Throughout the years, gender roles have changed drastically and are still continuing to evolve. It has only been a short period time, that women were viewed on the same indistinguishable level as men. Although as a generation, we have made improvements as a society as a whole, but, we still have a long way to go. Women have suffered and triumphed through many hardships, and have made remarkable progress. Women continue to fight for higher positions within the workforce and are now seen as more than just house wives. In some household, women bring in a majority of the family income. The role for female protagonists and complimentary characters in A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen and Trifles by Susan Glaspell, challenge their gender roles put in place by society. Within both plays, Nora, Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Peters, and Mrs. Hales, become independent and daring women by defying their roles in order to prosper as individuals.
In the play Trifles, Mrs. Wright is a damaged soul who has been abused mentally and emotionally by her husband. He drained all of the bliss, laughter, and music that fulfilled her life before they were married. Mrs. Wright’s canary was the only thing in her life that brought her pure happiness and music especially because she did not have children, but Mr. Wright went to the lengths of breaking the neck for his own selfish purposes. Mrs. Wright’s last comfort in her dreary home was the canary who sung and sprinkled some light back. This death set Mrs. Wright off and killed her husband, similarly to how he killed her own spirit.
In the play A Doll’s House, Nora is the main character who shows to be very dependent on her husband, Torvald. Nora has abided by her gender role throughout the course of the play, but went behind her husband’s back and has been paying off a debt in secret for years. She is manipulated and controlled in every aspect of her life by her husband, in which enabled her from being able to be her true self and express herself as she pleases. After catering to all of his wants, needs, and overall well-being, Torvald only ever cared about his reputation. Nora comes to an understanding within herself, that she has been mistreated by her husband for too long and it is time for her to be selfish.
Nora begins to realize how self centered of a man Torvald is. She would go to all lengths to protect him, but he would not raise a finger to help her when she needed him the most, because it would ruin his social standing. During this time period, women who were married were considered to be their husband’s property. They were unable to make a large income, so had to rely solely on their husbands for their cost of living. The double standards in society affected women tremendously, they are to be seen and not heard. All their actions and means have to be beneficial to their husband’s reputation.
Within both of the plays, the women’s roles in society were too much to handle. Mrs. Wright has had enough of her playing the typical gender role and kills Mr. Wright, but Nora finds an opportunity to escape from it. Symbolism is shown throughout the plays as a way to portray women during this time. In Trifles, Glaspell shows the significance of women in marriage which was portrayed through a bird cage and a dead canary. In A Doll’s House, Isben the dollhouses represent a similar meaning. By using symbols, it allows the readers to understand the gender roles and how poorly women were treated. However, in both plays, the lifestyle Nora and Mrs. Wright have are very different which results to their final decisions. In Trifles and A Dolls House, both Nora and Mrs. Wright take steps to face the control their husbands have over them, however they take two different paths. When comparing both plays, both women realize their true meaning in life, which they did not understand before and went through a transformation. In A Doll’s House, the realization comes to Nora, but, in Trifles, the realization comes to Mrs. Wright, as well as Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter’s.
Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters in Trifles, perform tasks for Mrs. Wright while she is incarcerated. While going through her home, they realize how sad and upset she must of felt. They notice little things, such as how the stitching on the quilt was off and it must have been to be lonely and tiring putting up with a husband that is so cruel yet it all didn’t make sense, that is until they found the canary wrapped in cloth and all the pieces came together. All the evidence Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter’s found, do in fact, show Mrs. Wright to be guilty. However, they keep the information they have found to themselves. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters both feel the undeniable connection of true sisterhood due to their role in society. Mrs. Hale expresses how she should have visited, more to notice how much pain Mrs. Wright was in. Mrs. Hale also expresses how lively and well dressed “Minnie Foster” was before she married.
In Trifles, women’s roles were traditional for the time period. They were placed mainly in the kitchen and barley social events. Women were expected to tend to their husbands needs, cook, clean, and do other housework chores. Their husbands are the ones who would determine what their roles are. Mr. Hale even states, “Well, women are used to worrying about trifles” (Glaspell, 3). Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hales in Trifles understand that their husbands are the dominant role in society, but do not necessarily always abide by them. Mrs. Peter’s is married to the sheriff and is expected to enforce the same conduct that he does. However, throughout the play, she shows more loyalty to being a women then her marriage. Mrs. Hale encourages Mrs. Peter’s to believe that Mrs. Wright’s actions were justifiable. The true justice should belong to everyone who ignored Mrs. Wright while she was being mistreated her whole life.
During this time period, the way the men act towards there wives, is exactly how society was. The men portray strong dominant features, treating the women like their dolls. In the early 1900’s when these plays were written, there had not been any women’s rights movements. In Trifles, Glaspell portrayed Mrs. Wright, as a strong woman who was tired of being treated poorly by her husband. This enabled many doors to be opened for the woman’s rights movement. Strong willed women decided to stand up for themselves and make a change to benefit themselves.
In 1879, when A Doll’s House was written, Nora’s character in the book was viewed outrageous of how she walked out on her husband and children. Nora displays an unpredictable personality until the very end, when she chooses to leave her obligations to her husband and children to better herself. Nora has been treated like a ‘doll’ her whole life, beginning with her father, and now from her husband, she never had the chance to be independent. She refuses to be a doll in Torvald’s life any longer after she understands that they never had a genuine relationship together.
Within A Doll’s House, money is talked about quite a bit. Torvald expresses to Nora that she cannot be spending so much money, disregarding the fact that he was recently promoted. Money represents how much power Torvald has over Nora. Since Nora is a woman, she does not earn a large enough income that can compare to his. When Nora pretends that she raised enough money for them to go to Italy symbolizes how money can also be very dangerous. The debt that she owes is a cause for all the problems that started to arise within the play.
A Doll’s House and Trifles are both very known plays that portray the differences in gender roles in society.