the roles both women and men play
Society bestows upon men and women various roles and duties to play in a family. The traditional societal set up regards men as superior beings, while women are considered just but helpers to their cause. This is manifested in the play a Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen where men and women play different roles. These roles show what society gives to both genders to perform. Female chauvinism is a common thing that manifests itself so clearly in the play. This society treats women with a demeanor that was witnessed in the dark ages-and glorifies male gender as being superior to women. The women are unfairly treated, while men are seen as better beings,-“little skylark”(Torvald to wife Nora). For instance in the play a Doll’s house, Torvald looks down upon Nora his wife demeaning her and comparing her to a child. This paper seeks to identify the roles both women and men play and how these roles affect their lives –and further the negative consequences that come with the roles.
Women are expected to be enslaved into working all day in a family. A woman is expected to be excessively loyal to the man or husband. Nora in the play is treated as a woman who should always work and work all day to satisfy the needs of the husband. The play opines that a woman should not even be responsible for anything in a family set up. That she is only second to a c man in the family and sometimes she is referred to or compared to a child. Why?, because children are perceived as naïve, so is Nora. She is naïve that she cannot do some weighty matters like an adult woman should be able to do. A child ca not reason and act properly. This show how much women are belittled in such a society. “My little skylark”(Silitonga &Andi, 2019) Being called a child is demeaning to say the least-that Nora can’t even be trusted with money. This demeanor stops or curtails her chances of living her full life and realizing her dreams, she regrets her position in the family. Nora dreams of replicating the duties that are only accorded to men in society. For instance, she dreams of having her own money, and being able to fund family leisure projects such as trips and others. Nora’s desperation to fulfill this “dream” makes her go the extra mile to borrow money from Torvald her husband to fund a trip to Italy. This confirms that women in this society don’t have the freedom she needs to work hard to grow herself by venturing in business or income generating activity. “You always find some new way of weeding money out of me”(Torvald) . Nora has to remain a beggar and subject to the man. The negative consequence of this is that she, Nora ends up belittling herself, ….”almost like being a man” (Nora)that women lack the requisite economic empowerment makes them slaves, people who have no voice of reason. They can’t say a thing and be heard since they’re provided for by their husbands. This leads to desperation among the women ad at some point they despair. Nora, for instance regrets her position and her role in the family.
The men are supposed to rule over the women-wives. The society gives this status quo to the men of the day and women or wives should abide by that. In the play, a Doll’s House, for instance, Nora lives a difficult life because society requires her to. Nora is expected to play the role of the “perfect house wife”(Silitonga &Andi, 2019). She is supposed to be governed by the husband even in the littlest circumstances without her questioning. Torvald, her husband orders her around and pronounces what she has to do. She abides and does whatever she’s instructed to do. “How could a wife without her husband’s consent borrow such an important sum as that?”(Nora)Nora has to hide her loan that she took through forgery to help save her husband’s situation. Torvald would never accept such an idea from a woman- that her wife helped bail him out. She also has to pay the loan in secret because her husband didn’t give her the permission to take it in the first place. Nora also has to endure blackmails from a man named Krogstad, who gave her the loan but is now demanding to be given a job by her husband Torvald so that he keeps quiet about the loan. This shows that women are so vulnerable that men use little threats to get whatever they want from them. I have no father to give me the money to go Nora.(Mrs. Linden). Women in the play can’t be allowed to conduct any meaningful economic activity, or earn her money because the man wants to have complete authority over them. This they can achieve by providing everything so they remain the voice. Mrs. Linden says, “One has nobody to work for, and yet is obliged to be always slaving and scraping together”(Mrs. Linden) If she has to do any business or a job, then she has to seek the permission of the husband. Another thing that comes out is that by believing that Nora thought she could get away with forgery while she’s just a woman is absurd. The whole scenario shows that women are owned by men and are therefore property of men. Furthermore, given she has no meaningful income, worsens the insubordination
In conclusion the society portrayed in the play A Doll’s House, is a chauvinistic one that glorifies the belittling that men render to women. Women have to sacrifice their happiness to make their families stand or their men happy. Others have to sacrifice to get their personal happiness, such as Nora who departs her home leaving behind children. And this they do with total disregard from men, with no moral or little financial support. A male dominated society.