Female Oppression In A Doll's House And Trifles

In the late 1800s, women where regarded as important but not equal. They weren’t trusted with money or working and were expected to stay home and take care of the home and children. If a woman ever spoke out, it was a big scandal and the men were looked at as not being able to control their wives and thus considered weak. Nowadays, we still see some lingering oppression like having jobs that are considered “a man’s job”, but it is nowhere near where we were back then. Here we have two dramas that demonstrate a couple of examples of female oppression in that time period. While “A Doll’s House”, by Henrik Ibsen, and “Trifles”, by Susan Glaspell both presents us with two women that are strongly oppressed by men in their society, they are shown in …show more content…
It is no coincidence that both stories chose married couples as their characters. It is also no coincidence that they mainly focus on the female roles, opinions, and feelings. Through their plays, both authors wanted us to see the deep oppression that women faced and had to deal with. In “Trifles” Mrs. Wright had absolutely no say in the relationship. Susan Glaspell does an excellent job in using a bird cage to symbolize Mrs. Wright’s captivity. Her husband doesn’t allow any kind of enjoyment in her life and they are not together for love. She also has no kids so she is alone in a quiet house with no one to talk to and nothing to do but her wifely chores. Mrs. Wright was expected to do what she was told and was looked at as unequal to the men. When Mrs. Peters mentions Mrs. Wright being worried about her fruit, Hale makes the comment “women are used to worrying over trifles.” (Glaspell, 1076) This tells us that the men