"A comparative exploration of male gender roles in A Doll’s House and Antigone" A comparative exploration of male gender roles in A Doll's House and Antigone a tragedy of the classical Greek theatre and a highly famous drama of nineteenth century Europe occupy the same thematic territory. An important link between A Doll's House, by Hernrik Ibsen and Antigone, by Sophocles is their examination of men's roles in relation to women. In both plays, the main male characters symbolize an idea that, in turn, powerfully affects the other characters. Even though some differentiation, Creon and Torvald Helmer with the challenge how men and women are to live together in harmony. Gender roles put people into a mould and prevent them from achieving their full potential as human beings.
Nora is often treated by Torvald the way one might expect a father to treat his daughter. For instance, Torvald incessantly refers to Nora by child-like nicknames such as “my little squirrel” and “skylark” and often speaks to her in a condescending manner. Nora, who acts as a symbol of all women of that time, initially fits in very well with the common perception of women in late-19th century Scandinavia. Torvald himself even extends this sentiment of male infallibility and female submissiveness to the whole female race, saying, “Almost everyone who has gone to the bad early in life has had a deceitful mother (Ibsen 27).” However, throughout the play Nora begins to break the mold of inferiority that was associated with women of the time in Norway. The first glimpse of this new-found feminine empowerment is seen as Nora converses with Mrs. Linde in
The author has expressed his own thoughts and ideas through the play and has presented a story of a woman using some characters. This play had aroused great controversy at that time because of its crucial attitude towards the marriage norms. There are many authors and people who have argued with the statement and play of Henrik Ibsen. This paper focuses on the views and ideas of different authors regarding the play “A Doll House” written by Henrik Ibsen (http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dollhouse/themes.html). Author Henrik Ibsen was one of the best and major writers and directors of the 19th Century.
This is because Ibsen wrote with the purpose of unmasking the hypocrisy behind bourgeois social norms. To best produce this effect, Ibsen wrote using the common stylistic frame of a “well-made play”, which allowed Ibsen’s middle-class audiences to imagine they were observing their own lives or the lives of people like themselves (1060). Even here though, Ibsen strayed from convention by often including symbolism in his work. Many levels of symbolism can be found in A Doll’s House, some incorporated by Ibsen for a specific purpose and some unintentionally. One subtle symbol used by Ibsen in A Doll’s House is the act of dance, specifically the Tarantella.
This can help determine some of our beliefs whether they are a form of idealism or the truth. In “A Doll’s House”, Henrik Ibsen focused on both the idealism and the truth of societal expectations. Ibsen also focused on the character’s beliefs and values and how some events can help a person realize the truth. In the play “A Doll’s House”, the title hints at how some of the characters are dolls. This play represents the idealism of society in that era.
The Republic of Gilead is a dystopian society where the government restricts and dictates the lives of it citizens; however there is a clear distinction between the roles of men and women. The women in particular are defined by their gender roles, which also strips them of their individuality. Colour is often used throughout the novel to help distinguish between the roles of women and their place in society. Offred describes her outfit which to her looks like “sister dipped in blood” symbolising the fertility of the Handmaids as the red suggests the blood of a women’s menstrual cycle. The fact that “everything except the wings around [her] face is red” represents the government’s own view of them, that there only purpose in the regime is to be the carriers of the next generation.
Such myths, Beauvoir explains, are derived trough literature and Social beliefs. The construct of the “essence of women” have been grossly misconstrued by a male dominated world. In her essay, she strongly argues about the two-sided opposition of the “self” and “other” through an existentialist perspective, which is through the experience of the human condition. She boldly announces that the male has appointed himself as “self” and the female as “other” in order to gain dominion and authority to call the female inferior, passive, or weak. I will take an in depth look at the contradictions and myths that men have created of women as outlined by Beauvoir.
Elise Nelson Mrs. Richmond AP Lit 10 February 2014 Realism in a Doll’s House By dictionary definition, realism, also known as verisimilitude, is known in literature as “a manner of treating subject matter that presents a careful description of everyday life, usually of the lower and middle classes.” Realistic works of literature would “tell it how it is”, as opposed to a romantic work, which would sugar-coat the conflicts portrayed. According to Richard Chase, the characteristics of realism include “complex ethical choices, plausible situations that lack dramatic elements, a focus on middle class with vernacular diction, and the redemption of the individual within the social world” (Chase). Because Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House displays those qualities of verisimilitude, and therefore creates a message to readers that society can properly function only if men and women are equal, the play fits perfectly into the realistic genre. Nora is faced with an ethical choice that could challenge the typical oppressed role of a woman in the 1800s, and all of the secondary characters around her portray plausible battles in their own lives. Furthermore, the play lacks a romanticized ending and instead focuses on Nora’s epiphany of individuality.
Through a modern perception on the playwright’s female characters, women can be seen as worthless, sexually corrupt indiviudals. Ophelia, often through the words of the men around her, can be partiicuarly perceived in this way. This is evident, with her father, Polonius when he says to Claudius, “At such a time, I loose my daughter to him; Be you and I behind an arras then; Mark the encounter…” (2.2.176-178) Polonius’ language here suggests that Ophelia is more of an animal than his daughter, and he as her father shows her little respect. This reading of Ophelia is also apparent through Hamlet’s language, describing her in unpleasant context or as a “dead dog”(2.2.81). He treats her with little regard and believes that she is a “breeder of maggot” This is also evident when Hamlet says to her, “ I say we will have no more marriages.
[Richard III, 5. 3] moreover, he believes that his authority declares his dominance. The women are presented as being on the sidelines to grieve or complain, in the cases of Elizabeth Woodville, Edward IV's wife, and Lady Anne Warwick. As a result of Richards substandard view of women; both women are inferior to Richard and lose their strength and integrity to him. "The king's name is a tower of strength".