Gender-Roles in A Doll's House and A Streetcar named Desire
The roles of males and females in our society are subjects that entail great criticism, and have been under scrutiny for as long as a `society' has existed. In analyzing A Doll's House by Henrick Ibsen and A Streetcar named Desire by Tennessee Williams, the effects that gender-roles have on relationships is an evident aspect in both of the plays. The choice of words used by the authors strongly underscores the themes of supremacy, selfishness, inequality, and unmistakably, the roles of men and women in society.
In Act I of A Doll's House, there are many clues that hint at the kind of marriage Nora and Torvald have. It seems that Nora is a doll controlled solely by Torvald. She relies on him for everything, from movements to thoughts, much like a puppet that is dependent on its puppet master for all of its actions. The most obvious example of Torvald's physical control over Nora is his teaching her the tarantella. Nora pretends that she needs Torvald to teach her every move in order to relearn the dance. The reader knows this is an act, and it shows her submissiveness to Torvald. After he teaches her the dance, he proclaims "When I saw you turn and sway in the tarantella - my blood was pounding till I couldn't stand it"(Ibsen 1009), showing how he is more interested in Nora physically than emotionally. When Nora responds by saying "Go away, Torvald! Leave me alone. I don't want all this"(Ibsen 1009), Torvald asks "Aren't I your husband?"(Ibsen 1009). By saying this, he is implying that one of Nora's duties as his wife is to physically pleasure him at his command.
Torvald also does not trust Nora with money, which exemplifi...
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...tely equal, and if neither men nor women used the power that society gives them based on their sex, then, and only then, could true equality exist in our world.
Works Consulted
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House (1879). Trans. Rolf Fjelde. Rpt. in Michael Meyer, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 5th edition. Boston & New York: Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 1999. 1564-1612.
Lant, Kathleen Margaret. "A Streetcar Named Misogyny." pp. 225-238 Redmond, James (Editor). Violence in Drama. Cambridge University Press; 1991.
Shaw, Bernard. "A Doll's House Again." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1979.
Templeton, Joan. "The Doll House Backlash: Criticism, Feminism, and Ibsen." PMLA (January 1989): 28-40.
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. New York: Signet. Original copyright 1947.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House (1879). Trans. Rolf Fjelde. Rpt. in Michael Meyer, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 5th edition. Boston & New York: Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 1999. 1564-1612.
Evaluating the Success of the New Deal After The Great Depression America elected Roosevelt to be the President hoping he would get them away from the Depression which was effecting nearly everyone at the time. Roosevelt did get them away from the Depression he made the alphabet agencies, these were Relief, Recovery and Reform agencies helping America. During the New Deal unemployment fell from 25% to 14%, Roosevelt gave the average American Hope however not everything was perfect. With the new deal the N.R.A and the A.A.A were deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, little was done to help the Sharecroppers who didn't own they're own lands and the consumer prices didn't rise at the same rate as the earnings. The Alphabet agencies were Roosevelt's agencies that helped get
this was not to be the case, as he would find out in the oncoming
Gender roles and inequality are still evolving and continue to change. It has only been not that long ago that women started to break out their outlined roles and looked at about the same or- almost the same level- as men on a wide scale basis. Indeed, some women in certain parts of the world are still represented in the same way as in both plays that will be compared in this essay. The characters in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll's House highlight the challenges of gender roles. The attention focused on points of comparison and contrast of men vs women's reactions in the course of both plays, which, allow the audience to think about gender identity and role conflicts. The other common shared view in both plays is that they are both showcased from a female perspective.
Assessment of the Success of the New Deal FDR introduced the New Deal to help the people most affected by the depression of October 1929. The Wall Street Crash of October 24th 1929 in America signalled the start of the depression in which America would fall into serious economic depression. The depression started because some people lost confidence in the fact that their share prices would continue to rise forever, they sold their shares which started a mass panic in which many shares were sold. The rate at which people were selling their shares was so quick that the teleprinters could not keep up, therefore share prices continued to fall making them worthless. Also causing many people to lose their jobs as the owners of factories could not afford to pay the workers wages.
In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Tennessee Williams depicts many of the convictions concerning to American society 's mind-set towards men and women 's gender roles in the mid-twentieth century. He deals with both male and female typecasts as well as society 's reaction to those who question these assumptions. In order to shape understanding of gender labels Williams uses a variety of techniques, such as dictions, stage directions, character foils, symbolism, sarcasm, and character. By signifying these truths Williams poses a question to society, as to whether or not these depictions are
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.
After two world wars, the balance of power between the genders in America had completely shifted. Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is a harsh, yet powerful play that exposes the reality of the gender struggle. Williams illustrates society’s changing attitudes towards masculinity and femininity through his eloquent use of dramatic devices such as characterization, dialogue, setting, symbolism, and foreshadowing.
Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll House." The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, and Writing. By Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 2011. 1709-757. Print.
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Human beings never had the option to choose their gender before birth. Although there are some differences that displays noticeable contrast between males and females such as physical traits, everyone is still equal as human beings. However, there are some societies in which gender plays a huge role in what a person does. Men would be described as masculine and powerful, having to do things that require power––physically, mentally, or both. On the other hand, women would be portrayed as feminine and inferior in which they would work as traditional housewives, usually confined under men. In both A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen and the movie Revolutionary Road, the female protagonists were precise illustrations of what confinement to traditional
During the time period Tennessee Williams, author of the play A Streetcar Named Desire, lived in, men were typically portrayed as leaders of the household. Through Williams' usage of dialogue, specific descriptions of each characters, as well as sound, he illustrates to readers of today's society how differently a man and woman coexisted in the mid-1900s, compared to today. Through the eyes of a topical/historical theorist, who stresses the relationships between the story and the time period it takes place, the distinction between today's society and that of five decades past, can be observed with depth and precision.
In order to explore the theme of feminism in Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, the following must be considered: the roles men and women are expected to have, what feminism is, the different ways that feminism can be shown in the play, and finally how feminism effects marriage. The roles that men and women are expected to have is a major contributor to the different ways that feminism is shown in the play, as well as how feminism effects marriage. Therefore, there must be a clear understanding as to what these expectations are so that the effects of following or rejecting these roles can be seen. In addition, there has to be knowledge of how following or rejecting these roles influences feminism in this play. Another thing that must be understood in order for there to be a clear viewpoint on what is being analyzed in Ibsen's work is what feminism is.
“A Doll’s House” is a play written by a Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen. The play was published in 1879, and is a literary piece that triggered almost vigorous reactions from the audience. Moreover, the play was considered Ibsen’s masterpiece and he was determined to provoke a reaction from the public. His intention was to bring awareness to the problem of gender roles in the 19th century society: the role of women who were used as decorations of the household. The title this play, “A Doll’s House”, foreshadows the play’s protagonist, Nora Helmer, and her role in the household. The title of the play suggests that Nora is a doll in her own home.