Comparative Essay

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, written in 1813, is a novel written about a family with daughters encouraging them to marry rich because they do not have wealth, but one daughter refuses. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, written in 1879, is a play written about women’s rights, and what they were aloud to do in the time period. These two interestingly different readings also have similarities, such as, the society and the gender relations. The Victorian era took place from 1837 to 1901, and was a time of British History. English novelists who wrote romantic books in a conservative way, like the Victorian era, wrote Pride and Prejudice. Since the Victorian era taught people how to act in today’s life from the Britain history, Jane Austen’s

In Pride and Prejudice, women were portrayed and Elizabeth’s duties as women were to marry a rich man to support her. This was because her family did not have the money for their five children, so their father went out looking for them a husband. The male dominance was that Mr. Bingley belittles the Bennett family for the reason they did not have money like he did. For the reasons that men and women were treated so differently is beyond this time period, and goes way back. For as long as history goes back, women have always been the smallest of the family and do not get much of what they want. In A Doll’s House the portrayal of women is the Nora’s role was to stay at home to take care of the kids and was said to be Torvalds’s trophy wife, and he was very proud of that. The male dominance was that Torvald controlled Nora by controlling what she ate, such as macaroons, belittled her by calling her pet names. Nora never felt that Torvald was trying to be mean and thought that he loved her with all of his heart, and it was normal for people to act that way. In fact during this era, most all women were treated poorly and belittled by their husbands telling them they were not good enough, or were not doing what they were supposed to with the

When is comes to money, Nora had taken out a loan and forged a signature to save Torvald’s life. This leads to Nora realizing Torvald does not love her when he does not follow through with an expectation she held for him. In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth is pressured by her parents to get married because the family finds out that the family inheritance cannot go to any of the five daughters, and so the daughters are encouraged to marry someone for their money. Today, that would be one of the worst reasons to marry someone. This leads to marriage, being one of the most important topics of the era. In A Doll’s House Nora is treated like a doll in the sense of being controlled by her husband Torvald. She soon realizes he does not really love her and he only loves the thought of her being his trophy wife. Torvald could care less about what she does with his money or around the house, as long as she is his trophy wife and he can show her off in public places. Elizabeth is pressured by her family to marry someone rich, and soon after she rebels and rejects anyone’s offers to marriage that is wealthy. Eventually Elizabeth falls in love with a man of wealth and marries the man she has despised the entire novel. Women seemed to be getting more independence and rights as the years go on. For example, Nora takes out a loan, which was not allowed in the time