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In The Glass Castle Jeanette is a very strong female character determined to make a better life for herself so she decides to move to New York and achieve her dreams. Eventually she achieves her goal and is now an independent person. She strives to leave the past behind her as soon as she can. She says to them, “I’ll be gone. In less than three months, I’m leaving for New York City” (Walls 238).
In Act 2, Nora uses her sexuality in order to get what she wants from Torvald and Dr. Rank. This reminds the audience that women’s only means of asserting control is to use their sexuality, hence reinforcing the gender roles of the Victorian era. Nora attempts to persuade Torvald to “let Krogstad keep his post in the bank” since Krogstad has been threatening to expose Nora to Torvald for taking a loan from him. In order to persuade Torvald, Nora suggests to him that “[she] would play the fairy and dance for [Torvald] in the moonlight” (Pg. 44). This may be interpreted as a sexual act which Nora is willing to perform in order to get what she desires.
The play The Doll House initiates with Nora in a seemly happy marriage with a husband she loves and believes the feeling is mutual. Nora holds her husband in high esteem because of his professional accomplishments. However, he neglects to acknowledge Nora uniqueness. He treats her like a doll to be played with and cared for; as her father does. She exploits her husband's prominence by obtaining a loan fraudulently.
In comparing and contrast both drama A Doll House by (Henrik Ibsen), and Trifles by (Susan Glaspell). The authors shine a light on how a woman had no place in society in the nineteenth century .A woman place was in her home and her responsibility’s consist of taking care of her husband, her children and her home. Mrs. Wright was introduce to the reader as woman that was held for murdering her husband after a long time of abuse. Nora was introduce to the reader as woman that had everything in life.
A Doll’s house is a realistic three act play that focuses on the nineteenth century life in middle class Scandinavian household life, where the wife is expected to be inferior and passive whereas the husband is superior and paternally protective. It was written by Henrik Ibsen. The play criticised the marriage norms that existed in the 19th century. It aroused many controversies as it concludes with Nora, the main protagonists leaving her husband and children in order to discover her identity. It created a lot of controversies and was heavily criticised as it questioned the traditional roles of men and women among Europeans who believed that the covenant of marriage was holy.
Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen was highly criticized for undeniably demonstrating woman’s issues in the 19th century. While the play doesn’t change setting much at all, Ibsen clearly focuses in on the characterization of three insightful characters: Mrs. Linde, Nora, and Helmer. Mrs. Linde is a minor character; however, that doesn’t alter her effect on the play. She provides the mold for the perfect, idealized wife. Nora, the main character, develops rapidly in the play, and her character is a stark contrast to Mrs. Linde.
"Barbie Doll” is a powerful poem that provides a feminist view on the expectations of women in society. Marge Piercy sarcastically demonstrates the idea of being as perfect as a Barbie doll in her poem. She tells the story of a normal girl who grows up into a woman that is constantly told she is not perfect. In response to these comments, the girl cuts off her nose and legs in order to satisfy those around her. It is only in death that she is finally admired as the perfect woman.
The play "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen features a housewife with a scandalous secret in the mid-1800s. Throughout the play, the characters portray gender qualities congruent with the time period. Nora, the housewife represents the typical stay at home mother without any real authority and Torvald, the husband, represents the masculine breadwinner and ruler of the house. Other characters such as Mrs. Linde may represent a nonconventional side of the woman's place in society. Ibsen was best known for his realistic style and harsh criticism of traditional social customs represented through his works such as "Pillars of Society", "Ghosts", "An Enemy of the People", and of course "A Doll's House".
In a marriage, specifically Nora and Torvald’s, the male gender role is superior to the female gender role, in that, the male is responsible for providing for the family financially, physically, and even emotionally. From a young age, men are programmed to be masculine, self-sufficient, and “tough” (Windle, Smith, 2009). With these traits, comes dominance, which reveals itself most in a marriage. In Henrick Ibsen’s “A Doll House,” Torvald Helmer is very dominant or superior to his wife, Nora. What he says goes.
The controversial ending of the play caused an uproar of critics, stating that Nora’s transformation from a naïve child in acts 1 and 2 to a cold feminist in act 3 is far-fetched and unrealistic. Some even argue that the prideful slam of the door at the end is not unlike a child throwing a tantrum. It was actually meant to be comedic and “…leave us laughing heartily, for there is no doubt that she will return home…” (Weigand, 68). Norwegian scholar Else Hest states, “The charming ‘lark’ could never have become the ‘newly fledged feminist’…it is the childish, ecstatic broken-hearted Nora who makes A Doll House immortal; the other one, the unfeeling women of act 3 who coldly analyzes the flaws in her marriage, is psychologically unconvincing and wholly unsympathetic.”
Nora 's courage in going against the pillars of the Victorian era is something the modern reader finds commendable and aspiring. If the play had been performed today, the modern reader would be the one to stand up and whistle during the scene of the slamming of the door, while the Victorian reader 's face would turn pale with shock at Nora
Henrik Ibsen lived a normal life, with some amount of reasonable wealth because of his father shop. Yet when his father shop went bankrupt, his view of his father went from a man of pride to a man that kept drinking his life away. The one who kept the family afloat was non-other than Ibsen mother Marichen Altenburg. Marichen broke the social norms of being a housewife and started working, she was the one who saved the family from complete failure and still raised Ibsen while doing it. By breaking the social norms of her time she was most likely ridiculed because of it.
This play, A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, focuses on women, especially in marriage and motherhood. Torvald is a character, who describes inequality between men and women and the women’s role in the society in that era. He believes that it is an important and the only duty of a woman to be a good wife and mother. As an individual, a woman, could not conduct or run a business of her own, she needs to ask her father or husband and they were only considered to be father’s or husband’s property. Women were not allowed to vote and divorce if they were allowed they would carry a heavy social shame and it was only available when both partners agreed.
In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, the three-act play, set in 19th century Norway, explores the progress of Nora’s marriage as she attempts to hide her debt and forgery from her husband. Ibsen conveyed social commentary on gender roles and societal expectations, a topic still in controversy, through the use of symbolism, irony, and dramatic elements. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen presents the problems associated with the position of women in a man’s world of business as his central focus, even if other social or individual problems become more prominent as the play progresses.
A masterpiece of creative act that instantly portrays the hypocrisy of the Victorian middle class, a Dolls House was written by Henrik Ibsen in 1879 a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of realism" and is one of the founders of Modernism in theatre. The story takes place on Christmas eve where Nora and Torvald the two main characters represent the importance of gender roles and social image throughout the Victorian era. The conflict of the story is driven by Nora’s forging of loan documents to raise money for an expensive trip to Italy; Krogstad, who had processed the loan, tries to blackmail Nora over the fact that she forged the documents. Nora who risked jeopardizing her husband’s image had set the tone throughout the play as the constant change in personality set the tone of the play which I have really enjoyed due to the unpredictable plot twists and a chance to be engaged with The Victorian culture at that time period.
