Analysis Of A Doll's House By Henry Ibsen

A misconception many modern people have is that the idea of women’s rights, feminism, and the patriarchy are very new and radical concepts when we have literary proof they have existed throughout at least the last two hundred years. After all, the suffragette movement started and took root over a century ago, and still exists today in the form of modern feminism. Quite a few of the plays we have read so far have been staged in this emerging period for the suffragette movement, and it is interesting how they showcase ideas that would have been very controversial and almost blasphemous to the dominant culture at the time. During this period in history, women had a lot of expectations placed on them, most with the purpose of diminishing her …show more content…
She dotes on her children, obeys her husband, and entertains guests flawlessly as society dictates she should; but throughout the play you get hints that things are not quite right – her husband Helmer never calling her by her name, dictating what she eats, demanding she sate his sexual desire – until finally, it culminates into Nora coming to the realization that although her husband did not hit her, he did not respect her as a person with her own thoughts and feelings either. Immediately after the rose-colored glasses have shattered, she leaves with barely …show more content…
However, Mrs. Hale counters this with the philosophy of their own accountability in the death of Mrs. Wright’s joy, and who would execute justice for that? Trifles is a profound story about the importance of women understanding and protecting other women in the face of a patriarchal world. These themes and realizations echo true into our modern society all too often. As with much literature on these subjects published now, these plays likely were met with hate from men who were invested in keeping these power structures in place, with anger and defensiveness from men and women alike whose worldview was threatened, and yet other women who had a lightbulb moment regarding the way they were treated. Both plays would have made a huge statement in the time they were written and performed, either contributing to or fueling the beginning of the suffragette movement – a movement which largely still exists today in the form of feminism. Although the characters of Nora and Mrs. Hale didn’t reach the level of fame required to be widely recognized in modern culture, their significance and influence to the history of women’s rights should not be