A Doll's House Gender Roles

It is Nora as an individual cheated of her true rights that the dramatists first depicts, for her marriage, as she discovers in the crisis, has been merely material and not that spiritual tie Ibsen insists upon as the only happy on in this relationship. (Huneker 64)

On gender roles and the pressure put on women by society’s given expectations, Psychologist and writer, Cordelia Fine says “blatant, intentional discrimination against women is far from being something merely to be read about in history books.” Society has been raging psychological and emotional warfare against women, since what seems like the beginning of time. Throughout history, women have been held by the standard of men and confined to these invisible barriers, threatened to never to step outside their “role”. In both plays, Susan Glaspell’s Trifles and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, we get to explore this theme and the havoc it wrecks. While all the characters seem to be content with these ideologies, it eventually peaks into a stand-off between society and the women. We will explore the trials and tribulations of these women in both plays.

A Doll’s House and The Importance of Being Earnest were both written in the late nineteenth century at a period in time when gender roles in society were not only significant to the structure of society but were restrictive and oppressive to individuals. This was particularly true in the case of women who were seen as the upholders of morals in polite society and were expected to behave accordingly. A Doll’s House and The Importance of Being Earnest challenge society and its inclination to categorise and expect certain behaviour of individuals based on their gender.

Torvald would never have thought she were capable of it, since during that era it was unrealistic of women to leave their houses but rather put up with the difficulties they faced. Ibsen highlights society's domineering outlooks of marriage and the interactions of two people naïvely pretending to be in love. Throughout the play Ibsen reveals the fragile attributes of his characters to help enhance the play-like nature of their relationship, the role of women, and Nora's course of self-discovery.

Mrs. Linde was not as privileged as Nora was--she had to accept responsibility and work hard for her money. Mrs. Linde's acceptance of responsibility draws attention to Nora's abandonment of her father. When her father was sick, she chose to spend all of her time caring for her husband and waiting for the arrival of her child, then to find any time to go and visit him. Nora did whatever she could to raise money to go on a trip to save Torvald's life and did not think once about visiting her dying father. During the friend's conversation, it was actually Mrs. Linde that brought up her father. When Nora was discussing how difficult it was to get away and go to Italy, because she had just had her child, she failed to mention that her father had passed away during that time and could have contributed to the difficult timing. Mrs. Linde is the one who had brought up the death of Nora's father in the conversation, in which Nora replied "yes...wasn't it dreadful, I couldn't go look after him. I was expecting little Ivar any day. And then I had my poor Torvald to care for--we really didn't think he'd live. Dear, kind Papa! I never saw him again", (Ibsen, 374). Mrs. Linde's priority was taking care of her mother; Nora's priority was raising money to take her husband on a trip to care for him while completely abandoning her father. Mrs. Linde's responsible actions exaggerate Nora's irresponsibility and neglect.

The life of a nineteenth century woman lacked most of modern day’s freedoms. With the feminist movement rising through the nations, many were forced to face the injustices taught by traditional society’s gender roles. In Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll House”, a realistic prose piece portraying a woman’s life as an unsatisfied housewife, Ibsen addresses the domestic side of these issues. With his portrayal of a marriage in its downfall, Ibsen’s work led many to believe he himself supported the Women’s Rights movements. He later “disavowed feminist causes” (Rosefeldt). However, the plays controversial results were all the same. As a Norwegian dramatist and poet, Ibsen challenges the harsh double standard women are judged by in their “practical life” (1348). Through scenes of minuscule lies about her shopping, Nora’s stand against her husband’s subtle oppression, and disregard for societal constraints, Ibsen guides Nora down an

Linde’s decision to return to a domestic lifestyle with Krogstad is furthermore influenced by the way she was raised rather than a need to extort money from Torvald; women of older generations tend to be instilled with strict family values that they come to incorporate into their daily lives once they have a family of their own. Mrs. Linde’s attitude towards reuniting with Krogstad and tending to his family is described when she states, “ I must have work or I can't bear to live. All my life… work has been my one great joy” (Ibsen 33). Her obvious need for tending to others is implied to have been instilled into her from her youth. This behavior is common of older women in society who choose to care for their families or others and is due to the importance placed on women tending to their families above all else. Author, Nancy Chodorow of "Family structure and feminine personality", explains how “Schooling is a pseudo-training. It is not meant to interfere with… [being] ‘feminine’ and a wife and mother” (Chodrow 90), when speaking of how people raise their daughters. This signifies that while girls are sent to school they are taught it is not the most important aspect of their life; they are taught to prioritize domestic duties and caring for a family, just as a “wife and mother” would. Chodorow’s entry supports and reveals that Mrs. Linde’s reunion with Krogstad does not have to do with the financial stability he can provide but with her genuine care for his family; she sees no issue in caring for his family because it is something which comes quite naturally to her. This mentality, described by Chodorow and portrayed by Mrs. Linde and older women in society, is a driving force behind these women’s need to be involved in other people’s lives and is what brings them to hold such responsibility in a higher regards as opposed to other responsibilities. Chodorow also points out that: “Girls remained ’little women’” (90), which further supports her notion that

A Dollhouse by Henrik Ibsen is a play that focuses on the women empowerment, basically in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In today’s era, both women and men rub shoulders together in every field. But when Heneik Ibsen wrote this play in 1879, women were considered powerless. Not every woman in the society had ability to decide the outcome. Divorce was not the option, women were obliged to live the way society demanded. As years go by, society views also changed and women are not only considered “housewife” but considered a symbol of strength. Nora is the protagonist of the play, is overwhelming controlled and emotionally tortured by

Across the centuries there have been many different dynasties and eras. With each new time period comes a unique set of standards. The play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen takes place during the Victorian Era. This time period was very unique in that it placed a large emphasis on morality and quality of life depended on your social status. With all of the peculiarities that came with the Victorian Era a certain standard was placed on society and individuals were pressured to conform to said standards. One character who is affected greatly by the standards placed on society is Torvald Helmer.

Kristine Linde is a determined middle-aged woman who follows through with her goals. She reveals that she left Krogstad years ago because she couldn’t wait for him and had a “helpless mother and two small brothers” (Ibsen 855) to

Nora plays the part of a slave in her subservience to her husband, for she is supposed to

Maya Angelou once said, “How important it is for use to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!”. Angelou is recognizing women separately and giving them more credit, recognition, and celebration, that has not always been given to women throughout the struggle of gender inequality. This relates to the struggle for women’s rights throughout history. Men have always had dominance and control over women, who were expected to be subservient to men. Even today, women are not always equal to men. This is similar to gender inequality in A Doll’s House because Torvald completely controls Nora, and she is expected to go along with whatever he requests of her. Using the mailbox key and knitting as symbols, Henrik Ibsen concentrates on the theme

Unlike her friend, Nora, Mrs. Linde has more freedom to do what she wants, however she is not entirely satisfied. In this culture, a woman’s role is normally to do housework and to raise their children, but Mrs. Linde is exempt from this. She does not have to conform into this picture, but she is not content with her lifestyle until she meets up with her lost love, Krogstad. “I want to be a mother to someone, and your children need a mother. We two need each other.”1 This quote exemplifies that Mrs. Linde is only content with her life when she fits in the role of being a mother and a wife.

The main focus of Act III tackles the predetermined distinctions between the husband and wife, not the conflict between Krogstad and Nora. In order to draw attention to the marital relations between Nora and Helmer, Ibsen eliminates any other distractions and concludes other subplots that might draw attention away from the main plot. Ibsen uses the character of Mrs. Linde to remove Krogstad from the role of the antagonist by reconstructing their broken relationship, in order to increase the awareness of Nora and Torvald’s unstable relationship. This contributes to Nora’s

Her final goal was so important to her, protecting her family, she knew she had to do whatever was necessary, even if that meant not being true to her husband or society. In the end, she realizes that it was more important to her husband his reputation, than what it had meant to Nora, all she had done for the love of her family, concluding to the raw truth that her husband didn´t really love her: he loved what she represented before society, a loving, faithful wife that compelled to all his expectations. She knew that to love her children, she needed first to understand and love herself, a thought way beyond and ahead of time, for a woman in the late 1800´s.