In the following article I am going to discuss the role of a woman and her place in society based on two novels. These novels have had a pretty big significance when they were published as the women of that time had a minor role in society and were subordinate to men in any way and aspect. It is important to picture a woman as an individual on the inside and show her inner world in detail because this will help the society to understand women better and understand their behaviour in certain situations.
Many of our choices and the things one does with them in our lifetime can be directly based on what society perceives to be proper. The choices one makes based on societies views, may sometimes have no logic to support them. We sometimes choose to do things because society would look down upon the person making the wrong decision. My main aim in this essay is to analyse the characterisation of the central female protagonist in Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House and Samuel B ecketts Happy Days, to see how these characters react within their given surroundings.
In the late 1800s women did not play an important part in society, their jobs were mainly to cook clean, sew, take care of the children and keep the house in order. They were treated as a material possession rather than a human being that could think and act for themselves, and were generally looked upon as a decorative member of the household. Women were robbed of their true identities; although at the end of A Dolls House we see how Nora left everything she knew behind so she could go out into the world and find her own true identity. This behaviour can be traced back to the beginning of time when women were to stay at home and gather nuts and berries, whilst the male would go out and do the hunting and fishing. The male always dominated over the woman and it was not viewed as unfair. Male children would go to school and get an education in history, mathematics, science and English /Writing, while the female would go to school simply to learn how to cook, sew, clean and do household chores. The male could then further advance his education by attending a college or university, whereas no college would accept a woman student. Although we see how these things begin to change in Ibsens A Dolls House.
Nora is the central mystery and challenge of A Dolls House; she has a certain ambiguity about her, something that finally eludes rational interpretation. An obvious place to start is the title of the play A Dolls House; this title is very clever in inviting us to apply a metaphor to the play, to look closely at what is actually going on in the Helmer household. Almost some sort of childs game featuring an artificial life of dolls that are manipulated by their doll master or mistress. It invites us at once to look at the issue of power, and tries to identify who is actually in charge here. Normally it would be said in these times that Torvald would be in charge, he is of course the head of the household, and societys darling. But the opening scenes show at once calls this interpretation into question. As we see Nora controlling him in an expert fashion. He may indeed try to adopt a controlling tone; No debt, no borrowing. There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt.
One of the crucial factors in the roles that Nora plays is that she needs to be in control, to take the lead role, using other people as supporting actors or audience. Nora is a very capable business woman, an adult female tease, and also a frantically desperate woman who is thinking of committing suicide, yet these manifestations of Noras character enable her to control others, she listens very carefully, learns from and also acts on what others say. This use of roles shows quite clearly Noras character. She can do things that nobody would expect of a woman in these times. Nora didnt need to tell Torvald of the d ebt, at this point in her life as she is till young enough and pretty enough to exert her control over him. She will use this event in the future when she can no longer rely upon her looks. She will go on repaying the debt without letting Torvald worry.
Nora shows no particular interest in Torvalds work or even in social issues outside her own world. If the rules in society state that she has done wrong, then it must be the society itself that is at fault. These things are irrelevant to her, as they provide no opportunity for her to perform, she has no space within these rules where she can appeal to a sympathetic audience or exert any control. She dresses up for Torvald, dances for him and recites to him; Now play for me! I am going to dance! 3. Torvald obviously enjoys it, as does she. She had danced her tarantella, and it had been a tremendous success, Nora acts out her various roles and Torvald responds, enabling Nora to keep herself in the marital spotlight.
We see the same issues arising again with Dr Rank; Nora again performs for him throughout their conversations, whilst he listens to her. To have loved you as much as anyone does? Was that horrid? This confession from Dr Rank seems to upset Nora. He is reversing the roles, and Nora objects to this, as she has no intentions of letting rank take charge here. She is happy enough with their roles together as she defines them, thus accusing Rank of ruining everything. As Nora has no understanding of how to answer to circumstances dictated by others, she resorts to what has worked for her in the past, by taking on a role of self-responsibility to somehow deal with an unravelling situation. We begin to see the various different methods that she uses which indicate her increasing desperation at having to deal with events, which she simply cannot control. Other people and the rules within the society, which they live, are too fatally complex for her efforts. When nothing seems to work she takes refuge in feeling that somehow Torvald will transform himself into the hero of her dreams resolving the issue for her. Looking at the society that they live in we see that this is a very transparent illusion, as Torvald himself lives for the society. This shows clearly the deterioration in Noras plan; she is unable to think rationally about what is happening, the more complicated things get the blinder she becomes to the situation she is in.
Nora is left with no choice but to leave. She does this very heroically, she shows that she has a passionate sense of herself; she refuses to live a life where she is not in control. She is being very defiant and this shows her values all the more as she is rejecting everything within the infected society around her.
Mary Anne Winslow is a member of Essay Writing Service counselling department team and a dissertation writing consultant. Contact her to get free counselling on custom essay writing.
Author :: Mary Anne Winslow
Keywords:: doll house, Literature,
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