A Theme Of Gender Roles In Trifles And A Doll’s House
Through time gender roles continue to change and shape the economy in many ways. In today’s society, women are breaking through their defined roles and embrace being seen on the same level as men. Both characters feel trapped by husbands and want to be free, while trying to seek independence from their families as a result. The characters in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles written in 1916 and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, written in 1879, embrace these gender roles, and provide evidence to challenge us to accept and embrace these gender roles in a new fashion.
In both plays Trifles and A Doll’s House, the focus is on married couples who can be presented from a female character’s perspective. In Glaspell’s story Trifles, the readers are introduced to Mrs. Wright’s house simultaneously after her husband’s murderous death, with the townsfolk considering if Mrs. Hale actually killed her husband. Even though, the readers might not know why the death happened, they are still intrigued to find out why.
Similarly, in A Doll’s House, the action occurs before the narrator’s introduction. The readers discover that Nora is conforming to her gender role and has finally decided to go against her husband’s better judgment and pay off the owing debt behind his back, while trying to be sneaky in the process. While trying to obtain the signature needed for the loan, Nora has no problem lying to Torvald about it to keep everyone happy and her out of trouble. With the intentions of letting him still think of her as a “spendthrift”, she did not want him to think of her as someone who was a woman involved in debt and persuading the readers to think that Nora is being characterized as a housewife.
Another example of a comparison that can be depicted from theses plays is how both of the women have nicknames and are being compared to birds. Nora by Torvald is called his “Lark”. These pet names that are used throughout the story signify ways that men can control women to do things for them in weird and unsettling ways. In other words, the signification Mrs. Hale gives Mrs. Wright by saying, “Was kind of a bird herself”. Mrs. Hale is describing how Mrs. Wright was red, sweet, and pretty, but also timid and fluttery. These metaphors can be shown on the surface, and become darker and overtake the actions and tones of the play as it progresses. Gender roles can be compared to a bird being trapped in a cage alongside women’s “duties” and how they are not only to themselves, but to their families as well. The theme that is eventually discovered in Trifles is when Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters find a quilt and inside is a canary with a strangled dead body. In Susan Glaspell’s Trifles, Mrs. Hale says, “But, Mrs. Peters – look at it! Its neck! Look at its neck! It’s all – other side to”. In the once cheery, happy home now dark and gloomy was the canary that used to sing. Since the bird no longer sang, it set her into a rage to finally murder her husband with a rope tied around his neck and strangling him just like the bird.
However, with the lashing out against the cage from Mrs. Wright and the stereotypical gender role inflicted upon her from killing Mr. Wright, Nora intends to seek independence from her ways. In the play, Doll House by Henrik Ibsen, Helmer states, “And I have to tell you that? Isn’t it your duty to your husband and children”. Nora decides to focus only on herself instead by taking care of her needs instead of her of her husband and children. In Trifles, Nora argues, “I have other duties equally scared”. She does not want to feel like she is being trapped inside the house by Torvald making her feel like she is a “Doll.” She wants to be free to think about herself for once and not have to worry about the lives of others. Between Nora and Torvald, she has realized they have never had a serious conversation before in their entire relationship, whether it was about money or Krogstad. Nora’s faults throughout the play are what makes her an interesting character when she, munches on macaroons forbidden by Torvald. Helmer mentions, “Surely my sweet tooth hasn’t been running riot in town today, has she”. Finally, Nora lies about the sweets to cover up the mess that is going on, so she does not get in trouble and saves herself. She is trying to protect the ones she loves, while also protecting Trovald.
Whatever the gender role issues may be, In Henrik Ibsen’s play Krogstatd expressed, “This is the curious thing: that your father co-signed the note for your loan three days after his death”. Even though Nora eventually gets caught, she does not want to honestly disclose what her reasoning was for the note being signed early. If she was caught, she would be in a lot of trouble, so she had to lie about the signature to cover up her reasoning. Nora explains, “That was impossible. Papa was so sick. If I’d ask him for his signature, I also would have to tell him what the money was for. But I couldn’t tell him, sick as he was, that my husband’s life was in danger. This was just impossible”. Even though when signing the documents from Krogstad, Nora decided to replicate her father’s name without his permission. If she had not mentioned something about the note as a cover up, trouble would brew among others. In A Doll House, can be considered unfair and harmless for a woman to break traditions, just the same as when a woman is coming out of her comfort zone and by doing so she is knowingly stepping into a world of uncertainty.
Continuously, Minnie Foster and Nora face challenges of gender through their crimes. From the only relationship in A Doll house, the gender roles are reversed at the point when Krogstad eventually lost his job to a woman named Kristine Linde, while proving herself to be completely capable of solving all her issues herself. Although in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House, Mrs. Linde informs Krogstad by stating, “Without my knowing it, Nils. Today for the first time I learned that it’s you I’m replacing at the bank”. She ends up taking Krogstad’s job at the bank. So, by reconnecting with Krogstad she decides to work and lets him stay home. At first, if he decided to step down it would not benefit her at all; only at the beginning of their relationship would it have been of any benefit at all. In the past, it was her who would fix everyone’s problems by taking them all on herself. Also, along the way she broke off her marriage with Krogstad to marry someone who was richer than him. Krogstad himself switches gender roles when he accepts his fate. He does not care what his role is, his only thought is rekindling his relationship with Ms. Linda. Both of these women converse about the crime scene while gathering valuable items for Mrs. Wright while overlooking the rude commentary from the County Attorney and Sheriff. Along the way, the women start noticing strange clues, from the odd knotting in the quilt, In Trifles, Mrs. Hale ponders, “It’s a log cabin pattern. Pretty, isn’t it? I wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it”. The quilt is being used as a way for Mrs. Wright to take up her time with a meaningless task while waiting on news about the evidence, along with the strange sensation of a bird ever being caged in this home. Eventually, the pieces of the puzzle are finally pieced together when it is not the Sheriff or Attorney who strangled the bird or committed the murder, it was Mrs. Wright. However, the women in Trifles solve murders, in the end, in favor of try to protect one of their own.
In both plays the women try solving murders and take over household duties in while challenging more gender roles. Overall, Minnie Foster and Nora were the ones that challenged the motives if the plays were not so bent on the feminist themes. Both characters in these plays try to convince their audience and readers that the information being presented is realistic happenings in life and to challenge us as well. With the encountered success among these characters, sometimes we might change the way we think. Our thinking might be about how women’s rights and gender inequality and people should not assess duties during marriage based solely upon this reasoning between male and female. Each of the women throughout try to solve all their problems without the help of a man at any point. These characters written by Glaspell and Ibsen were supposed to be seen as someone who is, not a woman, but a person. These gender roles in Trifles and A Doll’s House shape the way people think about the influence on males and females in today’s world. They show the reader no matter who someone is, people should be able to become whom he or she wants to be without being defined as a certain gender stereotypical entity.
