Unequal Gender Roles In A Doll's House
Henrik Ibsen’s play, “A Doll House”, shows the importance of unequal gender
roles in the late 1800’s during the Victorian Era. Initially, I thought the play was
written to reveal the double standards women had to face in the earlier years.
However, after the interactive oral, my views have changed. It led me to understand
that, instead of showing how men were seen as superior in the 19th century, the play
was about society’s moral standards.
During our interactive oral, we discussed multiple ideas from how society’s
views differ from each time period to how the significance of doors portray a huge
role in the play. In the time period of “A Doll House”, it appears that Torvald chooses
to respect the values of society over
his wife’s happiness. Even towards the end of
Act Three, he did not allow her to leave his household in order to protect the image
of a “perfect” marriage. At first, I thought these ideas wanted to push for the idea of
feminism being the dominant theme of Ibsen’s play. After having done research,
Henrik Ibsen himself said that he did not want it to be seen as a feminist play.
Throughout the interactive oral, the people in my group brought up that at the time
the play was being taken, society’s views were much more important than family’s,
which explains why Torvald acted indifferent towards the situation.
Before the discussion, I did not think that the use of doors was somehow
significant to the play. Other than myself, group members thought it was interesting
how it was only at the end of the play where Nora went through the front door. It
was a big realization to me that this symbolized how at that time, it was not typical
for a woman to walk out of her house on her own. This event is a metaphor for
Nora’s way of rebelling against society’s views of men and women. I understand that
in order develop her own individuality, leaving her husband and children played a
big role on her decision.
roles in the late 1800’s during the Victorian Era. Initially, I thought the play was
written to reveal the double standards women had to face in the earlier years.
However, after the interactive oral, my views have changed. It led me to understand
that, instead of showing how men were seen as superior in the 19th century, the play
was about society’s moral standards.
During our interactive oral, we discussed multiple ideas from how society’s
views differ from each time period to how the significance of doors portray a huge
role in the play. In the time period of “A Doll House”, it appears that Torvald chooses
to respect the values of society over
his wife’s happiness. Even towards the end of
Act Three, he did not allow her to leave his household in order to protect the image
of a “perfect” marriage. At first, I thought these ideas wanted to push for the idea of
feminism being the dominant theme of Ibsen’s play. After having done research,
Henrik Ibsen himself said that he did not want it to be seen as a feminist play.
Throughout the interactive oral, the people in my group brought up that at the time
the play was being taken, society’s views were much more important than family’s,
which explains why Torvald acted indifferent towards the situation.
Before the discussion, I did not think that the use of doors was somehow
significant to the play. Other than myself, group members thought it was interesting
how it was only at the end of the play where Nora went through the front door. It
was a big realization to me that this symbolized how at that time, it was not typical
for a woman to walk out of her house on her own. This event is a metaphor for
Nora’s way of rebelling against society’s views of men and women. I understand that
in order develop her own individuality, leaving her husband and children played a
big role on her decision.