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A Doll's House By Henrik Ibsen Essay

1382 Words6 Pages

The Victorian era, the setting of the play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, consisted of many social reforms such as bringing light to the ideas of socialism, liberalism, and most importantly feminism. Feminism dates back to the ancient Greek periods. Proto Feminists such as Plato fought for the total sexual equality of men and women publicly prescribing that they should be part of the highest class. That was during 400 B.C. and still 2,000 years later in that patriarchal society, women were isolated in their homes and forced to do housework and take care of the children while their spouse was able to go out, get a job, and have whatever freedom he wanted. Women were unable to make money of their own and depended on their husband to make the …show more content…

Both genders encounter the justifiable repercussions they deserve to the same extent. For example, in the play, Krogstad explains, “Mrs. Helmer, you evidently don’t realise clearly what it is that you have been guilty of. But I can assure you that my one false step, which lost me all my reputation, was nothing more or nothing worse than what you have done. The law cares nothing about motives” (Ibsen 33). Krogstad demonstrates that no matter what the intentions were for either Nora or himself to commit these misdoings, they will both eventually fall to the same fate. Both Krogstad and Nora, man and woman, would confront the impending and equal ramifications of their actions. In the eyes of the law, gender does not matter. Torvald, Nora’s spouse symbolizes the values of society. He is shown to accept the roles given in that patriarchal society while denying himself his own perception. Through Torvald, society bashes both Nora and Krogstad for their attempts to be free from the grasp of society and become their own individual. This isn’t an act of feminism because Nora and Krogstad, representing different genders were reprimanded for attempting to break free from their narrow minded civilization. In addition, Jean Templeton, the author of the literary piece, “A Doll’s House Backlash” says “Like angels, Nora has no sex. Ibsen …show more content…

Women may have faced many dreadful punishments within their lives, but that is irrelevant to the events of the play. The literary work, A Doll’s House, written by the playwright Henrik Ibsen is not feminist due to the fact that it does not hinder themes evident in his writing such as the burden of gender roles, the consequences of defying social normalities, and the effects of chicacenary and duplicacy of

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