Drama reading and interpretation essay
The role of women in two plays studied
In this essay my aim is to describe the role of women and the attitude towards them in two plays, very different between them, that we have studied during the module.
The first play where there is a main focus on women’s role is, undoubtedly, A Doll House, written in 1879 by the Norwegian author Henrik Ibsen. This play was at the centre of many critics and debates, it ends with the main character. Ibsen with this play express the concept that for the society of the time the role of women was to take care of the children and wait for their husbands. The main character is a bourgeois woman, Nora; she is represented like a victim, oppressed by the society and so decides to leave her role in the family, in which she was treated like a doll, to find her real identity. She is also oppressed by her husband Torvald that manipulates her. Torvald has an important job, (he works in a bank), a good position in society and has many responsibilities and his attitude towards her wife is like she was another responsibility, she is seen like a possession. He just cares about the appearance and reputation, while ignore her wife’s feelings. Torvald treats Nora like she was a kid, for him she has just a role, that of the subordinate wife and mother of their children. He calls her with childish names like, "my little squirrel" "my little lark", she becomes for him a sort of pet of his own possession, something below
A Doll’s House and The Importance of Being Earnest were both written in the late nineteenth century at a period in time when gender roles in society were not only significant to the structure of society but were restrictive and oppressive to individuals. This was particularly true in the case of women who were seen as the upholders of morals in polite society and were expected to behave accordingly. A Doll’s House and The Importance of Being Earnest challenge society and its inclination to categorise and expect certain behaviour of individuals based on their gender.
How Does the Title A Doll’s House Demonstrate an Allegory for Women’s role at that time?
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen was originally considered by critics and scholars as a play about feminism. This is a believable idea as the play’s protagonist, Nora, goes through a personal journey where she realises that she is an independent woman and that she does not need a husband, especially like Torvald, to live. Nevertheless, many people believe that the play is more humanist than feminist. According to Ibsen, he wrote the story with a humanist eye. This point can be challenged by saying he certainly thought he was writing in a humanist eye, while instead, he was actually focussing on feminism, which is often considered a form of humanism. It is clear because he is solely focussing on the feminist aspects of humanism, rather than incorporate ideas of race, age or religion. Therefore, the play is surely feminist. This idea can be highlighted by talking about how Nora slowly acts more and more out of her gender role, how Mrs. Linde lives her life and how Nora has a complicated relationship with her children.
Being in a situation where a person is unable to control their actions or thoughts is difficult. Whether it may have been during the 1800s or 1900s, humans experience this unpredictable event. For instance, in the play A Doll House, Nora was a wife who held a deep, darkening secret in which she chose to keep hidden from her husband. During the play entitled Trifles, Mrs. Hale came to the decision to remove evidence from the scene in order to not allow officials of the county to predict what may have actually happened to John Wright during his unsuspected death. Although both plays generalize similar themes of hidden secrets, readers are able to compare and reflect on the motivation, economical status, and time period of both Nora and Mrs. Hale.
A Doll House, by Henrik Ibsen, and A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, both have central themes of search of self-identity within a social system. This is demonstrated by women characters from both plays breaking away from the social standards of their times and acting on their own terms. In most situations women are to be less dominant than men in society. These two plays are surprisingly different from the views of women in society and of the times and settings that they take place in.
Throughout history women have been handed a subservient role to her male counterpoint. Females in the late 19th and early 20th century were treated like a second-class citizen, and were thought of as being the weaker sex. It was the women’s job to stay home to cook and raise the children. While these are still prevalent issues, it is also true that things has gotten better for some women in recent years. Works like “The Doll House” by Henrik Ibsen and “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell have helped advance the idea of what roles women should play in society. In each play there are strong, female protagonists who, despite being oppressed by the societal rules against women, learn to rebel and fight for what they believe is right. While there are
Women’s status has changed in past these few years. They have now different roles in the society and have changed the way they act, they think, to get what they want in life. The role of women has an immense impact on how they act to achieved something they want. In the play studied in class two powerful female characters has a big effect in the roles they play and have many similarities by the way they act but are also different according to their personality. First of all both women are manipulative but as well have power over their husbands with their own different personality.
This play mostly focuses on women’s social roles by focusing how they are treated and the roles they are expected to be aligned in. For example, throughout the play, the women in this piece of literature are only noted through their husbands using titles of “Mrs.” or when one does mention a woman’s name is in context to one's appearance. Women are also domesticated and treated
In “A Doll’s House,” women lead a difficult life. They live on restrictions in society, as well as in their home. “The play depicts the father not only as absent but also as morally polluted” (Rosefeldt). Men are seen as a higher being than women. However, women seem to take on more sacrifices than men. Throughout the play, it expresses the misery of women or mothers and their disadvantages in society.
Can you imagine a relationship where power controls the household? A husband is usually the one that brings home the money and therefore makes all the decisions in the family. Although sometimes men can push the limits and act out of conduct. Ibsen stated, "A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men." With these assumptions, women are forced to find their own identity and go against societies view. In Ibsen's play, "Doll House," he uses symbolism, characterization of both Nora and Torvald, and irony to demonstrate the gender roles in that time of society and that breaking away to find your own identity is the only way out.
When the play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen took place in the late 1800’s, the imbalances between the man and woman in marriage were insane. Women were not allowed to do various functions without their husband's approval. During this time, men and women were not considered equal socially or legally. Women couldn't even complete simple tasks such as take out a loan. In A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, the restricted roles of women in marriage and the unfortunate imbalance between the husband and wife are shown, slowly leading to an end in marriage.
Written in the late 19th century, Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House addresses flaws within Norwegian society. Ibsen specifically highlights the symbiotic relationship between social oppression and deception. Many groups within the 19th century Norwegian culture felt social oppression, but women were among the most heavily judged. In this time period, it was illegal for a married woman to be employed, so she was forced to the monotony of home making and child bearing. This law has a central role in the play as Nora struggles to break free from her stagnant lifestyle of following social expectations. Like Nora, many people felt obliged to lie and deceive people to seem as though they were following the rules of society. Ibsen’s negative depiction of social oppression and deception throughout different scenarios within the play contribute to the play’s major themes. Ibsen utilizes Torvald’s study, the masquerade ball, and Nora’s dress change to symbolize and develop the overarching themes of social oppression and deception in A Doll’s House.
In the play “A Doll House” by Henrik Ibsen the story focuses on the gender differences between a man and woman. One way Ibsen display feminism in A Doll House is through the relationship of the two main characters Torvald and his wife Nora. Nora and Torvald to have the perfect life, however behind closed doors it isn’t as it seems. The play begins with a happily married couple and ends with a woman wanting to be her own human being. Nora has been treated like child throughout the play by Torvald, she finally decides she has other duties such as herself that are just as important as everyone else. Through the play Ibsen provides the readers with insight how society views women. During this particular generation men were much higher ranking in society than women, women were not viewed as individuals but as shadows of their men. Ibsen provides many examples throughout the play how women were treated less than men.
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House caused a sensation in 1879. During the 19th century, theatergoers were used to plays with fanciful plots that led to happy ending. Ibsen revolted against this and created a play A Doll’s House, which was the first modern drama. It was so shock to people, because it showed women’s inner life and their different, true side from what people wanted to believe and what they thought of. With his exclusive play, he shows his views of women’s struggles, strengths, and desires.
Phylogeny versus misogyny, arguable one of the greatest binary oppositions in a work of literature, is present in Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 Norwegian play A Doll’s House. The title itself suggests a misogynist view, while the work mainly consists of feminist ideology, as Ibsen was a supporter of the female as an independent, rather than a dependent on a male. Nora knew herself that her husband did not fully respect her, and this became a major conflict in the play as Nora progressively became more self-reliant in the play. Ibsen created Nora to give an example for all women, showing that they are more than what their husbands make of them. The misogynistic views in the play can be seen through Nora’s husband Torvald, due to the fact that he