Preview

Compare and Contrast a Doll House by Henrik Ibsen and a Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. Write a Brief Essay (of Approximately 1000 Words) to Comment on the Two Female Protagonists’ (Nora Helmer and Blanche

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1123 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Compare and Contrast a Doll House by Henrik Ibsen and a Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. Write a Brief Essay (of Approximately 1000 Words) to Comment on the Two Female Protagonists’ (Nora Helmer and Blanche
Compare and contrast A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen and A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. Write a brief essay (of approximately 1000 words) to comment on the two female protagonists’ (Nora Helmer and Blanche Duboi’s) relationship with men.

A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen and A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams are two well-known plays that give rise to discussions over male-female relationships in old society. The female protagonists in the plays are women who are dependent on males. However, the female protagonist in A Doll House is able to transcend her status by try to be dependent on herself at the end of the play, whereas the one in A Streetcar Named Desire still continues to depend on men. In this essay, I am going to discuss the relationships with men of the two female protagonists, Nora Helmer and Blanche Dubois.

In A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen, Nora Helmer is the female protagonist of the play. She is a housewife in the Helmer’s family. She has undergone a transformation throughout the play that she reacts differently to her husband. Nora’s relationship with her husband, Torvald, is important in the development of the plot. In the first scene, Nora appears to be happy and have an affectionate family. Although she tries to defy her husband in some unimportant ways, for example, she lies to her husband about eating macaroons, she still maintains a good relationship with her husband. However, minor incident actually foreshadows the confrontation between her husband and her later when the play continues. As the plot develops, Nora is actually not as simple as other wives that she does not totally obey her husband. The contradiction between Nora’s independent nature and the tyrannical authority of Torvald arouses a climax in the play when Torvald discovered a lie of Nora. The lie shows a big contrast of their relationship before and after the disclosure.

Before Torvald discovers the truth behind the deception, the relationship

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Throughout Literature the role and position of women has been constantly one of debate and controversy. For centuries women have struggled to exert any power or individual identity through times of male dominance. The novel The Great Gatsby as well as the play A Streetcar Named Desire and lastly the poetry of Anne Sexton, were all written during the 20th Century in America. Throughout the 20th Century, attitudes towards women in the USA were changing, the war had given an opportunity for women to realize and prove that they could look after the household without men. This called for much debate about the rights and roles of women which carried on throughout the 20th Century and inspired many of the characters and themes within Literature. In all three texts interactions between men and women are explored and represented in different ways. Each painting pictures of women whose compliance and submissiveness have resulted in their portrayal of being male dominated victims of society’s double standards.…

    • 3734 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    An ideal marriage consists of communication and honesty, but in A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen the Helmer marriage is quite the opposite. At the beginning of the play, Nora conformed to obeying her husband and she was naïve in hoping that her husband would sacrifice his reputation for her. She even forged a check to borrow money from the bank to help Helmer with his illness. She thought that this would be a good way to show her love and ability. Their weak marriage later revealed that Helmer never really understood her and he was ashamed that she had concealed this secret. This event awakened Nora’s true personality and she finally realized that their marriage was fake and weak. In the play A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen uses symbolism to portray how Nora is forced by societal norms to mask her true personality through her lies and secrecy, which shows her transition into an independent woman, further emphasising that self knowledge is needed for an authentic life.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thesis: In the play A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams ultimately portrays the struggles of a woman in the 1920s. Through the demonstration of the main character, Blanche, we depict the struggles between alcoholism, the conflicts in social classes and the indifferences in sexuality.…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    moonlit road

    • 262 Words
    • 1 Page

    This horror story was told by three different narrators: Joel Hetman, Jr., Casper Gattan, and the late Julia Hetman with help from Medium Bayrolles. While Joel Hetman, Jr., was away at college, his father sent him a telegram, urging him to come home right away. When he returned, he discovered that his mother was brutally killed through strangulation. One day, Joel and his father were outside; Joel's father was certain that he saw someone out there, but Joel, Jr., couldn't see anything. A moment later, Joel's father disappeared; he was never heard from again.…

    • 262 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    I will be comparing and contrasting Tennessee Williams play of 1947 ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ with Ian McEwen’ novel ‘Enduring Love’ of 1997. I aim to focus on the theme of power as presented by both authors. The first, a play, explores how power shifts between men and women such as the way that Blanche’s character loses the power of her status to become dependent on Stanley. The second looks at the power struggle between two men explored through Joe’s obsession created by Jed whilst still highlighting the power struggle of a woman in the way that…

    • 1394 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nora Helmer, the main protagonist of Scandinavian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879), has always been depicted, as an exuberant novelty item, whose only purpose is to serve the important male figures in her life. This especially pertains to her father and her husband. These male figures move around Nora’s realm with indirect disregard to Nora’s true nature, desires, and abilities. Although this facade seems to be built on solid ground in the beginning, we see the consequential subtle, but progressive, crumbling of a falsified foundation. In the end, Nora, the once veiled unseasoned girl becomes a woman waiting to grasp the horizons of experience…

    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Ibsen’s A Doll House published in 1879, Nora is the protagonist. Nora shows small acts of rebellion in parts of the play. These acts of rebellion show she really is not as happy as she seems and she finally gets the strength to leave her marriage to her husband Torvald. As the drama unfolds, and as Nora's awareness of the truth about her life grows, her need for rebellion escalates, culminating in her walking out on her husband and children to find…

    • 649 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a male-dominated world, women have to struggle against society-imposed identities. Within A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen, Nora undergoes a journey of realization, leading her to believe that she must discover who she really is, not who society wants her to be. Nora begins the play portraying the image of a “trophy wife”, but as the play continues, she transforms into her own individual. Through Nora’s cognizance that she has been pretending to be someone she wasn’t, Ibsen displays that women, in a patriarchal society, must struggle with stereotypes, while still trying to be who they truly are.…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Mrs. Secunda’s, English class we are currently watching a play on and reading a book on “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams. In my opinion, the play and book are actually pretty good and very interesting. The Kowalski rental is in a bad however charming community within the French Quarter. Stella, twenty-five years antique and pregnant, lives along with her blue collar husband Stanley Kowalski. It is summertime, and the heat is oppressive. Blanche Dubois, Stella's older sister, arrives abruptly, sporting all that she owns. Blanche and Stella have a heat reunion, however, Blanche has some bad information; Belle Reve, the own family mansion, has been lost. Blanche stayed in the back of to take care of their death family whilst…

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen, portrays a young married woman, Nora, who plays a dramatic role of deception and self-indulgence. The author creates a good understanding of a woman’s role by assuming Nora is an average housewife who does not work; her only job is to maintain the house and raise the children like a stereotypical woman that cannot work or help society. In reality, she is not an average housewife in that she has a hired maid who deals with the house and children. Although Ibsen focuses on these “housewife” attributes, Nora’s character is ambitious, naive, and somewhat cunning. She hides a dark secret from her husband that not only includes borrowing money, but also forgery. Nora’s choices were irrational; she handled the situations very poorly in this play by keeping everything a secret. The way that women were viewed in this time period created a barrier that she could not overcome. The decisions that had the potential to be good were otherwise molded into appalling ones. Women should have just as many rights as men and should not be discriminated by gender; but they should also accept consequences in the same way without a lesser or harsher punishment.…

    • 3445 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Kahled Hosseini's novel, "The Kite Runner," serves as a story of redemption and metamorphosis of child into man, through the eyes of a young Afghan boy born into a family of recognition and prosperity. Amir, son of businessman Baba, narrates his outlook on the struggles he faced from his troubled childhood, including jealousy, neglect, and the manifestation of his own insecurities. Amir thrives for redemption in hopes of relieving self-condemnation, due to pain inflicted on his best friend Hassan out of jealousy and cowardice. Transforming from a guilt-ridden boy to a supportive, independent man, protagonist Amir in Kahled Hosseini’s novel “The Kite Runner,” travels through life and uses his experiences and hardships to transition from boyhood into adulthood.…

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There has always been a struggle between women and men. In the play written by Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, the author specifies the characteristics of both gender. Showing men as aggressive, while, showing women as delicate. However, Williams conceives that Blanche and Stella show two different types of femininity in the play, nevertheless, both of them are dependent on men, showing that females have a sexual desire.…

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Blanche and Stanley, two characters of Tenessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire, represent two very conflicting personalities. Stanley, Blanche’s sister Stella’s aggressive husband, portrays strong tones of anger, rage, and frustration. However, although his behavior is without a doubt over-bearing and rough, in a way he displays realism and truth as well. On the other hand, the play’s true protagonist Blanche exerts enthusiasm, spunk, and elaborate nostalgia. These characteristics don’t really come out in a positive or attractive way, but instead verify her insanity near the play’s end. Together, Blanche and Stanley represent true inner conflict, each in their own way, and the tension among the two is an exciting and driving force to be reckoned with.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen was first performed in 1879 when European society strictly enforced male supremacy over women. The play consists of a middle class couple, Torvald and Nora Helmer, who seem to have the perfect marriage, three children, and a pending respectable income with the husband’s recent promotion to bank manager. Torvald treats Nora like a doll, manicuring and manipulating her looks and actions. Although his controlling demeanor is concealed by innocent nicknames and monetary allowances, the affects of his domination over his wife are eventually exposed. At the end of the play, Nora leaves in a haze of anguish after her husband fails to defend her when she is accused of legal fraud in a loan she had taken to save Torvald’s life. Some people say that Nora was right to leave and flee the control of her demeaning husband to seek her individuality, but many argue the contrary when considering what she left behind, what she could have demanded and changed at home, and what she would face as an independent woman defending herself in a 19th century, male biased society. Although some may assertively argue that Nora was right to leave her home, others suggest the she was not right to leave considering the abandonment of her children, the responsibility she could have demanded from her husband, and the prejudice against independent women in her society.…

    • 1908 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    People don’t always understand that silence is not a sign of weakness, it is in fact unmeasurable strength. Modern American culture conditions people, particularly men, to believe that masculinity consists of outwardly aggressive behavior and unrestrained hypersexualization of women, but sometimes a true sign of masculinity is the ability for one to remain silent and listen to others. I once found myself in an unpleasant situation that involved repeated instances of sexual harassment that almost escalated to rape. I was exposed to an awful atmosphere of intolerance as one of my peers used vulgar phrases directed towards my sexuality and attempted to engage in physical misconduct. After I removed myself from that situation I began to feel a…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics