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?

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Rebecca McIntosh                07/05/2007

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 palled on him.”  (Act 1, Ibsen)  This dialogue reinforces the idea that Nora is just a doll, and she is only there for Torvald’s entertainment.  She even admits herself that Torvald will perhaps get bored of her once her looks start to fade.  This suggests that the author is trying to show that women know and accept their place in society.  Nora knows that Torvald doesn’t see her as equal, but at the beginning of the play she seems happy to play the role of his trophy wife.

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The Metamorphosis is similar in the fact that again the women characters have no power but they are treated very differently from Nora.  The Mother in particular has no power throughout the whole novella.  A particular section in the novella where this becomes apparent is where Gregor is concerned.  The first time the Mother saw Gregor in his new state she reacted very badly.  “Oh God, Oh God! and as if giving up completely she fell with outstretched arms across the couch and did not stir.”  This quote shows that the Mother fainted on seeing Gregor for the first ...

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