Nora Helmer vs. Miss Julie - the Role of Women being Degraded by Man
Nora Helmer vs. Miss Julie - the Role of Women being Degraded by Man "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen and "Miss Julie" by August Strindberg are two plays, the first from 1879 and the latter from 1888, which portrays the life and role of women at their time in society, as both have as their main characters two women - Nora Helmer and Miss Julie. Still, the role of women in the two plays is shown to be different. Strindberg, in one hand, conveys in "Miss Julie" that women are inferior in the society, as he pictures them as a less important form of human beings. In the other hand, Ibsen portrays Nora, at a first look, to be a standard innocent wife - showing women to be plain wives, mothers and working at home at the eyes of society. In order to show the need for change, Ibsen illustrates and emphasizes the subordination of women in the social pyramid. The purpose of this essay is to make a comparative analysis in order to understand the lives of these two women and the roles they've taken up in each play. In "A Doll's House", Nora is a housewife married to Torvald Helmer, and she stays at home with her children and managing the household. This is the typical life of a standard wife at that time. Ibsen leads on the play, penetrating and unveiling Nora in a subtle way conveying a huge effect. At the beginning he illustrates Nora to be taking the most normal life, and Torvald to
Discuss the presentation and function of symbols and symbolic representation in "A Dolls House"
Discuss the presentation and function of symbols and symbolic representation in "A Doll's House" In the play "A Doll's House", Henrik Ibsen tackles contemporary issues, predominantly the divergences between the sexes and female liberation. The oppression endured by women in a modern society is personified by Nora, who seems to lead a happy life with her husband and children. However, as Nora faces repression in her marriage, she realises the extent of her dependency and departs, leaving behind her duties as a mother and wife. Foremost, the play urges for a social change, where the importance of women as individuals is recognised. To reinforce this message, the play employs the Christmas tree, animals, macaroons, the Tarantella dance and the letterbox; symbolic representations of an aspect in Nora's life. The author believes that society incapacitates women to develop as individuals, for the world is controlled by men. Instead, a woman must broaden her horizons; expect more from herself. A different destiny awaits women if only they are willing to take control of their lives, even if this sacrifices their image within society. One of the main commentaries that Ibsen makes about the way society functions is that women feel the need to conceal their true identities from men. By doing so, women only show the agreeable facets of their personality to make their marriages work.
Themes in both Federico L'Orca's The House Of Bernarda Alba and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House.
World Literature Assignment 1 Philipp Wolff Word Count: 1,154 The role, treatment, disadvantages, and sacrifices of women in their societies are vital themes in both Federico L'Orca's The House Of Bernarda Alba and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. In Federico L'Orca's The House Of Bernarda Alba, to start with, all characters that appear on stage are females, and men are merely talked about. In Ibsen's A Doll's House the protagonist is Nora, a woman who gets treated by her husband as though she were a little girl. At the time when Federico L'Orca and Henrik Ibsen wrote their plays, it was normal for women to get treated as anything but equal to men. Women were expected by men and by their society to do nothing more than stay at home, cook for their family, get children, and then take care of their children as well. Although Ibsen and L'Orca wrote these plays several decades apart, since Ibsen wrote his play at the turn of the century in Norway and L'Orca wrote his in 1930's Spain, the expectations of women were pretty much the same. It was not normal for women to receive an education, let alone a good one, and women were not allowed to vote. In A Doll's House there are three female characters: Nora, Mrs. Linde, and the maid working for Nora. All of these women have to sacrifice something and have disadvantages, simply because they are women. Every character in The House Of
Analysis of Act 3 For most of the play, we see Torvald delighting in Nora's dependence upon him but not in his control
Analysis of Act 3 For most of the play, we see Torvald delighting in Nora's dependence upon him but not in his control over her, but as the play progresses the side of Torvald we see is more pushover than dictator. In the scene following the party, Torvald's enjoyment of his control over Nora takes on a darker tone. He treats her like his possession, like the young girl he first acquired years ago. Contributing to the feeling of control that Torvald is exercising over Nora is that the evening has been of Torvald's design-he dresses Nora in a costume of his choosing and coaches her to dance the tarantella in the manner that he finds "desirable." The hollowness of Torvald's promises to save Nora shows how little he appreciates her sacrifice. Nora expects compassion from Torvald after he finds out about her predicament, especially since, after learning of Dr. Rank's imminent death, Torvald confesses that he fantasizes about risking his life to save Nora's. Once given the opportunity, however, Torvald shows no intention of sacrificing anything for Nora, thinking only of himself and of appearances. Ultimately, Torvald's selfishness becomes apparent in his lack of concern about his wife's fate, despite the fact that she committed a crime to save his life. He panics upon learning of Nora's crime, not because he cares about what will happen to her but because he worries that his
Hedda GablerSet Design ProjectThe staging implications of a production Firstly, I will look at the given circumstances of Hedda Gabler. This will inform me of what things I must
Elizabeth Bergman Theatre Studies Hedda Gabler Set Design Project The staging implications of a production Firstly, I will look at the given circumstances of Hedda Gabler. This will inform me of what things I must have in my set design, things that the Ibsen wanted in his production. The given circumstances can be split into six separate groups; geographical location, date and time, timescale, economic environment and political environment. By looking at each, I can ensure precise detail. Geographical Location This section describes what geographical location is, and how researching it will aid me in this set design project. In this section I will also explain the significance of the locations. Geographical location is the place where the play is set, such as the country, town, house type or room. The location of the play was never mentioned by Ibsen but the assumption of the location is leads us to believe that it would be Norway and its capital, Kristiania (now known as Oslo). The life in which Hedda lives is only feasible if she were to live in the fashionable and expensive part of Kristiania, Drammensvejen. "A possible source of inspiration for this beautiful villa, with its view towards the fjord, may have been the property owned by Thomas Heftye, a wealthy banker who was an acquaintance of Ibsen and
For this course work I have chosen to do a letter written by Doctor Rank and directed to Nora.
Dear Nora, I am so sorry to be writing this letter in such a rush, but I know that you understand that I have not got all the time in the world any more. It is so hard to think that soon, I will not be here, I will not be able to see you or Torvald again, and that I will die. I can not understand why god has sent this punishment upon my family, but most terrible of all, me. I am a doctor, and I have worked all my life to save people, and now that I am in misery, suffering and dying alone, nobody on the face of earth is capable of saving me. But still I will never regret my whole life. Everything I did was great, I only regret the things I never had the chance to experience, love. I think you are one of the people who know me better than any one, and I have always been a lonely man. This is only because I have never been able to have the woman in my dreams, so I figured, "why try, if she will never come to you." Why do you think I have never been able to find love? Am I an arrogant and very unpleasant person, or is it the contraire? I suppose it does not matter now, it is the past and there is where it will stay, where I will stay. As a memory, as a ghost who once was one of your dearest friends, or so I hope. Please Nora, do not pity me, I believe that pity is the worst feeling humans are able to express. I want to leave this world in peace and always be remembered like a
Dolls house Plot and Subplot The action of this play is about a woman named Nora who has an ill husband so she borrows some money
Unit 1 A dolls house Plot and Subplot The action of this play is about a woman named Nora who has an ill husband so she borrows some money to take her family to another warmer country where torvald, her husband can get better. However it is set in the 19th centaury and when Nora borrows the money from a crocked man, the contract has to be signed by her father who dies just before he can sign it, so Nora being rather naive signs it for him. When the family returns and torvald is no longer ill Nora has to pay back the money which she does. The man, krogstad who she borrowed the money from works for her husband. And Torvald decides he is going to sack krogstad, Nora then struggles with Krogstad, who threatens to tell her husband about her past crime, creates Nora's journey of self-discovery and provides much of the play's dramatic suspense. Nora's main struggle, however, is against the selfish, stifling, and oppressive attitudes of her husband, Torvald, and of the society that he represents. Eventually Torvald finds out and doesn't support Nora so she leaves him and her children. There is a very apparent subplot to this play; the krogstad. Christine love story. Christen comes back to the city to find Krogstad, who she loves. She is friends with Nora and Torvald gives her a job, which happens to be krogstad old one, Nora and Krogstad reunite and fall in love, and decided to
Discuss Ibsen’s presentation of gender in “A DollsHouse”?
Discuss Ibsen's presentation of gender in "A Dolls House"? Ibsen wrote 'A Dolls House' in 1879 - a time for of major social change, when women's suffrage was at a recognised focal point and more and more women were striving for equality and independence. A social drama on marriage, it raises questions about the female self-sacrifice in a male dominant world. The play focuses on the typical Victorian housewife Nora who has nothing truly personal to her character as she has been morally moulded and taken care of her whole life first by her father and secondly her husband Torvald "I've been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa's doll-child." The story of her concentrates on the struggle for independent identity. Ibsen portrays strong usual gender traits in all of his characters, all the men seem to be of typical Victorian nature, and this is shown predominantly through Torvald. He is the businessman; the provider in his family and a reputable man in society. He has a superior attitude toward women and talks down to all female characters in the play. His consistent use of demeaning language toward Nora, his wife, and also the way he speaks to Mrs. Linde. All three men have values that are proud, honourable and masculine, although they are all fairly ruling and quite demoralizing toward Nora. Torvald is demeaning to his wife through his consistent use of superior
A Doll’s House
A Doll's House Nora's personal life describes the whole A Doll's House. Raised in a society where the expectations make her a housewife, her inner turmoil helps to break apart her family. Nora has two separate parts of her character, the persona, which she shows to the world, and the shadow, which she hides. Ibsen conveys this by dialogue to show the double lives that everyone has. Nora's persona is a guise to deceive a world that believes in male rule. Demonstrating this, Nora says "I wouldn't think of going against your wishes" (4). She says this to try to conceal her macaroons. By lying Nora tries to cover up her failures to listen to her husband. As she practices the dance, "Helmer has taken a position by the stove and during the dance gives her frequent instructions. She does not hear him" (48). Nora pretends to listen to her husband most of the time, but in certain moments her shadow self shows. The dialogue and her actions reveal that beneath her normal exterior, Nora contains a very different person, Underneath her persona, Nora has a shadow self who is desparate for responsibility. When she reveals her debt to Mrs. Linde, an old friend, Nora brags :It was I who procured the money" (11). Nora persona shows her a spendthrift, but her lower layer tries to address mature problems. By seeking responsibility, Nora's shadow and ego [defined in the non-Jungian
How does the role of women show the societal beliefs of the time period in the play 'A Doll's House' by Ibsen and the novella 'The Metamorphosis' by Kafka?
How does the role of women show the societal beliefs of the time period in the play 'A Doll's House' by Ibsen and the novella 'The Metamorphosis' by Kafka? There are three main ways that both Ibsen and Kafka use women to portray the societal beliefs in the pieces of literature. These are firstly they both presenting the fact that women have no power within the households. Secondly by showing the sacrifices that women have to make compared with men who don't have to make any. And finally by highlighting the extent women have to go to in order to gain their freedom. In this essay I am going to compared how these three main ideas are used throughout the play A Doll's House and the novella The Metamorphosis. In both 'A Doll's House' and 'The Metamorphosis' the societal beliefs are shown by the fact that the women characters don't have any power within the household. In A Doll's House Nora is treated like a doll. Torvald handles everything in the household leaving Nora with no power. At the beginning of the play the author shows her as just a trophy wife, she is attractive, fragile and easily controlled by Torvald just like a doll would be. She even says herself "After many years, when I am no longer as nice looking as I am no. Don't laugh at me! I mean of course, when Torvald is no longer as devoted to me as he is now; when my dancing and dressing-up and reciting have