Obstacles In Jane Eyre And A Doll's House

The Enlightenment questioned many of the former philosophies, one of which was ignorance. Tartuffe exemplifies these characteristics through the character Dorine. Dorine is Orgon’s lady-maid, in other words, someone with a low social standing because she is a member of the working class, and presumably ignorant because of this low social status. As first seen in the first few line of (Act 1, scene 1) Madame Pernelle … the values here aren’t good Or everyone would treat me as they should.

The Crucible Arthur Miller purposefully stereotypes the women in the Crucible to make a statement concerning the treatment of women in modern society. Miller is making the statement that most women is modern society are viewed as having many negative characteristics, just because of their gender. In the Crucible, Miller primarily used Elizabeth Proctor, Mary Warren, and Abigail Williams to show how negative stereotypes are used against women in modern society. Women are often portrayed as being cold and cruel if they don’t fit the picture of a happy housewife, and that’s how Elizabeth Proctor was depicted.

Medea was treated unfairly in the patriarchal society that she lived in and due to the circumstances she was forced to abide by, she sought to achieve her own form of justice. Women were mistreated and regarded as inferior to men. In fact, Medea mentioned how women were like foreigners forced to abide by their husband’s laws and remain subservient. Essentially, women were treated as outsiders and were thought to need constant protection from male figures. So, when the King of Corinth kicked her and her children out of Corinth and Jason left them, she wanted revenge since she felt she had been wronged.

Over the course of history, gender rights and equalities have remained prevalent topics; societies and cultures around the world struggle with the issues condoned by the inequalities existing between the genders. From the most isolated islands to the most urbanized cities, over time, women have suffered greatly under the overshadowing dominance self-imposed by men. Amidst varied characteristics which can be used to describe the social situation of women during the nineteenth century, it can rightfully be classified as powerless pleasers for the men in their lives - they lacked control and possessed limited authority in familial settings. Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, a theatrical play which revolves around the familial values and tensions within a Norwegian marriage is an insightful view into the social context and accepted values of Northern Europe in the late-nineteenth century, accurately illustrating the existing discrepancies between the rights of men and women. Through the recurring use of symbolism, Ibsen classifies Nora as a powerless woman

For example Anthony says, “but this oligarchy of sex, which makes father, brothers, husband, sons, the oligarchs over the mother and sisters, the wife and daughters, of every household” This is very sad since women and girls should not be ruled or told what to do because they are thought of to be less than man. The constitution is in place to have a unified country not to have an oligarchy of men lead households. The pathos appeal is used to show what suffering women are going through due to men ruling them, and not knowing how to fight back. Susan B. Anthony in her speech also says, “Are women persons?.....and no state has the right to make a law, or to enforce an old law, that shall abridge their privileges and immunities.”, which also connects with the emotions of the audience. She is trying to make people feel bad that women are treated less even though they are just as righteous as men to have the same privileges.

Yet where said danger is directed changes due to context. During the Castle of Otranto the women of the book are constantly under threat at the hands of the malevolent Manfred. The women are constantly targeted and this is seen through Manfred’s desire for Isabella - his late son’s betrothed and his disregard for his wife - Hippolita. Hippolita, especially is characterized as weak, feeble and hysterical. She unswervingly bows to the will of her tyrannical husband “Hippolita needed little persuasions to bend her to his pleasure (pg 89).

Members of the upper class tended to look down upon the lower class because of their lack of education and sophistication. Marriage primarily took place within social classes. Those who married outside of the class went against societal norms and were ostracized. Through writing Jane Eyre, Bronte wants the reader to stand up to the rigid gender and social standards to create a society with equality of rights for all. She utilizes a sophisticated narrator, Jane, to create a passionate but also rational tone to challenge the contemporary mindset that women should conform to Victorian society.

In the story, their choices affect Paul by causing him to have low self esteem, fearing his brother and feeling isolated. A choice made by Paul’s mom drops Paul’s confidence very rapidly. Her reluctance to be strict with her eldest son cause Paul to not be assertive enough. Throughout the novel, readers can point out that Paul is very similar to prey, while Erik acts like the hungry predator. In the novel, the author wrote,” Forget it dad, forget it mom, someone has to pay for this...

She suffers from psychological abuse, due to the way she is treated by her father and Hamlet himself. This is also due to her gender, as women weren’t valued in her time, or the time when the play was created. Some symptoms that prove she is a victim of such abuse are things such as her need for Hamlet and her father’s approval. She essentially breaks herself in order to please them both, because as a woman she is objectified and doesn’t realize that she doesn’t have to live her life just to please others. Mary Pipher, who wrote “Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls”, states that “"As a girl, Ophelia is happy and free, but with adolescence she loses herself.

According to Wollstonecraft’s 1792 work, because females were given such a limited education, it led to the oppressed and marginalized status of women in the society. Women were treated as objects who had to be beautiful, sophisticated and docile and because of the status quo at that point in time, women could not easily advocate for their equal rights. In fact, women were considered to be too emotional, too uninteresting and too insignificant to be included in public debates (Wollstonecraft,

Most women during the early middle ages were not treated properly. They were treated as housekeepers ready to serve every single one of their husband’s needs. According to society women who were not submissive to their husband where all evil. These ideas influenced many of the stories written during the early middle ages; stories such as, Beowulf, Marie de France’s Lanval, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Wife of Bath. In all of these stories women were given a negative image because of the standards set for women by society.

Over Torvald 's sputtered objections, she outlines the life she has been living in the "doll 's house. " First, she lived with her father who treated her like a toy, whose opinions and tastes she had to followed because he would be dissatisfied with any sign of independence. She says"... he played with me just as I used to play with my dolls. And when I came to live with you I was simply transferred from Papa 's hands to yours."(76)

In Shakespeare 's play, King Lear, it is brutally obvious that Lear is strongly disliked, or even hated by his two older daughters, Goneril and Regan. In the novel A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley, Ginny’s and Rose’s hatred for their father doesn’t appear to be too over the top until the reasons they hate him so much are finally revealed. Both sets of sisters eventually end up retaliating against their fathers after they are given his land. Some may say that the daughters actions against their fathers was cruel, atrocious, and wrong; however, an argument could be made that their actions were justified by how their father had previously treated them. Perhaps Lear and Larry deserved to be treated as they were.

The following quote should hopefully secure the idea that oppression is still very much a prominent part of society that affects women, “We look silly, incompetent, weak, and generally contemptible” Frye writes, regarding the differences between female restrains and male restraints, “Our exercise of this discipline tends to low esteem and self-esteem. It does not benefit us. It fits in a network of behaviors through which we constantly announce to others our membership in a lower caste and our unwillingness and/or inability to defend our bodily or moral integrity” (16). In essence, this quote displays how women are mocked for attempting to develop their own independence.

Aylmer’s views on perfection led to the demise of Georgiana. He skewed Georgiana’s views by making it seem that if she wasn’t perfect then he could not love her. Throughout the process Georgiana was scared of her husband’s actions but she was made to believe that what he was doing was normal so she went along with it.