Essay Comparing A Doll's House And Hamlet

Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” set in the nineteenth century and William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” set in the medieval period are two plays that clearly depict the male dominance and societal conservativeness that existed a few centuries ago. Women were protected by the men in their lives and were expected to return the favor by being dutiful daughters, wives and mothers. Their opinions and interests were of least importance. At certain stages, the female protagonists of Ibsen’s Nora Helmer and Shakespeare’s Ophelia have had their share of adversities. Let’s analyze how they approached the situation when they lost support from their men and how their actions determined their fate.
In “A Doll’s House,” Nora’s charm and child-like behavior is

Ophelia was over burdened with emotions and her frequent suppression of true feelings made her mentally weak. She did not have the strength to overcome the adversities and chose to be a tragic heroine. She could not deal with the emotional turmoil and decided to end it all by killing herself. It is sad that her decision did not prove anything meaningful. She miserably failed to leave a mark on the lives of the rest of the characters. Although unaware of law, Nora had gone out of her way to support her husband. When she realized that she had just been a pretty doll for her husband, she decided to take a drastic step of walking out of her eight year old marriage. Nora also believed that, to be a good wife and mother, it is important to be a good human being first. In order to be a good human being, she had to come out of her cocoon and have life experience. Nora did not want her kids to be treated by her the same way her father had treated her. Her decision to break the norms of a conservative society shook her husband who had always considered her to be weak. Instead of ending her life, Nora was more practical and felt that it was never too late to grow as a person. In the end, Torvald promises to be a better man, which can be attributed as a positive outcome of Nora’s bold