Masculinity and Anxiety - Essay Example

Masculinity and Anxiety: A Study of Three Plays When considering the literary cannon, it is an undeniable fact that it is male-dominated, though there have been feminist movements to even it out. Of course, during the time that the cannon was created, males were in a dominant position over females. Masculinity was seen as a source of power. Some people, however, are not capable of assuming a position of power, and since power has been assumed to be a male priority, often times this power turned to a source of anxiety for those who were not capable of yielding it. While it might not have been considered by people at the time, many of the women were obviously much stronger and thus more powerful than their male counterparts. Some people are capable of handling positions of power and some are not, and a person’s gender has nothing to do with this fact. The plays A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, by William Shakespeare, and Les Liaisons Dangereuses, written by Christopher Hampton and adapted from the novel by Choderlos de Laclos, all show men who are driven to anxiety by the position of power that has been forced upon them. A Doll’s House centers around the married couple Torvald and Nora Helmer. As the play begins, the Helmers appear to the picture of married bliss. Everything appears copasetic as the couple discusses Torvald’s recent promotion at the bank and Nora is seemingly doted upon. However, if one were to pay close attention to Torvald’s words, it is apparent that Torvald infantilizes Nora with his pet names: ”Is that my little lark twittering out there?…Is my little squirrel bustling about?…Come, come, my little skylark must not droop her wings. What is this! Is my little squirrel out of temper?1” The names that Torvald chooses to call Nora are all small, cute animals. Not only are they small animals, but he calls her “small” versions of these animals, implying a certain frailty. Nora accepts this treatment without blinking, even when she is scolded for being a “spendthrift.” Torvald does this in order to place himself in a superior position over Nora. During the time the play takes place, this is what was expected in the relationships between men and women; the men earned wages and the women took care of the house. Of course, the Helmers even have help taking care of their children, leaving Nora with one less thing that she can do. The infantilizing of Nora is all just part of Torvald’s anxiety, since he proves to not be a strong character. As more is revealed about the Helmers throughout the play, it becomes apparent that Nora is much stronger than she appeared to be, and Torvald is seen to be weaker than his wife. Torvald was of ill health before the actions of the play take place, and Nora borrowed money in order to nurse him back to health on a vacation to Italy. This she kept secret from Torvald and secretly paid back without Torvald ever finding out. Through events that happen in the play, Torvald finds out about this and is worried this information will be made public: “Now you have destroyed all my happiness. You have ruined all my future. It is horrible to think of! I am in the power of an unscrupulous man…Miserable creature—what have you done?2” Because Torvald thought that he had to be the provider and take care of his family, it became extremely embarrassing for him to learn that his wife had actually been the one that had saved Torvald, all on her own. Of course, when Torvald learns that the secret will not be made public, he returns to the same language as he used before: “Try and calm yourself, my frightened little singing-bird. Be at rest, and feel secure; I have broad wings to shelter you under.3” Torvald is trying to assert himself as the one who takes care of Nora, and he acts as though his outburst never happened. It is too late, of course, and Nora stands up for herself, saying that she will no longer be treated as doll. The play ends with her leaving and slamming the door. Torvald’s anxiety over his position of masculinity and power forced him to treat his wife in such a manner, and she eventually showed herself to be the stronger of the two by leaving. In A Midsummer’s Night Dream, the relationship that causes anxiety for the male is between a man and his daughter. Though Shakespeare often wrote his plays in various eras of time, is has been said that they still showed the values of his own era. In this play, the fathers viewed their daughters more or less as property, as was true in Shakespeare’s own time, and they were to choose their daughters’ husbands. This was part of their “property rights.” However, Hermia, Egeus’ daughter, has chosen another man to marry other than the one that he chose for her. This man, Lysander, represents to Egeus a direct threat to his masculinity: “This hath bewitch’d the bosom of my child./ Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes…/turned her obedience, which is due to me.4” If Hermia were to decide upon her own to marry Lysander and reject the husband her father had chosen for her, then that would mean that Egeus was not a powerful enough of a man to control his own daughter, which was something that was just expected of the men of his era. This possibility represents such a threat to Egeus that he turns to extreme measures; she must choose her father’s way or death: “As she is mine I may dispose other/ Which shall be either to this gentleman. Or to her death.5” The threat to his power causes Egeus so much anxiety that he would rather have his daughter killed than to have her disobey her. Her own happiness did not factor into the decision in the slightest bit. Obviously Egeus was not comfortable with his roll of power forced upon him from his masculinity. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been such a strong rejection of one suitor over another. There was no real disagreement with Lysander except for the fact that he was not the person that Egeus had picked. In the end of the play after Puck has changed around everybody’s affections towards each other, Egeus has no qualms about Lysander marrying Hermia and instead wishes for the two couples to get married as quickly as possible. With no perceived threat to his masculinity or power, Egeus did not suffer anxiety and therefore seemed more than happy to have his daughter married to Lysander. Of course, the other men in the play had to agree with Egeus. Theseus told Hermia that “to you your father should be as a god.6” In order to uphold this power structure, it was necessary for the other men to side with each other if there ever was a challenge to one of theirs own authority. The only real way to continue this power structure was for all of these people to be in agreement, and Lysander represented a threat to this power structure. However, it was Hermia who was under the threat of death as she was a direct threat to her father’s power. Luckily everything worked out, as typical in Shakespeare’s comedies, and the anxiety due to challenge to Egeus’ masculinity was resolved without anyone coming to any kind of harm. In Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the anxiety due to a challenge of a character’s masculinity comes when a character that can only be described as a libertine falls in love with a woman. The action of the play happens as a result of the Marquise de Merteuil challenging her former lover the Vicomte de Valmont to seduce an innocent woman, Cécile. As he thought of himself as a man who could seduce any woman, any woman that might have seemed as though she would not be seduced by him as a threat to his masculinty. Since the Marquise acted as though he could not seduce a woman who had just come out of a convent, he obviously had to take the challenge and seduce Cécile. Of course, Valmont already had his eye on another target, the Présidente de Tourvel. Being an overly religious woman, she was not at all likely to let herself be seduced by Valmont, and as just mentioned, this was in fact a challenge to his masculinity. As any challenge to his masculinity caused him anxiety, he could not merely let the challenge go unanswered. Valmont is able to successfully seduce both woman and win the challenge, but their is one catch; Valmont has actually fallen in love with Tourvel. When the Marquise learns of this, she attacks Valmont’s masculinity, and the anxiety this attack on his masculinity causes him to sever ties with Tourvel. Instead of sacrificing one’s life for love, such as what Hermia was willing to do, Valmont was willing to sacrifice his love for the sake of his masculinity. Obviously, he was less concerned with his own feelings than he was with how he was perceived by others. Also, as Cécile’s music teacher Danceny was in love with her, Valmont’s ruining of her reputation led Danceny to challenge Valmont to a duel, and this resulted in Valmont’s death. Even though she was promised to another man, Danceny took Valmont’s ruining of Cécile as a challenge to his masculinity as he was in love with her. As we can see, Valmont’s masculinity was challenged, and as a direct result of this he died in the duel. Giving up love and his eventual death were the result of his inability to cope with his masculinity being challenged. As evidenced throughout all of the plays, women showed themselves to be as strong as the men. The males did not ask to be born as men and thus being forced into these positions of power, just like the women did not ask to be put in their lesser positions. Men and women merely had to deal with the positions they were born into. Women also did not have to worry about being challenged, and any challenge to them did not cause the kind of anxiety inspired by the male characters. An interesting aspect to consider, though, is that all these plays that showed men to be insecure due to anxiety caused by challenges to their masculinity were all written by men. Though it could be said that there were aspects to these plays that are pro-feminist, women playwrights still were not being taken seriously. This was part of the real world counter-part to threats to male masculinity causing male anxiety. Works Cited Hampton, Christopher, Les Liaisons Dangereuses: A Play. New York, Samuel French, Inc., 1986. Ibsen, Henrik, A Doll’s House. New York, Prestwick House, Inc. 2005. Shakespeare, William, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Washington, D.C., Washington Square Press, 2004. Read More