Trifles And A Doll's House

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), one in three women and have been victims of [some form of] physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime. This statistic is very relevant to the two plays ‘A Doll’s House’ by Henrik Ibsen and ‘Trifles’ by Susan Glaspell. In ‘A Doll’s House’, Ibsen traces the awakening of Nora Helmer and how she decides to leave her family in order to escape the tyrannical control of her husband, Torvald. In ‘Trifles’, after the death of Mr. Wright, wives of the investigators, Mrs. Peters and Hale discover and hide key ‘trifles’ that the men overlook in order to prevent Mrs. Wright from being convicted of murder. These plays both effectively use symbolism to portray how women

In the plays, the authors use similar symbols to take a stand against how men took power over women during the time when the plays were written (late 1800s, early 1900s) as men believed that, despite from their looks, females were ignorant and useless in society.
In ‘A Doll’s House’, Ibsen successfully uses the symbol of a songbird as well as other animals to represent how Torvald places himself above Nora as he believes she is too frail and fragile to live without his guidance. This can be seen at the beginning of the play when Torvald talks to Nora about how expensive it is to care for her: “It's a sweet little bird, but it gets through a terrible amount of money. You wouldn't believe how much it costs a man when he's got a little song-bird like you" (Ibsen 4). In this scene, Hal calls Nora a “little songbird” which is a small and fragile bird that cannot do much other than look good. By saying this, Torvald believes that Nora doesn't deserve the money as she as merely a small bird that spends too much money for what

The Christmas tree is first addressed in the play when Nora is talking to the maid before Torvald gets home from work: “Hide the Christmas Tree carefully, Helen. Be sure the children do not see it until this evening, when it is dressed” (Ibsen 1). For a very long time, Christmas trees have been known for the sole purpose of being a decoration in houses during the holiday season. Other than looking pretty, these trees do not serve much of a purpose and die off within a couple months. In the play, there is a lot of specific evidence that proves that Nora represents the Christmas tree on many different occasions. Just as Nora told Helen to hide the tree until it has been decorated, she tells Torvald that no one can see her in the dress till the dance: “Nobody is to have the chance of admiring me in my dress until tomorrow” (Ibsen 47). Furthermore, Nora’s connection to the Christmas tree represents how women were treated merely for show, and how mankind thought they provided no other benefit to