Comparing Women In Fantomina And A Doll's House

Fantomina subverts the traditional women roles of her time by disguising herself in order to be pursue a sexual relationship without her status as a Lady being tarnished. She continually chases after a man in order to have sex and stops at nothing to do so. Women in those times were supposed to be quiet, dainty, and not be indiscriminately sexually active. The character Fantomina has to sneak around in order to enjoy a sexual relationship, which affirms the woman’s role of being chaste. She had to sneak in order to save her reputation as can be seen in this quote, “She had discernment to forsee, and avoid all those Ills which might attend the Loss of her Reputation, but was wholly blind to those of the Ruin of her Virtue.” Her deceitfulness also affirms women’s roles of the time because she is made to be deceitfully cunning. In the past women were usually not portrayed as being smart unless it was in a deceitful manner as is displayed in Fantomina and A Doll’s House. Although, Fanotmina and Nora both experience restrictions throughout their daily lives because of their gender being female their situations differ in the fact that Fantomina is rich and unmarried which allows her

Linde in the story in order to contrast against Nora. While Mrs. Linde is probably seen as a subversive character throughout the whole play she actually does affirm some roles in 19th century society. Up until this point in her life she has been sacrificing to take care of her family and because of such lost out on love. A big part of a woman’s role in society is to be the one to sacrifice. Whether it be as a mother or a wife it is always the woman who must sacrifice something in order to better her children’s or her husband’s lives. Nora’s actions at the end of the play can almost be seen as a sacrifice for her children because she believes that the nanny would be a better mother to her children then she would