The Feminist Protagonists in The Awakening and A Doll's House
The idea of women's liberation is a common theme in both Kate Chopin's The Awakening and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. In her analysis of Feminism in Europe Katharine M. Rogers writes, " Thinking of Nora's painful disillusionment, her parting from her children, and the uncertainties of her future independent career, Ibsen called his play 'the tragedy of modern times'" (82). The main characters in each work, Nora Helmer, in A Doll House, and Edna Pontellier, in The Awakening, portray feminist ideas.
Neither Ibsen nor Chopin intended to write for the women's right's movement, but both works are classics of a woman's liberation. Ibsen is quoted as saying "that he never 'consciously worked for the women's right movement'" (82). It has also been shown that "Chopin did not intend to write a feminist tract" (Martin 252). Even though neither work was meant to be used as a feminist advocacy document, the works are excellent examples of the fact that many people were attuned to the plight of women.
Nora and Edna both intend to pursue their own careers. At the time these works were written, women did not normally have their own careers. Nora enjoys the copying work she secretly does at night to earn back money for her loan. Working makes her feel less like the shallow, twittering female people think she is and more like an independent man. After Nora leaves Torvald, she wants to live on her own and support herself. Edna wants to become an artist. She tries to paint seriously every day after her return from Grand Isle. Even though Mr. Pontellier thinks her paintings are a silly hobby, Edna sells several paintings and hopes to sell more.
Nora and Edna are both i...
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...the works portray feminist ideas such as pursuit of careers, independence from families, and close male friends. Ibsen and Chopin were ahead of their time by writing works focusing on a topic that is still controversial a century later.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1985.
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.
Martin, Wendy, ed. "Introduction." New Essays on The (Awakening. New York, NY: Cambridge UP, 1988.
Rogers, Katharine M. Feminism in Europe. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1982.
Templeton, Joan. "Is A Doll House a Feminist Text?" (1989). Rpt. In Meyer.
Franklin, R. F. "The Awakening and the Failure of Psyche" American Literature 56 (Summer 1984): 510-526.
Chopin, Kate. "The Awakening." The Norton Anthology of American Literature.. Gen. ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2012. 561-652. Print.
Sullivan, Barbara. "Introduction to The Awakening." In The Awakening, ed. Barbara Sullivan. New York: Signet, 1976.
Around 3500 B.C.E to 3000 B.C.E., civilizations emerged in many places. Egypt and Mesoamerica are distinctive two of them. Considering the different aspects of civilization, historians can find some same characteristics and differences which are valuable for historians to understand civilization in-depth.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 535-625. Print.
New Essays on The Awakening. Ed. Wendy Martin. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988.
Abortion is very cruel to the baby and even harms the mother. It is murder!There are many different procedures for abortions, all gruesome and pain inflicting on the baby. Suction Aspiration (vacuum curettage) makes up for 98% of first trimester abortions. The cervix is first dilated. Then a suction tube with a sharp cutting edge is inserted which rips the baby to pieces. It then sucks out all the remains.
Nora is portrayed to be representative of women of this time. The social distinction between men and women were very well-marked in the home. As W. E. Simonds said in his review of Henrik Ibsen’s work, “She is happy in her “doll-house,” and apparently knows nothing outside her home, her husband, and her children.” Women were expected to handle the household affairs and staff. Men were expected to work outside the home as the primary breadwinner, but the home was his castle run by his wife. Nora's responsibilities include the management of the household staff, and household expenses but as expected of the time, Nora’s husband gives her a household expense budget as well as in...
Another issue that arises is the potential personhood of the fetus. Many would argue that its poten...
According to Don Marquis, the fetus is a person and has the right to live because it is a biological human being and a human being in a moral sense (Lewis,2013, pp. 320). A fetus is a person some may say because it possesses some of the personhood characteristics. In the woman’s womb, a fertilized sperm turns into a blastocyst after 5 days and later turns into an embryo (human fetus), which eight weeks later the fetus develops a brain, heart, and all the other body cells and tissue (Lewis, 2013, pp. 293). At that moment, the fetus is conscious and alive, because the brain is slowly functioning and is pumping blood throughout the whole body. Soon, the fetus would form into a human figure and kick the mother’s tummy, and when the mother places her hand on her tummy, the fetus stops kicking shows a communication or connection. So, it is a wrongful act to abort the fetus because it has the potential to develop into a person.
A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, is a play that was written ahead of its time. In this play Ibsen tackles women's rights as a matter of importance. Throughout this time period it was neglected. A Doll's House was written during the movement of Naturalism, which commonly reflected society. Ibsen acknowledges the fact that in 19th century life the role of the woman was to stay at home, raise the children and attend to her husband. Nora Helmer is the character in A Doll House who plays the 19th woman and is portrayed as a victim. Michael Meyers said of Henrik Ibsen's plays: "The common denominator in many of Ibsen's dramas is his interest in individuals struggling for and authentic identity in the face of tyrannical social conventions. This conflict often results in his characters' being divided between a sense of duty to themselves and their responsibility to others."(1563) All of the aspects of this quote can be applied to the play A Doll House, in Nora Helmer's character, who throughout much of the play is oppressed, presents an inauthentic identity to the audience and throughout the play attempts to discovery her authentic identity.
The issue of abortion is a very controversial one. There are many opinions about it that are largely discussed. People have many ideas about abortion that are possible based on their faith and morals. Most women who are pregnant and go in for abortions do not receive all the facts. Their doctors should inform them about the extremely serious side effects that can come from abortion. Abortions cause women physical and mental side effects that can cause them great pain, complications, and even death. What is abortion, though? Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion procedures change according to the stage of the pregnancy. There are four main procedures that women go through when having an abortion. One being, the early medical abortion, which is usually from 0 to 9 weeks; this method is also known as the abortion pill but this is not a very accurate description, as it does not involve simply taking a pill. The next step is, vacuum aspiration abortion, which takes place 5 to 15 weeks. Vacuum aspiration simply means suction. The next method is called early surgical dilatation and evacuation, which is between 15 to 19 weeks. After the woman has been given a light general anesthetic, the doctor gently stretches the passage through the cervix until it is wide enough for narrow forceps to be used to remove most of the contents of the uterus. Then a tube attached to a vacuum pump is used to remove any remaining tissue. The final step is, surgical two-stage abortion or medical induction, which happens between 20 to 24 weeks. During a medical induction, the fetal heart is stopped and then the doctor uses drugs to induce premature labor. A surgical two...
The argument can be made that the fetus deserves the same level of personhood that children and adults do. This can be countered with the fact that children and adults are able to live without occupying the body of another person. The point at which personhood occurs may never be established because of the contrasting views for and against personhood and it would be very difficult to establish any kind of middle ground on personhood.
Henrik Ibsen’s, A Doll’s House, took a very different outlook on society in not showing
Women may have an abortion for a variety of reasons, but in general they choose abortion because a pregnancy at that time is in some way wrong for them. “Abortion is the removal of a fetus from the uterus before it is mature enough to live on its own” (Kuechler 1996). When this happens spontaneously we call it a miscarriage. Induced abortion is brought about deliberately by a medical procedure that ends pregnancy. Legal abortion, carried out by trained medical practitioners, is one of the most common and safest surgical procedures. “About 1.5 million American women choose to have induced abortions each year. Less than 1% of all abortion patients experience a major complication associated with the procedure” (Kuechler 1996).