Nora Helmer versus Hedda Gabler in Male Dominated Society

1109 Words3 Pages

There has been a long history of women’s oppression by men in many traditional societies throughout the world. Society gave women an ideal image to follow: getting married, having a family and taking care of the family. Some women submit to the image, but certain individual stands against it. In Henrik Ibsen’s stories of Hedda Gabler and A Doll House, we witness examples of a single individual against the overwhelming society. Nora left her family and marriage behind to become an independent individual without the control of men; whereas, Hedda Gabler choose death as her ultimate solution when she was threatened to be control by man.

Ibsen’s A Doll’s House was written in 1879 in a style of realism, which depicted life more truthfully without idealized literary elements. A Doll’s House conveys Ibsen’s concern for women’s rights. It portrays Nora, a woman who appeared as an ideal woman in the society doing activities such as creating a beautiful home and meeting the needs of her husband and children. From a dramatic event that broke her marriage, she finally realized the truth that she was a doll-like figure and left the house to seek her own identity.

After “A Doll’s House” Ibsen wrote another masterpiece, Hedda Gabler. Different from “A Doll House”, it shows none of Ibsen’s reforming zeal like the emancipation of women in “A Doll’s House”. Rather, it is about a study of a complex figure, Hedda. Hedda had a defected sense of morality. She manipulated everyone who was around her, yet we still feel pity for her. It is because she is a tortured figure caught in the midst of the society, a tormented soul who never gets a grasp of her own destiny. At last, she chose death as her solution to escape or rebel against her destiny.

The...

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...werful protest against double standards enforced in the society. It doesn’t matter if Hedda’s death was a tragedy or Nora may end up having a tragic ending. The important thing is that two women have the will to challenge the society despite the fact they might fail. Their decisions conveyed Ibsen’s views and alarmed the society of traditional society’s corruption against woman.

Works Cited

Dawn2933. “A Doll’s House: Nora’s Secession From Society.” OPPAPERS.Com. N.p., 12/02/2000. Web. 20 May 2000. .

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. Dover Thrift. New York: Dover Publication, INC, 1992. Print.

Ibsen, Henrik. "Hedda Gabler." Norton Anthology of World Literature 2002: 1460-1518. Print.

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on A Doll’s House.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 6 May 2010.

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