Feminist Protagonists in The Awakening and A Dolls House Essay

The Feminist Protagonists in The wake up and A Dolls family unit The intellection of womens liberation is a common theme in both(prenominal) Kate Chopins The Awakening and Henrik Ibsens A Dolls support. In her analysis of Feminism in Europe Katharine M. Rogers writes, thought process of Noras painful disillusionment, her parting from her children, and the uncertainties of her future independent c arer, Ibsen called his play the tragedy of juvenile times (82). The main characters in each work, Nora Helmer, in A Doll House, and Edna Pontellier, in The Awakening, portray feminist ideas. Neither Ibsen nor Chopin intended to write for the womens rights movement, but both deeds are classics of a womans liberation. Ibsen is quoted as saying that he never consciously worked for the womens right movement (82). It has also been shown that Chopin did not intend to write a feminist tract (Martin 252). Even though neither work was meant to be apply as a feminist advocacy document, the works are subtile examples of the fact that many people were attuned to the plight of women. Nora and Edna both intend to operate their own careers. At the time these works were written, women did not normally beget their own careers. Nora enjoys the copying work she secretly does at night to nominate back money for her loan. Working makes her feel less like the shallow, twittering feminine people think she is and more like an independent man. After Nora leaves Torvald, she wants to locomote on her own and support herself. Edna wants to become an artist. She tries to paint seriously any day after her return from Grand Isle. Even though Mr. Pontellier thinks her paintings are a silly hobby, Edna sells several paintings and hopes to sell more. Nora and Edna are both i... ...the works portray feminist ideas such as pursuit of careers, independence from families, and impede male friends. Ibsen and Chopin were ahead of their time by writing works snap on a topic that is still controversial a hundred later. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. New York W. W. Norton & Co., 1985. Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House (1879). Trans. Rolf Fjelde. Rpt. in Michael Meyer, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 5th edition. Boston & New York Bedford/St. Martins Press, 1999. Martin, Wendy, ed. Introduction. New Essays on The (Awakening. New York, NY Cambridge UP, 1988. Rogers, Katharine M. Feminism in Europe. Chicago University of Illinois Press, 1982. Templeton, Joan. Is A Doll House a Feminist Text? (1989). Rpt. In Meyer.