Jane Austen :: essays research papers

She puts to rest her pots and pans and takes a new stand. She is conniving and explicit in her manipulative ways. She cares deeply for her beloved children. She fears not being headstrong and liberal-minded, and she truly believes that her epiphanies are gospel truth to her own life. Most important of all, she takes action, is heroic in her boldness to fix the wrong, and does not hesitate to look back on what she leaves behind. In his nineteenth century plays, Henrik Ibsen portrays Norwegian women sharing and contrasting many, and more, of these strong qualities. Like a vigorous and professional artist, Ibsen paints vivid female characters in his skillfully tragic plays, creating diversity among them. In three of his plays alone, A Doll’s House, An Enemy of the People, and Hedda Gabler, women are shown to play various roles under different circumstances in nineteenth century Norway. In these plays, the women’s characteristics range from being maternal and conservative, to being radically liberal and nonconforming.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, the protagonist is in fact, a woman, named Nora. At the onset of the play, Nora is shown to be like the traditional mother, simply making preparations for Christmas events. She is portrayed as a strikingly beautiful and almost perfect wife who is affectionate, kind, and always obedient to her husband saying things such as, â€Å"I should not think of going against your wishes.† However, this surface is only a mere cover to what really lies in the heart of Nora. It becomes evident that Nora is not completely complacent with her life. Gradually it becomes evident that she takes pleasures in other things that she does not have. For example, she longs for an affluent lifestyle and indulges in material things because she is more youthfully extravagant than she is maternal. In the play, she even admits herself that she desires grand opulence, saying, â€Å"†¦I used to sit here and imagine that a rich old gentle man had fallen in love with me†¦[and] that he died; and that his will contained†¦ ‘The lovely Mrs. Nora Helmer is to have all I possess paid over to her at once in cash.’† To fantasize about such a greedy thing shows that Nora prefers being a single and wealthy woman in society. Not only was Nora hungry for money, but she was hungry for simple respect. In all the years she was married to Helmer, no one ever took Nora seriously or accredited her with anything.