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Gender roles of women in literature
Role of women in the nineteenth century
Role of women in the nineteenth century
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Recommended: Gender roles of women in literature
“I must make up my mind which is right – society or I.” These words of Henrik Ibsen perfectly describes one of the most important theme discussed in this story i.e. Freedom. The meaning of freedom is defined from different aspects according to different cultures; freedom varies from one culture to another. Some define freedom as natural right, which a person is born with. Like the will to do what ever someone feels like, live where he wants, say what he thinks and have a free opinion about anything. Freedom can stretch through free speech to the choice of religion without ignoring or affecting other peoples’ rights. There is nothing more humiliating than taking a person’s natural rights away. By doing so you are depriving him from freedom. …show more content…
The play “A doll’s House” is a play about a time in which women were not allowed and were not supposed to conduct outside business, without the authority or their husbands, fathers or brothers. They were not allowed to vote, even when they had the right to divorce, but it had a heavy social stigma and was only done when both partners agreed on it. Basically women were treated as property of men. The setup of a play is of a typical late 18th and early 19th century household, thus relating it to the factors stated …show more content…
Don’t get me wrong, its not that she doesn’t want to live like that or as if she is fed up of her family, its because that her personality and her way of being is not suitable for the social environment and the situation of her family. Nora; according to the play is a cunning and a sharp women willing to do anything for her family, but this willingness of hers’ that she possesses is something what is considered bad for a women to do. She is part of a respectable family with a decent social status in the society. Her husband is shown a bit dominating in their relationship; which most of the husbands were at that time, as women were treated like property of men and didn’t have much say in most business affairs. Nora is represented as a confined women who is lost in search of personal satisfaction, her actions sends her into an even deeper conflict, not just with her personality, but also with the people around her especially her husband. Although her intentions according to the play were no to harm anyone, but they were taken totally out of proportion and the stigma of society labeled her as a negative
Throughout the play we never get to know who the real Nora is and what her true personality consists of. Nora also realizes that she does not know who she is, and decides to leave her life. She comments that she needs to discover who she is separate from her husband, children and more importantly society. Nora feels she is not respected, and she is a “doll” to her husband.
Henrick Isben wrote A Doll’s House in 1879 based on the life of a friend of his; contrary to Sharon Pollock who wrote Blood Relations in 1980 based on a real life event that took place in 1890. The time period of both of these plays is set in a patriarchal society. Women in the 19th century were supposed to be loyal to their duties as wives and mothers and caretakers of the home. They were to be submissive and obedient to the wants and desires of their husbands and yet remain delicate beings who were not allowed to think for themselves or express their opinions as equals in relationship. If they were not married, they were to be submissive and obedient to their father’s who took care of them. The men were to be the head of the household dealing with money and affairs inside and outside of the house. Women were not allowed to own property or borrow money without the consent of their father or husband. It is on this foundation that Nora and Lizzie were able to use their weaknesses bestowed upon them ...
From the time A Doll's House was performed for first time (1879) till now, there have been all sorts of interpretation and critics about its message. According to Mr. Mayer's files critics considered that the A Doll's House message was that "a marriage was not sacrosanct, that a man's authority in his home should not go unchallenged". Another similar critics' interpretat...
Those of you who have just read A Doll's House for the first time will, I suspect, have little trouble forming an initial sense of what it is about, and, if past experience is any guide, many of you will quickly reach a consensus that the major thrust of this play has something to do with gender relations in modern society and offers us, in the actions of the heroine, a vision of the need for a new-found freedom for women (or a woman) amid a suffocating society governed wholly by unsympathetic and insensitive men.
Nora is the protagonist in the play and the wife of Torvald Helmer. Nora begins out very playful, and full of life. Her role in the play is slightly mischievous but very loving and passionate. We do get the sense she is not as happy as she seems to be. We later understand how she truly feels about her marriage. She is upset that she is not allowed to make decision by herself as when she break the custom of consulting with her husband abut a loan and she gets it by herself. Nora felt like a doll, and she got the strength to free herself from that oppressive situation. Nora poses as the happy wife but she is really miserable.
In the play A Doll’s House, the author provides an unfavorable image that describes how women of all economic class in his society were able to maintain. Basically, the female characters described throughout the play demonstrate Nora’s claim that even though men refuse to surrender their integrity, “hundreds of thousands of women have.” For example, in order for Mrs. Linde to provide for her mother and two brothers, she found it necessary to abandon the love her life in order to marry someone who had more money. Another example would be the nanny who had to relinquish her rights as a parent in order to take care of herself by working as Nora’s
...th century were put down and seen of as lesser then men. They didn’t get any fair chances and had control of absolutely nothing in their life. The roles of women ranged from mother to wife, and went not far beyond. There was no way to gain any independence. Despite, the inferiority of Mrs. Linde, she defied the stereotypical ideas of women of her time and learned to be prosperous on her own. She even got a job, which was practically impossible for women of her time. In the end Ibsen’s portrayal of Mrs. Linde was extremely significant, she became a role of feminist movements for all people of her time. Ibsen was one of the first men to understand and feel that society was corrupt and women deserve to be treated equal. This play became extremely controversial to all, but in the end portrayed the ideas that would rewrite the role of a woman in any portion of life.
Nora 's character is a little bit complicated. she is a representative of women in her time and shows how women were thought to be a content with the luxuries of modern society without worrying about men 's outside world. However, Nora proves that this idea is entirely wrong. Nora is not a spendthrift as all people think specially her husband. on the contrary, she has a business awareness and she is mature
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is a three-act play significant for its attitude toward marriage norms. In the drama, Ibsen explores idealism between the wife Nora and her husband Helmer. Nora’s and Helmer’s idealism forces the pair to see themselves and each other starring in various idealist scenarios of female sacrifice and heroic male rescue. As a play, the scenes are act out on stage. The staging of a house reveals the dramaturgical aspects and dynamics of the play. The presence of the house is significant to the depiction of women on stage. The action of the play traces Nora’s relationship to the house. Ibsen’s play focuses on the aspect of the expected idealism of the wife and husband, and how the domestic abode can hinder freedom.
“A Doll’s House” gives the reader a firsthand view at how gender roles affected the characters actions and interactions throughout the play. The play helps to portray the different struggles women faced during the 19th century with gender roles, and how the roles affected their relationships with men as well as society. It also helps to show the luxury of being a male during this time and how their higher status socially over women affected their relationships with woman and others during this time period.
The old and new attitudes toward sexuality and the proper behavior of women is very apparent in the play called A Doll House. The play shows how each woman has sacrificed who they were for the men and the other people in their lives. The play also shows how men see women in general. Several characters give up who they thought they were meant to be, because of the social aspect in their lives. Society has always placed a burden on women as who they are supposed to be as wives, mothers, and as adult women. Women were seen as the inferior sex in the past and in the present. Things have changed over the years as women earn more and more freedom and rights that men have had for a very long time. The sacrifices that are made in this play speak to how things work for women in society. Women give up their right to happiness because they feel obligated to change who they are to help someone else.
In its historical context A Doll’s House was a radical play which forced its audience to question the gender roles which are constructed by society and make them think about how their own lives are a performance for Victorian society.
Those of you who have just read A Doll's House for the first time will, I suspect, have little trouble forming an initial sense of what it is about, and, if past experience is any guide, many of you will quickly reach a consensus that the major thrust of this play has something to do with gender relations in modern society and offers us, in the actions of the heroine, a vision of the need for a new-found freedom for women (or a woman) amid a suffocating society governed wholly by unsympathetic and insensitive men.
A Doll House was a play written well ahead of its time. This play was written in a time when it was considered an outrage for a woman such as Nora not only to display a mind of her own, but also to leave her husband in order to obtain her freedom. This play relates to the Art Nouveau and Edwardian period because just as the furniture and clothing were considered decorative pieces, so were women. Women were expected only to tend to the husband's and children's needs. Women were not supposed to do anything without first consulting the husband and certainly never do anything without his prior knowledge and approval. Women were expected to be at home and always looking presentable for their husbands.
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.