A Doll's House And The Yellow Wallpaper Analysis

Demanding Husbands Without freedom, the urge to escape is prevalent. When a lady’s husband is too overprotective and smothers his wife, she may eventually end up running away from her problems. In the play, A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen, and in the story, The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the main characters, feel trapped by their husbands. Both of these stories demonstrate that during the time period that the stories were written, some men behaved in an authoritarian manner which caused stress and trauma to women. The women in these stories each take drastic action. During the time that A Doll’s House and The Yellow Wallpaper were written, decisions for anything from the biggest issue to the smallest detail, was arranged

Torvald, calls his wife by immature names such as, “my little squirrel” (n.p. Ibsen) and “my little lark” (n.p.). This shows that he thinks of her as his small adorable pet. John calls his wife “a blessed little goose” (Gilman 2). Calling her by this name shows that he thinks she is inferior to him. She is his pet that he is master of. Torvald commands Nora, “Don 't disturb me” (n.p. Ibsen). He generally regards women in lower esteem “That is like a woman!” (n.p.). He constantly refers to her as a “little person” (n.p.) while thinking of himself as great. When Nora is having a serious conversation with Dr. Rank about his scientific investigation, Torvald, who believes Nora to be incapable of thinking, says sarcastically, “Just listen!--little Nora talking about scientific investigations!” (n.p.). Torvald refuses to acknowledge Nora as a thinking

Until the night that Nora runs away, she and Torvald, “have never exchanged a word on any serious subject” (Ibsen n.p. ). Only after Torvald screams at Nora, does she realize that she dislikes the way their relationship functions. She immediately takes drastic action by escaping. In The Yellow Wallpaper, John’s wife tries “to have a real reasonable talk with him” (Gilman 3). Since John doesn 't think his wife’s opinions are valid, they cannot have a legitimate conversation. She really wants to go and visit her cousins, but he made a negative decision for her without her input. When she starts going crazy and believing that she is seeing an actual woman in the wallpaper, she became more free. She left her actuality of being trapped by her husband. Her life has changed to one that isn 't reality. Since the woman believes that she is actually the woman from the wallpaper, she says “ ‘I 've got out at last…in spite of you and Jane’ ” (Gilman 7) . Although she is insane, she is correct, she did free herself, because she is not listening to her husband. She no longer feels bound by his word protecting