Write About the Ways Writers Use Marital Status in ‘a Doll’s House’ by Henrik Ibsen and ‘a Woman of No Importance’ by Oscar Wilde.

Write about the ways writers use marital status in ‘A Doll’s House’ by Henrik Ibsen and ‘A Woman of No Importance’ by Oscar Wilde.

Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ has many key themes such as reputation and status in society, women’s rights and money and security. These themes add key elements to the play which help develop the narrative. Similarly Wilde focuses on these in ‘A Woman of No Importance’.

In both plays, the women openly voice their opinions, sometimes not thinking of how this could affect other characters. In ‘A Woman of No Importance’, Lady Caroline constantly voices her opinions, not caring who hears or what effect it could have on the other characters. Lady Caroline uses her status, gender and marital reputation to allow her to get away with some of the exaggerated and inappropriate comments she says. ‘Mrs. Allonby is very well born … It is said, of course, that she ran away twice before she was married …I myself don’t believe she ran away more than once.’ – Lady Caroline, Act I
Lady Caroline has no regard to the fact that she is giving Mrs. Allonby a bad reputation by revealing her scandalous past to Hester. As an aristocrat, she believes it is her right to be able to say and do as she pleases, but she does this in a way that shows her to be of a very sweet, well meant nature to the other characters in the play. The audience are aware that she gossips to anyone who will listen, again adding to the stereotype of the upper classes.

In ‘A Doll’s House’, Nora also voices her opinions openly, without consideration of who she is offending.
‘Completely alone. That must be awful. I’ve got three beautiful children.’
She is inconsiderate of the fact that Mrs Linde has no family and nothing to live on, and she appears to be self-centred. Ibsen may have chosen to depict Nora in this way to show her naivety and selfishness; Nora is spoilt which reflects in her behaviour. However, because Nora is spoilt and protected by Helmer, her status in society stays strongly in place.

In both plays, the women have certain roles they fulfil, which is true to the society in which they live in. Nora is the home maker and a caring mother, Mrs Arbuthnot is also a caring mother, trying to protect her son from the harsh reality of his true place in society. However, events occurring in the play affect the women’s statuses, causing them to be viewed differently, revealing social prejudices against women’s marital roles. Nora leaves her husband at the end of the play which, during the Victorian era, was rarely heard of and meant harsh circumstances were forced on these women. Nora would have been shamed, revealing social values for women during the Victorian era. Mrs Arbuthnot is revealed to be a ‘fallen woman’ to her son and she refuses to change her views on Lord Illingworth and declines his offer to marry him. She rejects the shame that would have been cast on her, symbolising the courage she has, similar to the courage Nora has, against the prejudices of societies view on women’s marital roles.

In both plays, men’s actions affect women’s status in society, showing the power of men in society and their power over the women in the plays. In ‘A Doll’s House’, Krogstad blackmails Nora, forcing her to tell her husband, Torvald, that she has borrowed money; this was frowned upon during the Victorian era. Men were the bread winners and the women looked after the home and the children. The two occupations shouldn’t be mixed.
‘I’ve a letter here for your husband.’
‘Telling him everything?’
‘As objectively as possible.’ – Nora and Krogstad, act II
This shows the power Krogstad has over Nora, reflecting the power men had over women during that era.
In ‘A Woman of No Importance’, Lord Illingworth is the reason Mrs Arbuthnot is a fallen woman. He promised to marry her and took her purity in her father’s garden. This shows the authority Lord Illingworth had over Mrs Arbuthnot; she was prepared to lose her purity to a man she was not married to and believed he would marry her. However, this was not the case and Lord Illingworth managed to change Mrs Arbuthnot’s reputation in society, showing a rather brutal sense of property and ownership that Lord Illingworth has over Mrs Arbuthnot.

However, both plays have differences which affect the narrative and also has an effect on the characters. In ‘A Woman of No Importance’, the play takes part in four different locations. The characters are free to go where they please, and are not told what to do by the men. They are instead left to their own devices. In some cases, the women direct the men as to what they should do.
‘John you should have your muffler. What is the use of my always knitting mufflers for you if you won’t wear them?’
‘I am quite warm, Caroline, I assure you.’
‘I think not, John.’ – Lady Caroline and Sir John, Act I
Lady Caroline assumes that she knows better than her husband and freely orders him to do as she says. This reflects her reputation in society and Wilde uses her position in society to ridicule her. The humour is subtle and is used to develop the characters relationships with each other.
Wilde uses four different locations to structure the play. The terrace at Hunstanton Chase is the opening scene and each character is introduced to the audience. The character’s personalities and relationships are partly revealed here, showing the haughty personality of Lady Caroline and the modern perception Hester Worsley has on life, due to ‘how she was brought up in America; ‘Mr Arbuthnot has a beautiful nature! He is so simple, so sincere’ Lady Caroline retorts that ‘It is not customary in England, [...] for a young lady to speak with such enthusiasm of any person of the opposite sex’. Here, Wilde has shown the morals put upon women during this time and the expectations they have to live up to.
The second act occurs in the drawing room at Hunstanton Chase where the women give different views on their own role in society and the expectations put upon them because of marital status: ‘men persecute us dreadfully’ ; ‘they know their power and use it’ to ‘the thing to do is to keep men in their proper places.’ Here, Lady Caroline, an older Lady, shows that after years of experience in marriage, she has learnt to control her husband and think marriage is the best thing for young ladies. However, the younger character of Mrs Allonby shows ignorance by a lack of knowledge about men. She has not yet grasped the importance of marital status for women in society and misinterprets the power men have over women.
The ending scene takes place in the sitting room at Mrs. Arbuthnot’s house. This is where the past of Mrs Arbuthnot is revealed to her son and she is shown to be in control of telling him about her past and why she lied to protect him from being an outcast in society. However in ‘A Doll’s House’ the play takes place in one room, trapping Nora like a caged bird. The audience never sees Nora in another room suggesting she is controlled by Helmer in this area. Nora breaks this control by leaving him and freeing herself at the end of the play when the audience finally sees her leave the room, leaving Helmer and her children in search of a better life.

The titles of the play are very important to the marital status of the female characters in the narrative; ‘A Woman Of No Importance’ suggests Mrs Arbuthnot cannot be an important woman due to the fact she is a ruined woman in the eyes of society. However, she turns this stereotype on its head, proving to be a confident, self-controlled character, with noble qualities and a good heart, something that most of the other female characters don’t obtain. Mrs Arbuthnot is very important despite society’s best effort to label her, as shown in the title. Instead, the suggests that all women have no importance, which in the society of this partly reflects women’s marital roles where they are simply a tool which men can control and belittle in any way they wish.
‘A Dolls House’ suggests the confined, cramped space Nora lives in, a true perception of her situation for the majority of the play. However in the final scene, Nora makes the title ironic, breaking free from the confined space of their living room, leaving her husband to look after their family in order for her to explore the world they live in. Wilde has used puns in his play to develop relationships between characters and mocks marital states. Lady Caroline is very stern with her husband, controlling where he sits and what he wears, stereotyping them to behave like an old married couple. She pays no attention when her husband corrects her after mispronouncing an MP’s name.
And that member of Parliament, Mr Kettle-’ ‘Kelvil, my love, Kelvil.’
Lady Caroline ignores her husband showing a complete disregard to the fact she has mispronounced a rather important man’s name, adding comedy to the scene.
This shows her disregard for other characters which, because of her high status in society, she finds acceptable.

However, in ‘A Doll’s House’, the relationships are more serious. Mrs Linde and Nora’s relationship is maternal; Mrs Linde treats Nora like a child, stroking her hair and teaching Nora that her dishonesty with Torvald will have disastrous effects. This shows how protected Nora is from society; she is caught up in her own world, thinking that she will be able to get away with her wrong-doings. This eventually ends in her downfall in society when she decides to leave her husband.

Both plays include events in the women’s past that evaluate their downfall in society with similar consequences; women going against the norm set by society. Marital status reveals hierarchy existing in society between men and women. Women unjustly suffer by social values placed on marriage. In both plays, women take risks to free themselves and build a life for their families. The plays great moments depend on revelations connected to marital status which reveals the flaws in social marriages. Reading the texts from a modern 21st century perspective, I sympathise with the characters positions but I cannot relate to them. In today’s society, many women are forced to live by themselves and relationships are not taken as seriously as they would have been in the eras the plays were set in. For me, the marital status for women in their society were very important if a woman wanted a social position or a family, something that is different in modern 21st century.

Word count: 1796
Bibliography: ‘A Doll’s House’ By Henrik Ibsen ‘A Woman of No Importance’ by Oscar Wilde

Bibliography: ‘A Doll’s House’ By Henrik Ibsen ‘A Woman of No Importance’ by Oscar Wilde