Sacrificial Role of Women in Madame Bovary by Flaubert and A Doll's House by Ibsen - Essay Example

 The novel Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert, and the play “A Doll‘s House“, by Henrik Ibsen, both contain female characters that are viewed as being powerless and sacrificial for a number of reasons. In Madame Bovary, Emma Bovary commits suicide by drinking arsenic because of this role that she has been forced into. At the time, she was very much in debt, due to her constant borrowing of money in order to live a life of high society, and she had also turned to a life of prostitution. Nora Helmer, on the other hand, who is the protagonist in “A Doll’s House”, is able to escape from the controlling male characters in her life in order to recapture a sense on independence, but not before she suffers greatly because of the doll-like image that she is given by those around her. The way that these women are treated in these texts bring into question the morality behind living a life where materialistic goods are the main motivation and where personal goals take a back seat to living up to an image. The criticisms of this style of life are very evident in both of these works, only the protagonists end up with much different outcomes. Madame Bovary’s death is a somewhat violent one as she purposely swallows arsenic in order to commit suicide. Flaubert makes in clear in this scene, through the introduction of new characters from various classes, that even though Madame Bovary wished to join the upper class, that she would always be a middle class woman and she died as such. In “A Doll’s House”, however, Nora is able to realize what has been occurring before she ends up doing something drastic. While Madame Bovary’s death was symbolic of her dependence on men and the dependence that woman everywhere had on men during that particular time period, Nora’s escape from that life offers hope to women who find themselves in seemingly hopeless situations. Due to the helpless way in which Madame Bovary acts in this novel, she is presented as a sympathetic character. She is a portrayed as a beautiful woman who is corrupted by her desire to have a life different than her own. Her goal was to attain a seemingly perfect life, filled with ideal forms of love, wealth, and the subsequent happiness that came from those things. Unfortunately for Madame Bovary, she created more problems for herself while trying to obtain these things. Her debt led to her becoming a prostitute and, eventually, to her own death. At the time of her death, Bovary is still portrayed very sympathetically because she is symbolic of women during this time period. There was no sense of independence for women at this point in history, and Madame Bovary represents this in the way that she relies on men for everything in her life. This even continues on to her death, as she relies on Justin to obtain the arsenic that she uses to take her own life. Flaubert’s goal here was to make people think about how helpless women were during this time period. The fact that Madame Bovary did not even have the resources to kill herself without the help of a man highlights this fact. All of this is an example of the realism that Flaubert incorporated into many of his novels. Madame Bovary’s actual death is another example of her own helplessness because she must rely on the help of a man to save her life. The man, however, fails to do so and she dies. Since the man was unable to help her, she died. Flaubert’s realistic style of writing is highlighted when he writes: Drops of sweat oozed from her bluish face, that seemed as if rigid in the exhalations of a metallic vapour. Her teeth chattered, her dilated eyes looked vaguely about her, and to all questions she replied only with a shake of the head; she even smiled once or twice. Gradually, her moaning grew louder; a hollow shriek burst from her; she pretended she was better and that she would get up presently. But she was seized with convulsions and cried out— "Ah! my God! It is horrible!" (Flaubert Chapter 32). Nora is a character who is much different from Bovary because she appears to be happy with her life just the way it is. She does not appear to be interested in making any social movement upward, but is happy with her family and friends. She does not even seem to mind that she is not taken seriously by anyone. As the play progresses, however, we begin to see the serious side of Nora, as she reveals that she does have knowledge of business and does indeed have some intelligence. It is here that Nora shows that she is not simply a powerless and sacrificial character, as she shows that she is not afraid to break the law nor does she back down when faced with adversity. This leads to a realization for Nora, as she discovers that she has true merit that is beyond the role that she was previously placed in. She realizes that her entire life has been an act and all she has done is sacrifice in order to live up, or down, to what others have expected of her. She was pretending to be a powerless woman and purposely sacrificing herself in order to fit the mould that her father and husband wished of her. Nora, unlike Bovary, was able to break free from this mould, however, and escape from the powerlessness that she was forced to accept when she tells her husband, “In all these eight years—longer than that—from the very beginning of our acquaintance, we have never exchanged a word on any serious subject” (Isben 106). This shows that she has realized that she was not being taken seriously before and wants out of the situation. The theme of powerlessness and sacrifice in women is common in both of these stories, but there is a contrast in how each of these women deal with this. Madame Bovary relishes this role because it allows for her to move up in society, but is much too helpless to fix her life once she loses her wealth. Her helplessness is not a role that she is placed into, but is rather something that she does not believe she can overcome. She, therefore, becomes much more helpless than Nora, as Nora eventually becomes empowered and is able to take control over her own life. Spouses and children are of little consequence for Bovary, just as long as she achieves her desired lifestyles. She has a life that is marred by her undying quest to become something that she are not. Madame Bovary does not belong in aristocratic society but she, for one reason or another, wishes to enter it. The results, however, are not she had been hoping for. While he reader can sympathize with Bovary because she simply wanted a more exciting life than the boring and dull marriage she found herself trapped in, it is also difficult to accept what she did to herself, especially seeing how differently Nora handled her own situation. Emma Bovary and Nora Helmer are important female characters that can be compared because their situations were very similar. They were both playing a role in society, albeit for different reasons. Bovary was playing her role in order to improve her social status at any cost. This lead to her living a very unhappy existence and, ultimately, her death. Nora, on the other hand, came to the realization that her life could change if she truly wanted it to. She began to realize her true potential, which probably ultimately saved her life. By comparing these two characters, it is possible for the reader to see how differently each of these characters’ lives could have turned out if they would have followed the same path as the other. Works Cited Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Project Gutenberg. 2003. Viewed 19 February 2008. http://worldebookfair.com/eBooks/Adelaide/f/f58m/index.html Isben, Henrik. "A Doll's House". Project Gutenberg. 2005. Viewed 19 February 2008. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15492/15492-h/15492-h.htm Read More