Since the dawn of time, a person’s gender has been an essential component of determining what roles each gender is to assume in life. Woman have frequently been viewed as the submissive or weaker gender, only to be useful in the home, the ones who are not capable of making it in a man’s world, who are not allowed the same rights and privileges as their male counterparts. Men, on the other hand, have always been viewed as the dominant or stronger gender, the one who’s job it is to be the provider, the one who makes all the important decisions for his family. In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, these assumed gender positions are upheld to the highest degree throughout the majority of the play; not being dismantled until the pivotal ending where Nora makes her stance on this lifestyle very clear.
In the 19th century Victorian era, Ibsen delves into a society vastly different from the society we know today. He explores a society in which the men are in control, the men run businesses, the men control the money, while the women
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This allows us an opportunity to appreciate where we are now. Over the past 150 years, society has seen major advances towards making men and women equal. This has been done by petitions, by voting, and by very strong women who have taken a stand to fight for what they believe in. Women had to fight for the right to attend higher education, the right to vote, the right to hold positions in government, and most recently, the right for men and women to be paid equally. Acquisition of these rights has truly helped to shape society into what it is today. It is remarkable to see through the eyes of Ibsen’s characters the society that could still be happening had brave women not decided to take a stand against the steel grasp of the man’s society to destroy the metaphorical barricade that women were trapped