Stereotypes In The 19th Century

Reflections of 19th Century Stereotypes Many authors describe their society through their literary works. Henrik Ibsen is a perfect example of this as he explains: "My task has been the description of humanity"(Fjeble 120). Ibsen lived between 1829 and 1906 and therefore experienced the prime of the 19th century. 19th century America was filled with hard-working people, a structured family life and clear-cut male/female roles. Ibsen is known to reflect the 19th century society through most of his work, including A Doll's House. The male/female roles of the repressed 19th century society are clearly reflected through the characters of Torvald and Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House. The 19th century American perceived the "ideal" family has having the stereotypical
"Women's personal lives were centered around the home, husband and children" (Freedman 118). Although this can be looked upon as negative, the women became the center of the household, providing spiritual and emotional guidance. "They [women] were the keepers of society's conscience, with special responsibility to teach the young how to be good [...]"(Bailey 339). This concept is referred to as the "cult of domesticity". In addition, because of the man's public life, he rarely was around when the wife needed emotional support. The women therefore turned to their friends. It was very common for women to confide in one or two friends about their lives. "[...]many women turned outside of marriage for friendship and support"(Freeman 123). Moreover, another psychological effect of the typical 19th century female life was to ask childish. This stemmed from two things; the degradation of females by males and the female desire to serve the male. According to Degler, women acted childish as an "[...]effort to repress sexual feelings[...]"(259). Thus, women conformed to the "doll" like image of the 19th