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Similarities Between The Awakening And A Doll's House

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Societal Roles in The Awakening and A Doll’s House

Women have had expectations set for them since the 1700s. Women are expect to do this, to act this way, to present themselves like this. These expectations for women have been set by society. Society makes women feel that they have to meet these expectations to fit in and be accepted. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin and A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, the characters Edna Pontellier and Nora Helmer reflect expectations of women in society through characterization and symbolism in their marriages and everyday living.
First, The societal expectations for woman can be seen in both of these pieces of literature through symbolism. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin uses a bird to represent Edna in …show more content…

The one thing women were expected to do in society was be motherly. In The Awakening, it says “ Mother- woman seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them...They were woman who idolized their children worshiped their husbands” (Chopin 8). This was how women are expected to be and if they were not they were seen as different and an outcast from society. Edna was not seen as a mother woman and was rarely with her children. Both Edna and Nora were not mother- woman. The nurses were who took care of the children and spent the most time with them. In The Awakening, It states “He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it?" (Chopin 7) The woman’s role in society was to take care of the children, that was one of the only role that was given to woman. In The Awakening, it says “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn't give myself.” (Chopin 62) Edna did not see herself as a “Mother-woman” and that made her feel left out or outcasted from society. In A Doll’s House, it says “Because an atmosphere of lies like that infects and poisons the whole life of a home. In a house like that, every breath that the children take is filled with the germs of evil’ (Ibsen Act 1). The children are a reflection of just the mother because that is a women’s role. When Torvald found out about the loan in A Doll’s House, he said that Nora was not to see the children again. He saw Nora as failing her woman duty, and that is to take care of the

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733 Words | 3 Pages

Edna is not a motherly woman, her boys knew that if they “took a tumble whilst at play, [they] was not apt to rush crying to [their] mother’s arms for comfort; [they] would more likely pick [themselves] up” (Chopin 10). Although unfortunate her boys were accepting of the fact that their mother would not provide them with the same comfort and support as other kids were given. They have to learn to pick themselves up and carry on with their days as if nothing had happened to them. Edna was not the type of mother that admired her children and spent her free time with them and taking care of them. As the other Victorian mothers would do anything for their children to keep them protected and safe from any harm in the world.

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825 Words | 4 Pages

Women during Edna’s time were supposed to be dedicated to their husbands and children, however, Edna yearned for her own independence, and as a result of wanting her own independence Edna knew that she was seen as a terrible person. For instance Edna wanted to “…try to determine what character of a woman I am; for, candidly, I don't know. By all the codes which I am acquainted with, I am a devilishly wicked specimen of the sex. But some way I can't convince myself that I am. I must think about it" (27.4).

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1539 Words | 7 Pages

In Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, she uses different characters to show the varying ways in which a woman might fit into the role of a mother-woman. A mother-woman is a woman who gives up her own individuality for her family, for she will only do what benefits her children and husband. Since these types of women worship their husbands, they see it as an honor to not think for themselves but instead follow their husband’s lead blindly. These women hover around their children when they believe they are in harm's way; furthermore, these women idolize their children because the women believe they are the sole purpose for their existence. Of Chopin’s characters in her novel, three of them show what is does and does not mean to be considered

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823 Words | 4 Pages

This sets the stage for Adele as “the 'ideal mother'[which] was a woman who basically forsook all notions of self and desire… [and] would've had almost no life outside of her children (Breazeale, Liz).” This an important concept for the reader to know for them to gain an understanding of how women were meant to act in the setting of the Awakening and that they were expected “to be women that idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels (Chopin 4).” By providing a character like Adele who is such

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886 Words | 4 Pages

In the stories, The Awakening by Kate Chopin and A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen Edna Pontellier and Nora Helmer face personal responsibility issues, and disregard their roles as mothers, wives, and a beloved friend. These stories portray two female characters who are similar in many ways and are finding themselves in a troubled time in their lives. In the 1800’s one's role as a women was to nurture the kids, cook and clean as they were also providing for their husband. In the The Awakening the main female protagonists Edna Pontellier was an ordinary wife but it all changed when she started seeing Robert Lebrun, another man who was not her husband. This was a huge personal issue that many did not know about, and eventually caused her to disregard

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1315 Words | 6 Pages

In the late 1800s, nearly all women were viewed as subservient, inferior, second class females that lived their lives in a patriarchal and chauvinist society. Women often had no voice, identity, or independence during that time period. Moreover, women dealt with the horrors of social norms and the gender opposition of societal norms. The primary focus and obligation for a woman to obtain during the 1800s was to serve her husband and to obey to anything he said. Since women were not getting the equality, freedom, or independence that they desired, Kate Chopin, an independent-minded female American novelist of the late 1800s expressed the horrors, oppressions, sadness, and oppositions that women of that time period went through.

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Chopin also wrote about other times that she had to fulfill her role as a woman. For example, when she gave birth to her five sons and one daughter. As a woman she was obligated to

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1178 Words | 5 Pages

Edna sets personhood limits on how much she would give up for her children through a recalled conversation with Adele where Edna spoke her views on motherhood: “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself” (47). Her statement is revealing because Edna goes against what society says a woman is supposed to feel towards her children. She would give up superficial things like money, or a even a vital thing - her life - for her children. However, Edna states her unwillingness to become a ministering angel where to reach divine status she would have to erase her personhood, who she is as an individual. Edna will not give up her self for anything.

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Nora’s defiance may have resulted in criticism from society, but Ibsen importantly commented on the terrible treatment of woman in relationships and the world. Ibsen created A Doll’s House in a time where women were treated unjustly and poorly. While the play might seem slightly irrelevant now, it still has a place in the world today. Women can borrow money and leave their husbands; however, society still puts tremendous pressure on women to fulfill sacred vows. The expectation to assure her husband’s happiness and to prioritize everyone else before herself is still an issue that many woman face today.

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513 Words | 3 Pages

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House share common themes of independence. The Awakening presents Edna Pontellier, an unsatisfied woman who constantly seeks independence through “awakening.” Meanwhile A Doll’s House introduces Nora Helmer, a wife with a secret that destroys her marriage. The Awakening and A Doll’s House share parallel thoughts and idea about independence through strong female protagonist. Edna and Nora are parallel characters in their behavior and their despite pursuit for independence.

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1044 Words | 5 Pages

Edna Pontellier’s attitude toward motherhood is that she is not a perfect mother-women for many ways. Edna Pontellier is not a perfect mother because “Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-women”(Chopin, 10). This quote means that Edna Pontellier is not a good mother/wife because she is not that of a women who would worship their children ,and their husband. Edna Pontellier is not a good mother because “I would give up the

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1214 Words | 5 Pages

Although Henrik Ibsen presents Nora as an innocent character at the beginning of the play A Doll´s House, there were signs of rebellion that made the audience somehow foresee the final act. But to recognize these signs of insurgence, we must to take into consideration – throughout the following essay – that this play took place during the 1870s. At that time, women had fewer rights than men. They were dependent, as they had to live their entire life under the shadow of men. Women themselves passed from their father’s responsibility to their husband’s responsibility, and so did their rights .

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1567 Words | 7 Pages

In 1880s, women in America were trapped by their family because of the culture that they were living in. They loved their family and husband, but meanwhile, they had hard time suffering in same patterns that women in United States always had. With their limited rights, women hoped liberation from their family because they were entirely complaisant to their husband. Therefore, women were in conflicting directions by two compelling forces, their responsibility and pressure. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen uses metaphors of a doll’s house and irony conversation between Nora and Torvald to emphasize reality versus appearance in order to convey that the Victorian Era women were discriminated because of gender and forced to make irrational decision by inequity society.

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1384 Words | 6 Pages

Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is a play set in 19th century Norway, when women’s rights were restricted and social appearance was more important than equality and true identity. In A Doll’s House, Nora represents 19th century women entrapped by society to fulfill wifely and motherly obligations, unable to articulate or express their own feelings and desires. Ibsen uses Nora’s characterization, developed through her interactions with others as well as her personal deliberations and independent actions, language and structure in order to portray Nora’s movement from dependence to independence, gaining sovereignty from the control of her selfish husband, deceitful marriage and the strict social guidelines of morality in 19th century Norway. Initially, Nora appears to be a dependent, naïve, and childlike character; yet, as the play unfolds, she appears to be a strong, independent woman who is willing to make sacrifices for those she cares about as well as herself.

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1220 Words | 5 Pages

Women in the nineteenth and twentieth century were not treated equally to men; Henrik Ibsen demonstrated this in his play A Doll's House. Throughout the play the protagonist, Nora Helmer, faces disrespect and mistreatment by her husband, Torvald. Nora Helmer is shown as a woman who has manipulated people and lied on countless occasions, but she is a woman who behaves in such a way because she is trapped in her marriage, until she finally escapes and stands as a hero to women of the century. In the first moments of the play Nora is introduced as child-like women who is a seen as a manipulator and liar, but this is only the surface of her character.

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