Enemy Of Women

In Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, Petra is a modern woman because she is a free thinker and a working woman. Women in Impressionist paintings fit into the idea of what it means to be modern because they are depicted as working or independent women. From the the bartender in Edouard Manet’s Corner in a Cafe-Concert, to the woman on the horse in Manet’s Exposition Universelle and the woman in Mary Cassatt’s Woman in Black at the Opera, these women exemplify what it means to be modern. While Petra fully embodies being a modern woman, women in these Impressionist paintings only embody certain aspects of modern women. Women in Impressionist paintings are either working or independent, but not both, which only gives a partial view of modernity. Ibsen’s dramatic realism and Impressionist paintings both seek to depict real life, as they demonstrate challenges women face to be modern, such as the constant judgment from others.

In An

In An Enemy of the People, Hovstad is very judgmental and critical of Petra’s independent ideas and her being a modern woman. He even informs people of Petra’s “extremely free ideas” resulting in being one of the reasons Petra loses her job (Enemy, 180). People have a hard time coping with women who are independent and freethinking. Being a modern woman subjects Petra to criticism and costs her job as a teacher. Just is the case in Impressionist art, as the women are stared at and judged for being modern woman. This is most clearly illustrated in Exposition Universelle as the two women to the left of the painting are pointing to and staring at the modern woman, clearly judging her. Modern women are constantly being held back by the rest of society’s notions on what it means to be a woman. No matter how free spirited or educated a woman is, she will always have to fight against the scrutiny of those around