Use of Power to Manipulate in Atonement, Hamlet and A Doll's House

Injustices of social class appear throughout McEwan’s novel ‘Atonement’, Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ and Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’, each character which is of a higher status uses their power to manipulate their desires and warp other characters opinions to suit their own. The most obvious example of this social power is between the protagonists and their manipulation for love of another; seen predominately in ‘Hamlet’ between Hamlet, himself and Ophelia. Nora’s controlling state for her own love for herself and her children whilst falling out of love with her husband, Torvald. Whilst Briony’s perspective of love is to save her sister from falling below her social status, her attempts to ‘save’ her have devastating side-effects which ruin her relationship with her sister which she tries to rekindle. The relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia in Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ is somewhat questionable. It’s debatable over Hamlet’s madness; at times it’s obvious Hamlet feigned certain spells of madness to confuse Ophelia but it was mainly on behalf of King Claudius – to catch him out over his plans (Act 3, Scene 1). However it is questionable near the end of the play whether Hamlet’s madness does become genuine, after all his traumatic actions to Ophelia, killing her father, denying her love, perhaps near the end his guilt has caught up with him and now he pays the price for his wrong doings. To portray Ophelia’s madness in an effective and persuasively manner, stage directions depict what it’s like inside Ophelia’s head, however when we look at Hamlet’s madness it’s portrayed more clearly through his speech rather than actions, this makes it less convincing. Hamlet’s decent into madness is used to manipulate Ophelia and confuse King Claudius and Polonius. He speaks to Marcellus and Horatio after the encounter with the ghost about his plans on putting “an antic disposition on,” his plans on feigning his madness shows how clever and manipulating Hamlet can be, this charade will cause much pain to the loved ones around him. In Ibsen’s, ‘A Doll’s House’, the character of Nora Helmer doesn’t descend into a traumatic state of madness but she does begin to get thoughts which of the time would be viewed as immoral. Her actions show her whole life itself was a facade to please her husband, Torvald. However, McEwan’s, ‘Atonement’ shows a different type of deception, rather than deception of people, Briony Tallis shows how manipulating stories; misunderstanding events fully; and the power of her own imagination can have devastating effects on those around her. Briony struggles with situations she can’t decipher, therefore as a consequence of her eccentric imagination and her ability to form complex stories, Briony finds an escape from these ‘negative’ events by altering the truth into something she finds more suiting. For example, when Lola is found being attacked by Briony, her immediate assumption was to blame it all on Robbie after she caught him and her sister, Cecilia together in the library. Her reaction has devastating effects on Robbie mainly, but also on Cecilia, who loses the man she loves, but furthermore the effects transfer to her later on in life. Cecilia cannot forgive her for condemning an innocent man, therefore rejects Briony as a sister and disowns her family who are adamant it was Robbie. Briony’s accusation as a child allows her to get away with it, her young mind blurs out the truth and modifies to her liking. However as she grows she discovers how her families high status over Robbie’s family meant that the accusation was intact. Robbie’s family being of a lower class would mean that society of the time would reject his plea – however the man who did attack Lola, Paul Marshall, gets away with the crime as he was never in question. But a worker of the Tallis family, Danny Hardman is also a prime suspect, he too accused because of his lower status in society.
Like Briony Tallis, Nora Helmer is somewhat similar; her actions are of benefit to herself. Within the first act of the play Nora already hides her doings from her husband; this is shown in stage directions, Torvald: “When did my squirrel come home?” Nora: “Just now.” (Puts the bag of macaroons into her pocket and wipes her mouth.) “Come in here, Torvald, and see what I have bought” Nora’s deceiving personality already begins to become apparent from the very start. Hiding small things like macaroons already portrays that the Helmer’s marriage isn’t stereotypical of a happy marriage of the Victorian era in which the play was written. Nora continues to confidently lie to her husband when Torvald asks, Torvald: “Hasn't Miss Sweet Tooth been breaking rules in town today? … taken a bite at a macaroon or two?" NORA: "No, Torvald.” Her bravery to lie to her husband’s face gives the idea that this moment of deceit over macaroons is about to foreshadow what is to follow, something bigger and more controversial for a woman of the time. In all three texts, each deceit is performed by a woman; Briony Tallis in ‘Atonement’, Nora Helmer in ‘A Doll’s House’ and it is arguable that in ‘Hamlet’, Ophelia deceives Hamlet. This is debating about Ophelia as she’s used as a pawn by her father, Polonius and King Claudius, their plan to reveal Hamlet’s true reasoning for his madness includes Ophelia and her power over him to unwittingly make him admit. Although Hamlet realises that he’s been set up by King Claudius and Polonius he blames Ophelia for her part taking in it. However, from another gender perspective, it could be noted that the women in these texts have all been deceived by men too, in a way to conceal their own facades. In the final scene of Ibsen’s, ‘A Doll’s House’ Nora realises how her life has been constantly manipulated by the men surrounding her, “[Father] used to tell me his opinions ... If I had others, I concealed them ... I have been your doll-wife ... I used to be papa’s doll-child.” Nora’s realisation shows that she understands that she’s been cheated out of her own personality due to the power over her by men. However, the character of Nora has developed to do this too; she notes “the children, in their turn, have been my dolls,” showing she too, like her Papa and Torvald, has controlled the lives of her children to her own liking, fitting into her facade of what she deem a happy life. Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ shows a clear indication of male dominance over female roles within the play, Ophelia being the main victim of this. Her innocence and naivety of youth allowed her to be reined in by her father to his demand. She becomes a facade in her role to force Hamlet to confess; she’s forced to put on a front of stubbornness and rejection towards Hamlet, “My lord, I have remembrances of yours” – however, they’re not her true feelings for him, she’s instructed to act in a way to drive Hamlet further into his own ‘facade’ of madness. But her affection for Hamlet appears when drawing to the end of the act; as Hamlet begins to ‘act’ mad Ophelia’s worry for Hamlet’s health becomes apparent, “O heavenly powers, restore him!” Her beg to religion for Hamlet’s return of sanity shows her true devotion for him – she drops the cloak she hides behind to conceal her emotions and lets her guard down, proving that she still loves him regardless of how Hamlet treats her. However, Ibsen’s play shows how the Helmer’s entire marriage has been a facade since the start. The title of the play, ‘A Doll’s House’ gives the illusion of a child playing and manipulating the lives of the dolls to their own creation, creating false facades and situations in which they have full control over – giving an illusion that the outer appearance isn’t all what it seems. And the characters within the play portray the title; Torvald’s family life has been moulded to his domain, simply due to because he has the most power within the household – he has the ability to control Nora, her spending and the children’s doings. However, this isn’t necessarily true; Nora was able to dishonestly obtain a loan without her husband’s knowledge. Nora singlehandedly was able to put her family in debt and if word got out about her loan borrowing, shame would be brought upon the family – as women weren’t allowed to borrow money without their husbands consent in the Victorian period. This shows the naivety of the two main protagonists within ‘A Doll’s House’, Torvald completely oblivious of his wife’s betrayal and Nora’s doubtless attitude to how her life was being panned out in front of her, her entire life. McEwan’s novel, ‘Atonement’ presents the idea of a ‘facade’ quite differently in comparison to the two plays, the genre being a novel allowed McEwan to create a different approach. The novel being set in three different sections, each been given a different voice. The first section of the novel was written in first person, we see everything through Briony’s eyes as a thirteen year old girl, however, what we’re told to believe isn’t the truth – as we discover within the two other sections. The other sections are written in third person, we’re given an outside view on Cecilia and Robbie’s relationship and how their lives continued after Robbie was wrongly accused and arrested. The reader is then presented with the truth on the events of the night Robbie was arrested, we see how Briony’s lie unravelled and ruined her sister’s and Robbie’s life later on. This shift in voice throughout the novel allows McEwan’s character, Briony who continues to write the novel but within a third person account as she wasn’t there to live these moments she writes about – the ability to confide with the reader and gain some sympathy for herself as she unfolds what really happened and how it affected not only herself but her family and friends. But within the last section of the novel Briony’s tone collapses as she comes to terms with the fact she that’s starting to die, she no longer wants sympathy and accepts the wrongs she’s done. We discover within this last section, which is an interview, that Cecilia and Robbie both died during the war and the story we’ve just read was atonement from Briony to Cecilia and Robbie, to allow their love story to continue as though nothing was interrupted. The novel as an entire was a facade portrayed by Briony and her imagination, from a thirteen year old girl to a woman in her eighties we discover that everything was written and done out of love and affection for her sister. Her attempt to save her from Robbie who she thought was a maniac ended up ruining their relationship and as a way of rekindling what they had she rewrites Cecilia’s and Robbie’s ending as a symbol of forgiveness and compassion, even if deceptive. McEwan’s novel and Ibsen’s play are both similar in the idea that the characters and personas within have the ability to force change upon themselves and others. Nora in ‘A Doll’s House’ changes her own outlook on her life; she makes the change by leaving Torvald and her children who she has thumbed and moulded into her own creations – as Briony has too, her lie controls the way she lives the rest of her life until she too comes to the realisation of her actions. Both women make attempts to conceal and redeem what they do. Nora uses objects around the house to dress up, such as the Christmas tree – a symbol of happiness, Nora dresses the tree according to how she wants her life to be, healthy, ornamental and pleasing. The tree is used as a diversion by Nora to hide all the bad things in her life, “busies herself with the Christmas tree,” the tree is somewhat of importance as it’s a facade itself, stage directions in forces that the tree is beginning to die, revealing the dishevelled dead-like silhouette, “stripped of its ornaments and with burnt-down candles-ends on its dishevelled branches” this shows that not all is well in Nora’s life and again foreshadows the bad which is to happen. The dying Christmas tree is a strong motif used throughout the play to show that all that is heavily concealed will wilt and the ugly truth with appear through – like Nora’s money borrowing without Torvald knowing. Eventually all will come out to the open – however before this happens, after the tree has died Nora and Torvald attend a party. Nora performs the tarantella dressed in fancy dress; she wears the dress for Torvald. Nora becomes his little “Capri,” showing that she is of fascination to Torvald when dressed up – again reinforcing that it’s all a facade and it’s only Nora’s beauty of her makeup and dress that he really appreciates. The costume itself as signifies that Nora’s Christmas tree has died, the first cloak she used to hide her betrayal, but then to conceal it further she uses another disguise – but all must come off as she get changed back into her regular clothes and that’s when Nora gets the realisation of her life.