A Doll's House Feminist Analysis

One of the most prevalent issues Ibsen brings to his audience through A Doll’s House is nineteenth century gender roles. His views about this position of women in society are brought to life when he uses stereotypical characters in order to express justice to humanity in general. He portrays this idea of humanism in A Doll’s House through the characters Mrs. Linde, Nora and Torvald. Mrs. Linde is one of three characters that Ibsen uses to portray weakness and strength in a patriarchal society. At the beginning of the play, in her first interaction with Nora she states that all her family has left her and that she “feel[s her] life [is] unspeakably empty [for there is] no one to live for anymore” (Ibsen 6). This expresses the stereotypical
On the other hand, Ibsen portrays a different side of Mrs. Linde where she is free from the constraints of societal norms in the nineteenth century due to being a widow. She is independent and has worked hard for her family for “the last three years [which] have [been] like one long working day with no rest” (Ibsen 6). This proves that she is strong, can work, support her family and therefore can have roles similar to men in the society. This strength foreshadows the message of the play that women can be just as strong as men. Mrs. Linde demonstrates that inner strength and weakness are functions of being human, not functions of gender, expressing Ibsen’s ideas of humanism. However, many people view A Doll’s House as a feminist play in the Victorian Age because it primarily focus’ on the issues of women trying to establish their identity in society. In defense of the feminist critiques Ibsen quoted at a
He portrays his humanist views as he alludes to the end of the play where he defines strength as human traits not gender traits. Today the play is seen as a great work of drama because it boldly pointed out the flaws in this patriarchal