Comaping the Doll's House to Wuthering Heights

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Compare the writer’s use of setting and background in A Doll’s House and Wuthering Heights. A Doll’s House was first performed in 1879 in Denmark. The play portrays a typical wealthy middle class family and is also heavily influenced by its Victorian time period. The play was controversial when first published, as it is sharply critical of 19th century marriage norms. Women were expected to be submissive to their husbands. However her eyes open in Act III when Nora tells Trovald that they must sit down and “discuss all this that has been happening between us,” the play diverges from the traditional form. She abandon her marriage and children and the radical departure from traditional behaviour was lambasted by critics as unrealistic, since according to them, no "real" woman would ever make that choice, it was seen as contentious during the Victorian era. This charged atmosphere of gender division was the reason that the play became such a phenomenon. Ibsen’s play was notable for exchanging the last act’s unravelling for a discussion, one which leaves the audience uncertain about how the events will conclude. The temperaments of the characters in this novel is skilfully portrayed and enhanced through their physical surroundings. The settings and background reflects the morals and values of the characters in both ‘The Dolls House’ as well as ‘Wuthering Heights’. The theme of confinement and imprisonment of Catherine and Nora is something that both Ibsen and Bronte illustrate. Interestingly Nora never leaves the one room in the play unless accompanied by Trovald until the ending. Even the maid seems to have more freedom that Nora does; ‘nurse opens the door on the left, Nora closes the door’. Similarly Catherine is confined to the Grange and is ‘wearing to escape to the glorious world.’ In both the stories confinement is mostly portrayed through doors
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