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Character and characterization in a doll's house
The changing role of women in contemporary society
The changing role of women in contemporary society
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These two different viewpoints of women are, a woman’s happiness comes from her domestic life and caring for her family while the other believes women have an obligation to themselves, not just to their children or husband. The duties women are expected to perform and where their happiness is supposed to stem from comes from a mutual place. Though Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House, illustrated the growing thought women were developing about taking control of their own happiness and gaining equal rights and values. Though a lot of women still believed that their places were at home, taking care of the family from the home and being the foundation of men since women were viewed as the weaker sex. In the etiquette manual, Woman in Her Social and Domestic Character, by Elizabeth Poole Sanford, women were supposed to draw their happiness from their duties of being a housewife, (Sanford, Woman in Her Social and Domestic Character, page 708), “Domestic life is the chief source if her influence; and the greatest debt society can owe to her is domestic comfort; for happiness is almost an element of virtue; and nothing …show more content…
When I look back on it now, I seem to be living here like a beggar, on handouts.” Nora also thought that her own had duties were equally as valuable as being a wife and mother, and that she was just as capable as men to think for herself, not having other men think for her. She also believed that because she is also human, she must also be entitled to her own happiness and
“A Doll’s House” was written by Ibsen not only to bring attention to the suppression of women, but to bring attention to the other problematic aspects of marriage in the late 1800’s. Since the play was first performed in 1879 in Copenhagen, there was debate about the way that Ibsen portrayed the nature of the Helmer’s marriage (McFarland-Wilson, Knapp 140). Throughout the entire Western World in the 20th Century, the position of not only women, but the nature of marriage was up in the air. Ibsen was not a feminist; he was a realist, who loved to point out the injustices in society (Kashdan). Ibsen’s character clearly explains why he chose to center his writing on the overall picture of marriage, not just the neglect and unfair treatment that the women received.
Genders have always played a major role in society and the household throughout history. These conventions are the rules that society functions from and more importantly the ideals crucial to ones overall social status. Husbands are to support the family with financial success, which involves freedom from debt and moral guilt; meanwhile, wives have a submissive role and are to be economically and socially dependent on their husbands. Some form of gender stereotype has been a foundation to social structures throughout time. Henrik Ibsen challenges the ideals of the bourgeoisie lifestyle and gives the reader a different perspective through the play A Doll’s House. Ibsen breaks down the stereotypical role through the main female character, Nora Helmer, who fulfills a doll like stereotype very well but as the story evolves, the play shows it is only a performance in order to save her husband’s pride.
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.
Feminism is the advocacy of women’s right and is on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. Centuries ago, women did not share the same equality as men. Men and women’s gender roles were practiced with greater acceptance than by today’s standards. More-over, gender roles among women decades ago, were wrapped within the limits of their political, economic, and social rights and freedoms. The man’s role was to work and to make important final decisions for the family. Were-as, the wives were to stay home with the kids and obey her husband. Feminism changed all those aspects in the world for men and women to be treated to have the same rights. “A Doll’s House” is a profound play to make direct connection on why feminism started. The main character in the play Nora is wife and a mother that struggling to gain equality in her life. In
Women in the 19th century were not treated much better than property. A woman had absolutely no rights. She was not her own person, she was the person that everybody else expected her to be. Women did not have any power over the man in a public or private setting They were treated as property and were supposed to do as the man said. Also, women were not allowed to have jobs, and expected to keep to the house and raise the children. While today it is harder to comprehend the treatment of women in the 19th century Henrik Ibsen does an amazing job portraying this in his drama, A Doll House, with one of the main characters Nora.
The enforcement of specific gender roles by societal standards in 19th century married life proved to be suffocating. Women were objects to perform those duties for which their gender was thought to have been created: to remain complacent, readily accept any chore and complete it “gracefully” (Ibsen 213). Contrarily, men were the absolute monarchs over their respective homes and all that dwelled within. In Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, Nora is subjected to moral degradation through her familial role, the consistent patronization of her husband and her own assumed subordinance. Ibsen belittles the role of the housewife through means of stage direction, diminutive pet names and through Nora’s interaction with her morally ultimate husband, Torvald. Nora parades the façade of being naïve and frivolous, deteriorating her character from being a seemingly ignorant child-wife to a desperate woman in order to preserve her illusion of the security of home and ironically her own sanity. A Doll’s House ‘s depiction of the entrapment of the average 19th century housewife and the societal pressures placed upon her displays a woman’s gradual descent into madness. Ibsen illustrates this descent through Torvald’s progressive infantilization of Nora and the pressure on Nora to adhere to societal norms. Nora is a woman pressured by 19th century societal standards and their oppressive nature result in the gradual degradation of her character that destroys all semblances of family and identity.Nora’s role in her family is initially portrayed as being background, often “laughing quietly and happily to herself” (Ibsen 148) because of her isolation in not only space, but also person. Ibsen’s character rarely ventures from the main set of the drawi...
Women of the 19th century were trapped in their societal roles. There was no way out. Rights were unattainable: no matter how many rights movements occurred, such as the Norwegian Association for Women’s Rights. A women’s place in society was determined by their husband’s status; there was little to no way to obtain a job, a women could not even decide for herself whether or not she wanted to be married or have a child. The male role in the woman’s life took over all decisions and property. Women were seen as the property of men, like their dolls. This idea of a women being a doll was especially evident in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Henrik Ibsen was a Norwegian dramatist, he became known as the father of modern realistic drama. He became popular because of the ridicule he received for “revealing a women’s need for independence from male authority” (feminist literature). While most characters in the play remained obedient to their societal roles, one woman took her life into her own hands. Mrs. Linde, after the death of her husband, learned to stand on her own two feet with no ones help. She got a job, a house and learned to stand on her own two feet. Even though Mrs. Linde played a minor role in the play, her life became a model for the feminist movements because she defied female stereotypes for her time period.
Many women in modern society make life altering decisions on a daily basis. Women today have prestigious and powerful careers unlike in earlier eras. It is more common for women to be full time employees than homemakers. In 1879, when Henrik Ibsen wrote A Doll's House, there was great controversy over the out come of the play. Nora’s walking out on her husband and children was appalling to many audiences centuries ago. Divorce was unspoken, and a very uncommon occurrence. As years go by, society’s opinions on family situations change. No longer do women have a “housewife” reputation to live by and there are all types of family situations. After many years of emotional neglect, and overwhelming control, Nora finds herself leaving her family. Today, it could be said that Nora’s decision is very rational and well overdue.
Sheldin Kaithathara Ms. Ledman AP literature and Composition 24 March 2014 Analysis how Ibsen portray the role of both men and woman in A Doll House Henrik Ibsen's A Doll House portrays the restrictions of life that applied to men and women living in 1870's Norway. Through his literary masterpiece, Ibsen exposes how specific-gender roles implemented as social norm during 1870’s are enforced within the minds of both the men and women to the extend where it affects every aspect on their life. He utilizes imagery, characterization, foreshadowing, diction, foils, and other literary devices to illustrates how the social norms has bounded the minds of men and women to archetypes of Macho male and trophy wife figure. Ibsen wrote this play during the late nineteen’s century, a time where the feminist revolution had not occurred to advocate civil rights and privileges which the females during the late nineteen’s century did not have.
Inferiority is the condition of being lower in status or quality than another or others.Women have been seen as inferior to men from the past centuries. As it may seem that women have adapted into society to be seen as equals with men, that is not the case. In the short film Nora and the play A Doll house by Ibsen Nora, a troubled character is seen as inferior to the men she works with and her husband. I believe that the short film Nora is an accurate retelling of Ibsen’s A Doll House because it portrays the inferiority of the female gender in the 21st century as present in the 19th century play.
A Doll’s House, written by Henrik Ibsen, is an intriguing story of a marriage that falls apart as the wife, Nora Helmer, realizes she has been living as simply a doll in her husband’s doll house. As the story begins, we learn of Nora’s secret, a loan in which she has committed forgery in order to obtain. The loan was used for a trip that the Helmer’s took when Torvald grew ill. Krogstad, the man in which Nora has borrowed the money from, blackmails Nora in hopes that her husband, Torvald, will let him keep his job. As the story develops, Nora’s anxiety grows as her husband grows closer to learning about what she has done.
After reading the three-act play called A Doll’s House, I have a few responses about four topics that relate to the performance compared to how women were treated today. The protagonist’s husband named Torvald Helmer, I feel that he was not a villain but rather he was insensitive, and insecure man who was unaware of how his wife, Nora, was being treated by him. Although, I do feel some sympathy for the man despite not living up to his role of being an equal husband, as he had saved up his money and was debt-free, but I do not think his wife wasn’t deceiving. Torvald was assuming his role as the traditional husband where whatever he says goes, and his wife, being the second-in-command in her family heeding her husband’s orders as the breadwinner in the family. Nora at the beginning of the play thought that her role as housewife was the norm until she had realized how unfairly treated she was actually being; she was being treated like a child rather than an equal adult.
In Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House, Ibsen conveys the idea of women equality. Women equality, where women would have the freedom that men had and would be able to enjoy and relish in a world where their true potential was not forcibly pushed inside of them. In 1879 most women were still confined to the home solely as of mothers and wives. Ibsen, being raised mostly by his mother, saw the truth of being a women from a man’s eyes and decided to show the rest of the world that same enlightenment. In this enlightenment Henrik Ibsen's use of the "well-made play" illuminates the developing strength of the protagonist Nora Helmer to help the social status of women in a male dominated world.
In the play A Doll’s House, Nora 's sacrificial role as a women is considered to be more like a housewife. Her husband Helmer only gives her so much money each week to spend on money and other necessities. Throughout the play Nora is being blackmailed by Krogstad because instead of her father signing for the loan she did. Women back then were not allowed to take out loans only men. Women during the time of the play A Doll’s House, were treated very differently they did not have the same rights as men and were constantly having to make their husbands happy. This is a little similar today, but a lot has changed since then. Women now are more independent and have more freedom to do as they please.
...dlike mentality and needs to grow before she can raise her own children. Her defiance of Torvald, when he refuses to let her leave, reflects her epiphany that she isn't obligated to let Torvald dictate her actions. The height of Nora's realization comes when she tells Torvald that her duty to herself is as strong as her duty as a wife and mother. She now sees that she is a human being before she is a wife and mother and she owes herself to explore her personality, ambitions, and beliefs.