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Trifles" and "a doll house
The marginalization of women in trifles snd a dolls house
Trifles" and "a doll house
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In “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell and “A Dollhouse” by Henrik Ibsen, the authors use symbolism to shed light on the way woman were once looked down upon by men. In both plays the woman face similar derisive attitudes from the men in their lives. Women are treated as property, looked down upon and only useful in matters pertaining to cooking, taking care of children, housework and sexual objects. The women’s marriages, socioeconomic and social status are completely different, but both women reach their emotional breaking point, and grow so discontent with their situations they are willing to take drastic actions. In “A Dollhouse,” Nora is stuck in a marriage with a rich man who has no respect for her. Nora’s husband Torvald, does not think his …show more content…
Nora and Mrs. Wright’s social standing when compared to the men in each play is inferior. Both works expose their respective male characters’ sexist view of women diminishing the women’s social standing. Each work features egotistical men who have a severely inflated view of their self-worth when compared to their female counterparts. The men’s actions and words indicate they believe women are not capable of thinking intelligently. This is demonstrated in “Trifles” when Mr. Hale makes the statement about women only worrying about mere trifles. It is also apparent in “A Dollhouse” when Torvalds thinks his wife is not capable of thinking with any complexity (Mazur 17). Another common attribute is of the women’s social standing is displayed as both women finally get tired of feeling like second class citizens and stand up to the repressive people in the women’s lives (Mulry 294). Although both women share much in common in their social standing there subtle differences. Torvald’s sexist view of Nora is more on a personal level in “A Dollhouse” while the male characters’ sexist views in “Trifles” seem to be more of a social view that women are not very smart and their opinions are of little value. This attitude is apparent in “Trifles” as Mr. Hale and Mr. Henderson’s comments about Mrs. Wright’s housekeeping (Mulry 293). As the women in both works reach their emotional
In conclusion, Even though both Ibsen and Glaspell are showing the responsible for giving women insight to what their lives could be as an independent person who is treated as an equal, their plays deals somewhat different sight to deals with the problems of the inequality between men and women. In other words, in A Doll’s House, Nora – like many others – begins to realize that she is more than capable of thinking and living for herself. Unlike Nora, however, in Trifles, Mrs. Wright chose to stay married to her unloving and murder her husband. Moreover, unlike what A Doll’s house portrayed, in Trifles, Glaspell shows the power of women can gain by sticking together and looking out for one another in order to improve their social positions from the behavior of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters.
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.
“A Doll House” by Henrik Ibsen and “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell seems to have a lot in common. The two wives, Nora and Mrs. Hale, have both did some wrong things, but for different reasons and they are not the type of things a person would think of. These two women had a lot on their hands and had some quick choices to make that easily affected their loved ones. Both Nora and Mrs. Hale committed crimes, but like their titles the plays seem so simple, yet they represent complicated conflict between comprehension and behavior.
There are many similarities in the relationships between men and women in Susan Glaspell's Trifles and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll House. The conflict in each play is the result of incorrect assumptions made by the males of a male-dominated society. The men believe that women focus on trivial matters and are incapable of intelligent thinking, while the women quietly prove the men's assumptions wrong.
In A Doll House, Nora was an oppressed woman living with her husband and three children. Torvald, her husband, was the head of the household. He provided financially, went to work and was the ideal father and citizen at the time. Their household was an example of a traditional family's. Nora was the ideal wife who devoted herself to her husband and children. Her time and affection and pride revolved around her family. Torvald became ill and was in desperate need of medical help to stay alive, Torvald not having the money to fund his health needs worried Nora. In her obvious devotion to her husband, Nora goes out to fundraise for her husband's health. Nora ends up borrowing money from a moneylender, Krogstad, and forges her dying father's signature as her cosigner. Nora had been "slaved in secret at scrivener's work"85). At that poin...
The next work, entitled A Doll's House, deals with Nora, the main character, struggling to achieve happiness in life. While Nora lives with her husband, Torvald, she pretends to be happy and satisfied with life, but in reality, Nora lacks purpose in her life. For eight years, she never discusses her situation with Torvald because she does not want to face the truth about herself. Nora feels obligated to live her life as a caring mother and an obedient wife. Also, Nora pretends to be happy for a reason. Whether she knows it or not, Nora tries to be the ideal wife and mother by letting herself be governed by the laws of society.
Throughout history, a woman's role is to be an obedient and respectful wife. Her main obligation is to support, serve, and live for her husband and children. In Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House and Susan Glaspell's Trifles, two different women make a decision to take matters into their own hands by doing what they want to do, no matter what the outcome may be and in spite of what society thinks. These two women come from different homes and lead very different lives yet, these two women share similar situations--both are victims, both are seeking individuality, and initially, both women end up alone. There are many ways that Nora and Mrs. Wright differ. First of all, both come from completely different households. Nora's home is "tastefully [. . .] furnished" and always "pleasant"(917). She lives in a lavish home eating macaroons, drinking champagne, and hosting banquets. Nora often has guests at the house and there are even maids to watch her children. Her husband, Torvald, is often home and has guests over. On the other hand, Mrs. Wright's home is unpleasant, in an "abandoned farmhouse"(977) in a secluded area. Mrs. Wright seldom has company, nor does she have any children. She does not leave the house very often and her husband, Mr. Wright, wants no outside interference. Mr. Wright refuses to get a "party telephone"(978) because he enjoys his "peace and quiet"(978). It is obvious that these two women lead different lives with different types of people, yet they share similar situations that are not so obvious.
Throughout A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen illustrates through an intriguing story how a once infantile-like woman gains independence and a life of her own. Ibsen creates a naturalistic drama that demonstrates how on the outside Nora and Torvald seam to have it all, but in reality their life together is empty. Instead of meaningful discussions, Torvald uses degrading pet names and meaningless talk to relate to Nora. Continuing to treat Nora like a pampered yet unimportant pet, Torvald thoroughly demonstrates how men of his era treat women as insignificant items to be possessed and shown off. While the Helmer household may have the appearance of being sociably acceptable, the marriage of Torvald and Nora was falling apart because of the lack of identity, love, and communication.
In its historical context A Doll’s House was a radical play which forced its audience to question the gender roles which are constructed by society and make them think about how their own lives are a performance for Victorian society.
Ibsen and Strindberg were influential playwrights of the late 19th century. Contrasting the earlier romanticized dramas, Ibsen and Strindberg’s respective plays, A Doll’s House and The Father, depicted traditional middle-class life. The plays explored the relationship between gender and unequal power in marriages of their time period. While both plays were written in the late 19th century, the playwrights had different approaches in presenting characters’ situations and attitudes in challenging the patriarchal dominated culture. An examination of the ways that Nora, the protagonist of A Doll’s House, and Laura, the protagonist of The Father, struggle for personal liberty show the progressive viewpoints of each author on gender roles in a marriage.
In the plays A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen, and Trifles, by Susan Glaspell, the male characters propagate stereotypes and make assumptions concerning the female characters. These assumptions deal with the way in which the male characters see the female characters, on a purely stereotypical, gender-related level. The stereotypes and assumptions made in A Doll's House are manifest in the way Torvald Helmer treats his wife, Nora, and in the way Nora acts to please her husband. These include the beliefs that women are lesser people, childlike in their actions and in need of being controlled. Nora knows as long as she acts in accordance with the way she is expected, she will get what she wants from Torvald. The stereotypes and assumptions made in Trifles are those of the women being concerned only with trifling things, that they are loyal to the feminine gender, and that women are subservient to their spouses.
The inferior role of Nora is extremely important to her character. Nora is oppressed by a variety of "tyrannical social conventions." Ibsen in his "A Doll's House" depicts the role of women as subordinate in order to emphasize their role in society. Nora is oppressed by the manipulation from Torvald. Torvald has a very typical relationship with society. He is a smug bank manager. With his job arrive many responsibilities. He often treats his wife as if she is one of these responsibilities. Torvald is very authoritative and puts his appearance, both social and physical, ahead of his wife that he supposedly loves. Torvald is a man that is worried about his reputation, and cares little about his wife's feelings.
“A Doll’s House” gives the reader a firsthand view at how gender roles affected the characters actions and interactions throughout the play. The play helps to portray the different struggles women faced during the 19th century with gender roles, and how the roles affected their relationships with men as well as society. It also helps to show the luxury of being a male during this time and how their higher status socially over women affected their relationships with woman and others during this time period.
“A Doll’s House” and “Trifles” both show how women of this time period were powerless. Their husbands were superior to their wives, holding
In "A Doll's House", Ibsen portrays the bleak picture of a role held by women of all economic classes that is sacrificial. The female characters in the play back-up Nora's assertion that even though men are unable to sacrifice their integrity, "hundreds of thousands of woman have." Mrs. Linde found it necessary to abandon Krogstad, her true but poor love, and marry a richer man in order to support her mother and two brothers. The nanny has to abandon her children to support herself by working for Nora. Though Nora is economically advantaged, in comparison to the other female characters, she leads a hard life because society dictates that Torvald be the marriages dominant member. Torvald condescends Nora and inadvertently forces Nora to hide the loan from him. Nora knows that Torvald could never accept the idea that his wife, or any other woman, could aid in saving his life.