Feminism in Dolls House - Essay Example

Full Feminism in Doll’s House Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ is set in a Norwegian village. The play is based on the married life of Torvald and Nora Helmer, focusing on theme on the role of females in the modern society. The turning point in the play occurs when Torvald finds out that her wife incurred a loan for in order to save her husband from death but at the cost of forging her father’s signature. Through that event the writer focuses on the lack of independence that women suffered even during Victorian times, considering the female protagonist’s perspective on why she never told her husband about her loan. The roles of women in the family and society are clearly reflected in the play which even today, are obviously evident. The treatment of women, the common conceptions of their roles and how they are supposed to act in accordance to norms; are well criticized by Ibsen. The writer successfully reflects how Victorian society always placed women unequal with men and unemotional by defining their roles in the family and society. This interesting characterization of women will be criticized even more deeply in this paper, looking at the main characters of the play and focusing mainly on the theme on feminism by showing how Nora is treated by her father and her husband. Feminism concerns itself with the quest of women being equal with the leading gender. It exposes the anxieties and worries of women in circumstances which men often find as trifles and suggests that women are as capable as men are in many ways than simple household chores. ‘A Doll’s House’ is a typical example of a drama which exposes the dehumanization of female characters who take beyond normal steps than the social set-up. It is common knowledge that women have long been perceived to be the person who must be in charge of household chores and the raising of children while men should do the “difficult” tasks such as bringing food on the table. Raising kids and doing household chores, crocheting and sewing have always been considered as easy, light and feminine jobs. Nevertheless, behind this circumstance are more important things that matter most to women and that is what they often fight for instead. Nora’s dialogue “I am first and foremost a human being just as much as one as you are” (Ibsen), is a powerful statement reflecting the woes of women. Oftentimes, due to their perceived roles at home, women are rather considered inferiors who should follow their husbands’ demands and please them; not regarding that they, too, are people who have feelings and minds which need to be considered as well. In ‘A Doll’s House’ Henrik Ibsen skillfully describes the complex relationship between the male and female characters. Templeton talks about the marriage of Torvald and Nora Helmer describing it as “a pan-cultural ideal…a relation of superior and inferior in which the wife is creature of little intellectual and moral capacity, whose right and proper station is subordination to her husband”( 47). In modern society, there are still traces of this concept with the wife being left to attend solely to the care of the house and children while the husband goes out to find a job because women are too fragile to do difficult tasks. Nevertheless, it has become the feminists’ cry that serious consideration about the abilities and capabilities of women should be greatly considered. First and foremost, household chores and the raising of children require much patience and strength. Secondly, women should not be limited to duties at home only because they too are able to do other things such as what modern society partly shows, with women conquering men’s workplace. In the aforementioned play, Nora, the protagonist, is a typical Victorian house wife who believes that the first and foremost duty of a wife is to serve her husband and children. She is presented as a typical daughter, wife and a responsible mother. As she considers obedience as the key quality of a woman she carries out the directives of her husband and father. Trovald, Nora’s husband, is a confident, powerful man who was promoted as the manager of a bank. He is dominant over his wife. He treats her wife Nora as inferior calling her ‘little squirrel’, ‘little skylark’, or ‘songbird’. Torvald always wants Nora to follow his opinions and directions. On the other hand, Nora quite willingly performs her duties as she is expected to. This circumstance is but an example of how society has suggested the roles of women which they have to adhere to otherwise they would be despised. Nora is a portrayal of the image of an “appropriate” woman who tends to the needs of her husband and other members of the family. When Torvald was sick, she was by his side to attend to him until he was well again. Behind her husband’s knowledge, though, she even raises money for his needs. Nevertheless, since that is not what society permits a woman to do, she keeps her actions a secret and worse; she forges her father’s signature for the completion of the requirements of the loan. Although she had the best interest of her husband in mind, society prevented her to act openly so that she had to live a lie for years until circumstances called for the revelation of her secrets. This is one of the reasons of the feminists’ fight for equality. Women should be given full privileges such as incurring a loan in accordance to their abilities and capabilities of paying back. As society suggests that men should raise money for the family, Nora tells Mrs. Linde that her actions “would be a terrible blow to Torvald’s masculine self-esteem; he’d find it so painful and humiliating to think that he owed me something. It would completely unbalance our relationship. It would be the end of our beautiful, happy home” (Ibsen). Nora’s perception of her husband’s reaction is a typical one in most societies. Helping out men, especially when it is done by a woman, is a pain on their ego. They are supposed to be strong and should be leading in everything that concerns their affairs otherwise they would be seen as weak and inutile. Nevertheless, it should also be considered that men are also humans who have limitations just as women are. This does not mean that men should accept that they are also weak rather, the feminists’ point of view is that, women should be treated similarly with men because they are both human beings who have strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, there should be an understanding that both sexes complement each other and that not one gender would rule over the other. According to Mary Wollstonecraft, “women are taught since their infancy to have the softness of temper, outward obedience scrupulous attention” (Wollstonecraft 26). Indeed, this is very evident in Ibsen’s play. Nora says “When I was at home with papa, he told me his opinion about everything, and so I had the same opinions; and if I differed from him I concealed the fact, because he would not have liked it. He called me his doll-child, and he played with me just as I used to play with my dolls. And when I came to live with you-...I was simply transferred from papa’s hands into yours. You arranged everything according to your own taste , and so I got the same tastes as yours else I pretend t …When I look back on it , it seems to me as if I had been living here like a poor woman-just from hand to mouth…”(Ibsen). The home has become the first school wherein the concepts of being a man and woman are first indirectly impressed upon children so that when they grow to be adults, the concepts have already been strongly nailed in their minds. This too, has to be considered as one of the reasons of feminism so that changes should be made at home as well. On the other hand, the words of Torvald to Nora express another point of view. Torvald says to Nora “Poor little frightened songbird…my wings are broad enough to shelter you. How lovely and secure our home, Nora. A Sanctuary for you. I ‘ll keep you here like a hunted dove I’ve rescued unhurt from the talons of hawks”(Ibsen). Similarly, these qualities are reflected due to the impression that men are strong while women are weak. Therefore, a man should always be there to protect and preserve a woman. For some women, this would be a good thing but again, for feminists, such of strength would be an emphasis and insistence on the opinion that women are weak. Since Nora is a character who learned to obey, and her status is the ‘other’ as referred by her father, and the one as referred by her husband, people never expect her to go beyond that. According to Simon de Beauvoir, ‘Nora is taught to receive’. This means that giving should be the responsibility of men while women should just stay at home and be provided for. Beauvoir describes women saying, “They live dispersed among the males, attached through residence, housework, economic condition, and social standing to pertain men –fathers or husbands – more firmly than they are to other women”. Looking at Christine Linde, Nora Helmer’s friend, it could be said that she is another portrayal of the aforementioned statement. The play reveals that when her mother was ill, she had to break off with her boyfriend in order to marry a wealthy man whom she perceived to be able to give her the best in life. She looked at her femininity as means to her family’s good life and therefore made herself an instrument rather than a person who is supposed to be treated with respect. She looked at her marriage as a way of receiving and did not look at her abilities to support her family. Another consideration about feminism is revealed through Nora’s life with her husband which may be considered a daydream and the marriage a deception. Her word to Torvald is a revelation of her understanding, “Our house has never been anything but a playroom. I have been your doo-wife, just as I was daddy’s doo-child when I was at home. My children as well, they’ve been my dolls. I used to enjoy it when you played games with me, just as they enjoyed it when I played games with them. That’s all our marriage has been, Torvald” (Ibsen). Nora is a chained bird who realizes that binding force rather late. She led a contented life as the second person in the family whose fate was determined by her own husband. Thus, the woman’s figure in ‘A Doll’s House’ easily describes the weaker gender as dependent on male figures. Women are perceived to have less social, political or economic power. Moreover, the mindset of Nora should be deeply analyzed when the theme of Feminism is dealt with. A master-slave relationship is seen in the play instead of a husband and wife having a complementary relationship. According to Friedrich Hegel (78), “The real consciousness of one’s self is recognized by confronting with another person”. In the aforementioned play, Nora comes to a realization about her relationship with her husband after eight years when they finally had a confrontation. Throughout their marriage, Torval and Nora had quite a remarkable marriage because they have been conforming to the demands of norms and society. However, when Torval found out that Nora secretly went beyond the boundaries of social norms and thought more of how he would be perceived in the society rather than consider Nora’s heroic acts, a realization came to Nora. It is said that the self ‘through supersession, receives back its own self because by superseding its otherness, it again becomes equal to itself, but secondly it equally gives the other self–consciousness back again to itself, for it saw itself in the other, but superseded this being of itself in the other and thus lets the other again go free” (Friedrich 89). First, Nora considered her husband as a master. Like a slave who depends on her master for everything, she behaved toward her husband. She did her responsibilities quite dutifully and her world revolved around her husband and children- a situation which greatly pleased her husband, making them have a peaceful relationship. Many critics are of the opinion that the play never stands for feminism but the complex analysis of the self. Some people tell that this play argues for the rights of human beings. Nevertheless, Ibsen himself says about the play that the society “is exclusively a male society with laws written by men from the male and with prosecutors and judges who judge women’s behavior from the male standpoint” (Ferguson 230). Strong opinions about male and female differences are reflected in the play which clearly defines it as a story of a feminists’ point of view. Some critics claim that Ibsen made his heroine a selfish woman, that she left her husband and her children for her own selfish newfound convictions. Her feelings towards her husband are well understood by the readers but her children are innocent and they are left alone without their mother. Ibsen never taught a lesson of forgiveness in the play even though there was a chance for him. Nevertheless, such criticism shows how people indeed conceptualize the norms of societies. Ibsen’s critics look forward to what should be expected of Nora as suggested by society but they are disappointed with her decision of leaving her husband and children- a not so normal reaction, unacceptable to the forms of women. Nevertheless, it should be noted that through a feminist’s standpoint, Nora’s action is an expression of her desire to be treated as a human being rather than a doll which will have to please her player. ‘The story of an Hour’ written by Kate Chopin is a narration which in a similar manner presents the Victorian society where piety and women’s duties to males are portrayed. Although both women in the play and the story have been given the benefits of a better life, they have been deprived of more important matters such as freedom to do what they want to and not what the society dictates. Both of the stories present the normal reactions of women about their roles as Victorian wives. They may be given the desires of their hearts as long as they do not go beyond the boundaries and expectations not only of their husbands but of other people as well. For this, they can do nothing but accept their roles in order to be praised and considered womanly. They have to be silent and have to go through their grief on their own because they cannot even speak about them with their better-half. Stories such as ‘A Doll’s House’ are means to present feminist points of view through literature. Ibsen has effectively presented the cries of women for equality through the play. Nora, as the main character, shows that through courage, one can break through the norms society has long established. Through her decision of leaving her husband and children, she shows that she can be fully independent. Outside the comforts of home, one can survive and be able to show that women could fully be independent from men because they are as capable as men are when it comes to providing for themselves. This is the central point of feminism- the expression of one’s abilities. Work Cited Templeton, Joan. Ibsens Women. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1997. Print. Wollstonecraft, Mary, and John Stuart Mill. The Rights of Women. London & Toronto: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1955. Print. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, Arnold Vincent. Miller, and J. N. Findlay. Phenomenology of Spirit. Oxford: Clarendon, 1977. Print. Ferguson, Robert. Henrik Ibsen: A New Biography. London: R. Cohen, 1996. Print. Ibsen, Henrick. ‘A Doll’s House’. Full Books. n.d Web. November 5, 2013. . Read More