Woman's Slavery
Slavery in a Woman’s Role
Throughout the 19th century, women were treated as an inferior species. They were locked into a role in society with no way out. There are three pieces of literature written in the 19th century that describe this large issue very well. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Trifles by Susan Glaspell. In all three of these works a woman was trapped into her role or marriage and each book describes the unique was in which the women succumbed or overcame this enormous challenge. In A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, Nora Helmer was originally portrayed as a mindless and shallow woman using descriptive language. Torvald, Nora’s husband, called her “my Squirrel” and “my little skylark” showing how she was completely his. However, she was soon shown to be a devious but naïve woman. Women were not allowed to handle a their own estates, but when Torvald became ill and needed to go to Italy to recover Nora forged her dead father’s signature on a document and took out a loan in order to save her husband. She was intent on keeping this loan a secret from her husband because she knew that he only liked her for her shallow and pretty self not and he would not like an independent woman. Her secret eventually came out and Torvald hated her as an independent woman and he hit her. He said, “Before all else you are a wife and a mother.” Nora was trapped into a false marriage and was also trapped into her role as a 19th century woman but she overcame this challenge after much difficulty when she left her husband and her marriage and told him that she would be her own woman. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman aptly describes how the narrator ignored and disregarded by her husband to the point where she becomes truly mad. At the beginning of the short story, the narrator is told by her husband that that she has a slight anxiety disorder and that all she needs is some rest in order to
Throughout the 19th century, women were treated as an inferior species. They were locked into a role in society with no way out. There are three pieces of literature written in the 19th century that describe this large issue very well. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Trifles by Susan Glaspell. In all three of these works a woman was trapped into her role or marriage and each book describes the unique was in which the women succumbed or overcame this enormous challenge. In A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, Nora Helmer was originally portrayed as a mindless and shallow woman using descriptive language. Torvald, Nora’s husband, called her “my Squirrel” and “my little skylark” showing how she was completely his. However, she was soon shown to be a devious but naïve woman. Women were not allowed to handle a their own estates, but when Torvald became ill and needed to go to Italy to recover Nora forged her dead father’s signature on a document and took out a loan in order to save her husband. She was intent on keeping this loan a secret from her husband because she knew that he only liked her for her shallow and pretty self not and he would not like an independent woman. Her secret eventually came out and Torvald hated her as an independent woman and he hit her. He said, “Before all else you are a wife and a mother.” Nora was trapped into a false marriage and was also trapped into her role as a 19th century woman but she overcame this challenge after much difficulty when she left her husband and her marriage and told him that she would be her own woman. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman aptly describes how the narrator ignored and disregarded by her husband to the point where she becomes truly mad. At the beginning of the short story, the narrator is told by her husband that that she has a slight anxiety disorder and that all she needs is some rest in order to