Societal Expectations of Women in Ibsen's Time.
Women of Ibsens time were widely believed to be inferior to men. Biblical verses were quoted to show womens inferiority to men and the need for women to submit their will to the will of the men in their lives. Unmarried young women were expected to obey their fathers in all matters and married women were to submit to the authority of their husbands (Templeton).
Lutheran Protestantism, the dominant religion in Norway, considered marriage to be a calling form God (Predelli). Marriage was considered to be a binding relationship which should endure till death and the divorced women were looked down upon (Laslett and Brenner). There were very few career options available to single women marriage was the only path towards economic survival available to most women. Lower class women that worked outside the home found only menial work in factories and farmhouses and were paid for their work, considerably less than what the men earned (Baigent). Women without money of their own that were unable to marry or were widowed or divorced were often forced to resort to prostitution in order to survive. Marriage was also considered to be the only legitimate avenue for women for sexual gratification while mens visits to prostitutes were tolerated as a necessary evil in view of mens greater sex drive (Bullough and Bullough). Proper women were supposed to have no sex drive at all and it was considered improper for a woman to display any sexual desire. Women that displayed any sexual feeling at all were considered sexually promiscuous and immoral (Laslett and Brenner).
Within a marriage, the husbands were supposed to be the breadwinners and the providers of the family while the wives were obliged to remain within the home caring for the family (Ritchie). Ibsen has inverted this idea with the wife Nora Helmer, borrowing money to save the husband Torvald Helmers life and then paying the debt through years of hard work. Men considered it a slight on their honor if women contributed to the household. In the play Nora says Torvald, with all his masculine pride - how painfully humiliating for him if he ever found out he was in debt to me. That would just ruin our relationship (Templeton).
Men were considered to be the intellectual superiors of women (Ritchie). Women were considered too fragile to receive the same education as men. It was thought that too much mental activity was harmful to the development of the reproductive system of women and higher education disrupted young womens normal cycles of ovulation and menstruation (Laslett and Brenner). Medical doctors of that time presented the idea that the excessive use of the brain used up a lot of blood, in a young woman, higher education would use up the blood needed for menstruation causing all sorts of illnesses and disorders in their bodies (Bullough and Bullough). It was thought that the greater intellectual abilities of men were due to the presence of excess heat in their bodies and intellectual activity increases the heat in the body. Highly educated women would therefore become some sort of hermaphrodites, neither male nor female and unable to bear children (Bullough and Bullough). Motherhood was considered to be the noblest of all states for a woman and the very reason for their existence. A mother was considered to be a wholly dedicated, selfless being that is willing to sacrifice all for the sake of her children (Templeton). This idea is inverted by Ibsens Nora who at the end abandons her children for the sake of self-discovery and self actualization. In reply to Torvalds entreaties to think of her duties towards the children, Nora replies that she believes that she has duties towards herself that are just as important as her duties towards her children and she is a rational human being first and a mother or wife second and she must educate herself before she can think of raising her children because a lack of education makes her an unfit mother (Templeton). In this way Ibsen exposes the hypocrisy of the society that believes that women are feeble minded and that treats them as unintelligent sexual playthings on one hand and expects them to be competent mothers of children on the other (Templeton). Nora believes that her father and her husband have both wronged her by imposing their own views and she must get educated in her own way and rationally evaluate all that has been taught to her till now including religion, I know nothing but what the clergyman said when I went to be confirmed. He told us that religion was this, and that, and the other. When I am away from all this, and am alone, I will look into that matter too. I will see if what the clergyman said is true, or at all events if it is true for me (Ibsen, pg. 146).
Women had few legal rights. Upon marriage all the personal property and income of a woman would legally belong to the husband. In case of divorce, the husband would usually get the custody of the children (Brustein). It was the duty of the husband to provide for and protect his wife and children. The status of women was like that of the children. The society had rendered them helpless and utterly dependent upon the men for their survival. Men infantilized their wives and considered them intellectually no greater than children. In Max Beerholms words And in those barren days what influence did women exert By men they seem not to have been feared nor loved, but regarded rather as dear little creatures or wonderful little beings, and in their relation to life as foolish and ineffectual as the landscapes they did in water-colors. (Beerbohm) In the play Torvald refers to Nora as a lark, a squirrel, a feather-brain and a spend-thrift bird. Ibsen has described this infantilized condition of women as being a doll in a dolls house. Ibsen has mocked this infantilization of women with Noras pretended helplessness with statements such as Yes, Torvald, I cant get anywhere without your help (Ibsen, pg. 35), and the very meaningful statement You havent any idea how many expenses we skylarks and squirrels have, Torvald.
Clothing was one of the most obvious ways that set apart men and women. The rapidly expanding middle classes sought to display their newfound wealth through things like ornate and delicately embroidered dresses and beautiful and innovative styles of furniture. Women had an essential role in this display of wealth with their use of luxury items and expensive clothing and the promotion of their social status. A man exhibited his wealth and position in society through the opulence and beauty of his wifes clothes (Torrens). Upper class women were frequently not expected to do any work at all aside from efforts in enhancing their physical appearance and a supervision of the servant that maintained the quality and the appearance of their homes (Torrens). The public and the private sphere, and the male-centric and female-centric spheres of life each had a separate manner of dress (Torrens). Women visiting the beach were not allowed to display themselves in their bathing suit but were expected to use bathing machines. These were mobile changing rooms, in which a woman changed from her normal clothes to bathing suits, which were then wheeled into the water, after the woman had had her soaking she would move back into the bathing machine, which would be wheeled out of the water, and then she would emerge from the machine in her normal clothes (Torrens).
Women were expected to maintain an extremely slender waistline this was not achieved through diet or exercise but through extremely tight and restrictive corsets (Torrens). Corsets restricted the use of vital muscles of the body, eventually causing those muscles to atrophy. They also caused permanent changes in the internal structure of the body, pushing up some internal organs and pushing down others. Many women experienced hysterical breakdowns or fainting spells due to these restrictive fashions which further reinforced societys view of women as silly and delicate creatures (Torrens). In addition the ornate manner of dress was a great burden on the familys finances and no doubt contributed to marital conflict and mutual antipathy (Torrens).
The final three decades of Ibsens life saw emergence of changes in the status of women. The period between 1880 and 1910 saw great conflict between those that were seen as moralist who upheld the existing Christianity based social order with its clearly marked gender roles and boundaries and those that were considered radicals or liberals and advocated equal rights and opportunities for women or the legalization of non-marital sexual relations (Predelli). A low sex ratio meant that thousands of young women had no husbands and were forced to seek employment. In 1888 married women gained the right to own their own property and a part of the couples joint property and were able to make independent financial decisions regarding their income (Predelli). The dress reform movement advocated a more rational manner of dress for women that was not harmful to health and allowed more freedom of movement (Torrens). Through Ibsens play, the idea that women in a traditional marriage were dolls in a dolls house had become the watchword for a revolution (Weintraub).
Ibsen believed that the perfect social structure was one that was based upon intelligent and frank discourse between the two sexes. He believed in the removal of the societal strictures that restrained a woman from expressing her individuality. He wanted women to be assertive and independent and realize their full potential instead of merely being wives and mothers like the society expected them to be, these beliefs are reflected in this play.
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