Stereotypes Of Women During The Nineteenth-Century

The Victorian Era was a pinnacle point in time in which a new social hierarchy was implemented and led to an impact which caused women around the world to question and challenge their purpose in the world. In A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen and Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, both Ibsen and Kafka used archetype and bildungsroman to illustrate the womens’ change throughout the story and show challenges the social stereotype of women during the nineteenth-century.

Just being a woman during this period of time caused many challenges. Many women faced numerous problems with social standards implicated by men and society itself. “The only duty casted upon a Victorian woman was to keep her husband happy and raise her children for which they groomed

Not only was this their job to counterbalance the moral taint of the public spheres. . .,” which is shown as Nora mainly tends to the children and manages the maid and nurse throughout the story. These “spheres” also exemplified her to specific characteristics based off gender and stereotyping like “. . . qualities of femininity: emotion, passivity, submission, dependence, and selflessness. . ..” (Zeltser) Due to Nora conforming to this, her rebellion slowly begins to seep out behind the facade in which she has put up due to trying to be perfect and the “ideal” Victorian wife for her husband and her children children. As Nora was maturing, she began to adapt to this social role of being a wife and a mother in the society in which she lived in because “no one wanted to be called a ‘blue-stocking,’ the name given to women who had devoted themselves too enthusiastically to intellectual pursuits.” (Hughes) Like this reform, many women followed in an act of equality and the pursuit of happiness, like Nora did when she realized that her life was like a doll in a home that Torvald built for her. Nora’s realization was not expected as women’s thoughts were not allowed to be expressed, as it could be associated with an ailment. This was a shock to the storyline as “society during this era made it impossible for women to make any advancements,” so Nora deciding to leave her destined occupation and role was beyond surreal during this time. Because of this cynical effect, the play A Doll’s House had a literal impact on women viewing it during the Victorian era. Nora encaptured the reform in which women wanted during the Victorian Era by challenging her husband’s rules and defying female expectations in a family. “Home theatre,