The use of symbolism to convey protagonists confinement in a Doll's House and Death and the Maiden

Authors Avatar

The use of symbolism to convey protagonists ‘confinement in a Doll's House and Death and the Maiden

It is evident that both, Ariel Dorfman and Henrik Ibsen, present different situations which demonstrate a clear confinement among the main protagonists. This confinement is clearly illustrated through a use of different symbolisms. This helps Argueta and Ibsen to pinpoint and emphasize an imprisonment, in which some characters have been locked up to in a Doll’s House and Death and the Maiden. It is because of this same reason why symbolism takes up an important role inside the different plays, because it is these different symbolisms which help the reader to clearly find the acts of confinement which end up as being an important theme. This demonstrates how some protagonist end up being dominated and imprisoned by other characters as well as other factors which take on the two different novels.
One clear and important symbol inside A Doll’s House is the black hat and black cross which are used by the author to symbolize: DEATH. As mentioned before it is crucial for the fact that it illustrates the overall confinement among the different women protagonist such as Mrs Linde and Nora who is a dynamic character which at first seems to be a child-like woman; however she is then able to fight against the OPPRESSION situation in which she is confined by her husband, Torvald. As a result of this that the symbols of black cross and black hat symbolize an oppression in which woman protagonist are being sank on, as they need to swim against the male power.
As mentioned before, the own title of the play is another important symbol in terms of protagonist confinement because it illustrates once again the situation in which Nora lives, a situation in which it is clearly being control by her own husband who treats her like a child by persuading her with money. “Come, come my little skylark must not drop her wings. What is this! Is my little squirrel out of temper?” (Act I, pg. 3) Ibsen is showing us how Nora is his mascot as he treats her like a little child with the use of animal characteristics. More importantly Ibsen emphasizes by using the word “wings” in order to illustrate the lack of freedom that Nora has as she is confined by her husband who has her oppressed. It is here where two different symbols: money and a dolls house join together to emphasize how it is money itself who buys Nora’s life as she is driven by her husband who confines her as a helpless and innocent doll. It is a symbol which can also be considered contradictory because at the end we can see how her child-like behaviour disappears as she discovers the fact that she is not as happy or innocent as she appears which helps her to free herself from the confinement of the oppressive situation in which she was locked up by the male protagonist. More over it is the doll symbol which is also crucial when it comes to the protagonist confinement because it illustrates the difficulty to maintain an individual personality because Nora finds herself struggling to become an independent and self-motivated protagonist in a world which is dominated by the male protagonist which creates this constant confinement among the females and males inside the story.
On the other hand, Ariel Dorfman present to us a different situation in which it is the woman who takes over the male characteristics presented in Death and the Maiden. One very important symbol is the famous quartet by Schubert from which the novel is named after. This symbol is important because it illustrates the confinement created upon Paulina who loved the piece of music but then hated because it was the same piece of music which was played during her rape and torture sessions. This symbol is important as mentioned before because it does not only illustrate a confinement in which Paulina unconsciously reminds her horrible past in which confines her present which is willing to repair and take revenge in response to what that was done to her. As a result of this same symbol it is also why the female takes power and domination of the male characters and confronts and confines them because of the revenge that she is willing to take in response, which inverts the sexual characteristics and situations inside of the play.
The gun is another important symbol in Death and the Maiden because it symbolizes fear of confinement from Paulina towards the male protagonist. This is important because once again the author emphasizes the violence among the different protagonist in the play because of the past in which Paulina was raped. In addition to this we can see how it is the woman and not the male protagonist who has now taken control over her imprisonment as she has now left her past and she is in search of revenge of what was done to her in order to repair her present from her horrible past. “She shows him the gun and points it playfully in his direction” (Sc. 4 Act I) This is important as the Dorfman is trying to show us the feminine power in the play, more over Dorfman is trying to illustrate the fact that the roles (male and female) have been turned around, showing clearly the confinement of the male protagonist by the oppression the female character is creating upon him as an act of revenge. In addition to this, Dorfman is also trying to convey a real life problem which is revenge, as people usually try to take revenge when they are hurt or betrayed. Playfully is also an important word in this statement because Dorfman is trying to show how revenge and violence is something normal as it can be even be seen as a game.
On the other hand we also need to emphasize on another symbol in “A doll’s house” which is the “marital relationships” which also end up being an important one. This symbol is important as it is a symbol which is full of confinement between the male and female protagonist of the novel. In the first place we can see how it is the female protagonist, Nora the one who is control by her husband however this then turns around as it is Nora the one that finds out after a series of different events that she is no longer happy and needs to find how to separate from her husband and leave him as she can no longer live with a husband who is incapable to offer her the so call wonderful thing. As a result of this symbol of “marital relationship’ we can also see how Nora is able to develop a self-awareness which clearly develops a confinement as she needs to fight her husband who no longer satisfy her because her marriage is based on deception. In contrast to this we can also see how the “marital relationships” as a symbol also illustrate the ability for Chritine to solve her problems with Krogstad and avoid the confinements and problems which Nora finds in her own relationship which illustrate the unstable and untruthful relationship which Nora and Torvald have which creates an imprisonment and constant confinement.
In conclusion we can see how the uses of symbolism in both plays are crucial for the fact that they help the authors to illustrate the protagonist confinement. In the first place we can see how both plays deals with social issues; In a Dolls House we can see how it is the males who dominate and confine the female protagonist because they are oppressed and treated like a doll as they don’t have the freedom neither the power to confront the confinement presented to them. On the other hand Death and the Maiden through the use of symbolism the author is able to illustrate the dictatorship and corruption which was taking place in Chile and South America during that time inside the government and politics. This social issue is illustrated by how the women try to confront the man in order to confront the corruption which fights against the confinement that is presented against them through the symbols of rape and violence. More over these symbols are of great importance because they pinpoint the fact that I can see how the different protagonist in both novels live in a constant confinement in which it is the female protagonist the ones that have to fight against their own will in order to overcome the oppression created by the male protagonist which illustrate the lack of freedom as a typical characteristic during the time of those societies. In addition I can see how this confinement has slowly started to fade away in our present societies as women no longer need to live under the dictatorship of men as they have the same rights and freedom.

Join now!

The use of Guns in death and the maiden and One day of life to portray the protagonists struggle for power.

In Death and the Maiden and One day of Life we can see that the authors implement the use of guns to give more power to a protagonist among the others. The idea of the guns we can depict that it’s used to symbolize the authority that these characters have and depending on the author’s ideas is if they use the power they have in a good way or in a controlling way.
In Death and the Maiden we ...

This is a preview of the whole essay