in order to please both her father and Torvald, yet Torvald cannot seem to comprehend the idea that men could possibly do the same. Nora’s desired independence can finally break free, and is finally sticking up for herself in a way that she knows not many other women have. Although this may be the case, Nora knows that she has every right to speak her mind, and is done locking her thoughts away. By leaving her family behind, Nora has triumphantly given herself a brand new start in life, with nothing holding her

Most individuals are familiar with the stereotypical heroes and the courage they possess, whether it be through saving a city from danger or defeating a powerful villain. Nora Helmer possesses this same trait in a similar manner. For instance, Nora ultimately saves her family from living a false image of perfection, or a dollhouse. As Nora bids farewell to her husband, Torvald, the woman declines her husband’s appeals of reconciliation. Nora states that there is no possibility of reconciliation as it is realized they are both strangers to each other, “I can’t spend the night in a strange man’s room” (Ibsen 1774).

TOPIC: Discuss how the author uses Nora as a tool to portray the position of women in society.

Nora, as a woman, also has many expectations she must try to live up to. By natural design, women are not good with money, with planning, or with complicated thinking. They are certainly the underclass of the sexes. This condition was caused by the fact that women were forced to mold themselves into a model themselves that men deem desirable and best. The wants and desires of women were put aside so that they may better perform the role of pleasing the men in their lives. They were there to support their husbands and help carry on the tasks of keeping the house in order, or they’re to care for their fathers and clean his house of generally care for him. This entire social condition became an inescapable cycle, since men chose what men should and would be like and they chose as suits them. A woman did not have the opportunity to go out and “find herself” or to further her own talents and abilities. They were instead molded into a shape that would further enhance the men’s talents and abilities. Yet even though the weakest characteristics were attributed to women, great responsibility was put on them as regarding the raising of their children. It was commonly assumed that