Women as Invariably the Passive Victims in Literature
Typically, Literature reflects widespread social attitudes towards women; this mindset so often values masculine pursuits over feminine diversions, their concerns seem devalued, portraying them as the passive victims of ‘’androcentrism’’ – a worldview focusing on male supremacy. Throughout the course of both Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ and Arthur Miller’s ‘A View from The Bridge’, the female characters subsist as passive victims prior to confronting the social instability caused by the erosion of standards and values. Ultimately this leads to a momentous transformation of character which compels them to maturity and enhances the internal conflict each character confronts within the plot of both plays.
Ibsen had been particularly interested in representing aspects of society as they really were, and he changed the face of modern drama in seeking to offer a 'realistic presentation' of the lives of people within the Norwegian society. He is often credited with introducing realism to drama and rejecting the sensational plots and cliched characters of earlier European drama texts. Exposing the hypocrisy of society is a theme that runs through many of his plays as well as the freedom of the individual operating within the constraints of these social customs. These themes are powerfully presented in A Doll's House and their significance, then and now, is worth considering in some depth. Initially, Nora is a passive recipient of her egotistical husband’s torment who holds no sense of individuality and moves as gestures of the patriarchal society. She is no better than a childbearing machine and follows the dictates and whims of her domineering spouse. Dehumanized and infantilized by her husband daily, she internalizes this treatment to such an extent that she fails to recognize her own strength or independence. Nora is a victim of her husband as well as of her own complacency in her oppression. Similarly, from the outset of Miller’s play, both Beatrice and Catherine appear to be entirely passive as they are the mere puppets of the ruling male figure in their household. Arthur Miller effectively uses all the conventions of a modern tragedy to arouse sympathy, suspense, and trepidation from the audience at significant intervals of the play. However, unlike typical tragedies, Miller focuses the play on the working class in order to express their collective attributes to their society which contradicts the Greek tragedies that focused on royalty and the society which left women feeling subjugated by the men. For instance, when Beatrice asks Eddie whether - ‘you gonna keep in the house all her life?’ The assertive tone of this rhetorical question shows the support that Catherine has from Beatrice and reflects her struggle to be free from Eddie’s grip which evokes empathy towards the audience as they would be pitiful towards both females who are subjugated to this man. Nevertheless, the extent of Eddie’s authority over them is signified from the beginning as Catherine ‘’almost ends in tears because he disapproves’’ seeks desperate approval from her ‘’father-figure’’ at this point in the play which is perhaps incorporated to signify her transformation once she transgresses towards his overriding nature by the end. Yet, one may argue that, unlike Beatrice and Catherine who modify gradually, before we even meet Nora’s character, she commits forgery to save the life of her authoritarian husband as ‘’seeming totally dependent on her husband, she knows that at least once in her life Torvald has been totally dependent on her’’ Here she breaks the limitation to a woman’s freedom the moment she chooses to solve a financial issue and then goes onto asserting this breaking of freedom by expressing her feeling over male domination by the end of the play. Has she ever been passive, or could this have been her duplicitous nature to conceal how she was transgressing the moral conduct placed for women by the society at the time? Perhaps she was a ‘’victim’’ but of her own self-confinement as a result of communal pressure as once Nora suddenly understands that she has the power to change her situation, she is no longer a victim of her circumstances. As Equal Torqvist states, ‘’this situation is highly ironic…since Reflecting the views of a male society, everyone sees Nora as a child to be cared for like a doll… yet she relishes her secret knowledge that she has performed an independent act of altruism’’. This form of altruism may also be displayed when Catherine eventually begins to transgress by wearing high heels which represents the start of her sexual awakening, maturity, and independence. Her disparaging ‘uncle’ chastises her for ‘’walking wavy’’ and turning heads and labels her as a ‘Garbo’ which is a reference to film star Greta Garbo, a sex symbol of the time. This is another instance where females are being victimized as a result of society’s damaging standards which imply that sensual, independent nurtured women only wear high heels to attain the attention of the opposite sex which ultimately demeans their morals and social standards. Throughout the history of literature, there is a whole range of feminine characterizations but what is significant is how all these characterizations are dominated by the male voice. The proposed solutions to these problems are really tailored to meet the needs of fundamentally masculine problems, just as Eddie refuses to acknowledge Catherine’s entry to womanhood or how Torvald declines any thought of Nora overcoming his achievements.
In both texts, the misogynistic male characters psychologically oppress their women by disparaging their status and self-worth. In a View from the Bridge, Beatrice is treated patronizingly by her husband as he demoralizes her by affirming how she ‘’doesn’t see anything and doesn’t know anything’’ which mirrors when Torvald tells Nora to save money and forbids her from eating sweets in order not to ruin her teeth. He is portrayed as rational, imperious, and to some degree even emotionally cold as he also asserts Nora as a ‘’featherhead’’ which implies how through their interactions, they both consider their wives or even women, in general, to be intellectually inferior to them. Nevertheless, by the concluding point within the play, the voice of Nora brought the notes of individual liberation against the ‘’shackles and restraints of male-dominated society’’ and through these, the fragrance of reality, the reflection of integrity, the ridge of female dignity, the shattering image of a doll and the glorious usher of new life are found profoundly which redeems her image from being confined and vulnerable to acting as ‘’Ibsen’s mouthpiece of female emancipation’’ This deeply contradicts Beatrice as the audiences are also fully aware of the fact that no matter what happens, she will always remain loyal to Eddie. This is evident when, towards the end, she scolds Catherine for calling him “that rat!” and takes his side, enumerating all the hardships he has endured for them. Miller has constructed Beatrice’s character to be hospitable, charming, and hold admirable qualities. Could this possibly be the mold produced for a woman to comply with the moral conduct set at the time? For example, When she fortifies that she ‘’wants Eddie to be happy’’, it presents her solid devotion towards Eddie as the use of ‘you’ in this line signifies that she is prioritizing Eddie’s contentment over herself, just as a socially conforming wife during the 1950s should. This is ironic as further on Beatrice herself questions Eddie ‘’when she will be a wife again’’- the passion within their relationship has been diffused since Eddie seems to be more interested in fulfilling his incestuous desires for Catherine. Perhaps the way Miller has constructed Beatrice to be the ‘’perfect’’ wife, only then to present the consequences of her blind trust may act as a warning towards women at the time as it highlights the defects within the patriarchy- men asserting their ‘meritorious’ power yet they hold tragic faults whilst women remain subservient and face the consequences. Moreover, A feminist may challenge Beatrice’s claim at the end of the play where she seems to accept partial responsibility for Eddie’s imminent demise as she claims ‘’whatever happened, we all done it’’; There is no doubt that Miller is referring to how if she challenged Eddie’s feelings for Catherine or how Catherine is ‘to blame’ seemingly for her flirtatious nature then maybe this could have been avoided. From a feminist perspective, this claim appears to be illogical as Catherine’s behavior is purely naïve innocence, as well as Beatrice, is unaware of the extent of Eddies psychosexual desires; they may point out that male figures have a history of blaming women, for example, the Story Of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden in the Bible where she is blamed for the damning human race for eternity after the devil temptation which is barely reasonable. Perhaps the fact that Beatrice loves Eddie despite his incestuous desires, even after his death shows how she has been fabricated to the extent she has ‘declined’ in terms of advocating any type of female empowerment; the same empowerment that we ultimately witness from our protagonist in A Doll’s House. Effectively, ‘’Beatrice’s passive restraint as his wife and Catherine’s subconscious loyalty to her family and working-class residents create a palpable tension between the three residents’’ as she can be viewed as a victim of the social and economic conditions of the time in which she lives where she is compelled to resume residing with a man who she knows has erotic designs on her biological niece.
In A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen draws attention to the hypocrisy of the Victorian society that suppressed individuality because of the ‘law and order’ which idealized the conventions and traditions at the time. The playwright clearly felt this belonged in the past and therefore dwells on these matters through the many characters within the ‘problem play’. Contrarily, In A View from The Bridge, the sense of community contributes to the tragic ending of the play. At first sight, A Doll’s House features the stereotypical representation of women as irrational, naive, and dependent on men; and the Victorian dichotomy of the public and private spheres which ‘’relegates women to the demesne of domesticity and deprives them of a political voice while requiring that men identify with a discourse of rationality which splits off and denies the importance of feelings’’. Torvald spends most of his time in his demesne, the public sphere, as he is constantly working even whilst at home, therefore depriving his family of both his time and commitment which a modern audience would typically thrive for. Contrary to this, Nora’s contact with the outside world is rare as she is mostly confined to the private sphere within the play. According to Code, it is the ‘woman’s disproportionate confinement in the private sphere that correlates with their subordinate status.’ This ‘disproportion’ is Nora’s absence from the public eye that has compelled her to become economically dependent on her husband to the extent that he mocks her for spending too much money on Christmas gifts, revealing her ‘’subordinate’’ status within her own home. Arguably she may not be as ‘’subordinate’’ as she seems- the irony of Torvalds reputation as the ‘tough breadwinner’ is essentially crumbled once it is revealed that he could not even cope with the news of his illness; had it been this news that had compelled Nora from telling him or the fear of hurting the ego of a weak-willed man? In men in the middle, James Gilbert suggests that the ‘’male desire is to maintain the cultural and social distinctions between men and women’’ as that is the root of the male identity crisis. This refers to Torvalds’s instilled trepidation of any female conquering his achievements or could denote Eddie’s attempt to assert male dominance over both female and effeminate characters. Once again, this reflects the inability of working-class men to relinquish aspects of their manhood, such as their ego, when negotiating socio-cultural conflicts amongst groups. This is clearly displayed when Catherine announces she has received work from a plumbing company where Eddie refuses to consider how her exceptional performances have played in her selection and how she will hold a significant chance of earning a decent income as a woman. This evidently indicates how he categorically dismisses the opportunity due to the company’s location and its workers due to the similarities with the dock environment that were regarded as a stereotypically masculine job due to the physical strength it involves. Distinctly, he limits her chances for upward social mobility and uses her current living condition to control her social and economic position and limit her external influences that could potentially advance her class. Additionally, the song 'Paper Doll' symbolizes Eddie's unhealthy attraction and objectification toward Catherine along with his subsequent antagonism towards Rodolpho. With his incestuous attraction to his niece, Eddie experiences the difficulty of loving 'a doll that's not your own.' Likening a woman to a doll implies objectification because a doll is an idealized, inanimate object that can be controlled and owned. Furthermore, a paper doll specifically is something one cuts out and creates. Eddie tries to control Catherine, to force her to be 'a doll that other fellows cannot steal,' but Rodolpho is one of 'those flirty, flirty guys with their flirty, flirty eyes.' Jealous of Catherine's attention to Rodolpho, Eddie thinks he owns her, although he is sexually frustrated because she is off-limits to him. Perhaps, Catherine can be labeled as a victim of psychological manipulation as Eddie constantly attempts to control her by reasserting his position as her ‘father’ and ‘benefactor’ stating how she should consult him from a very young age; this form of deception emanating from a male figure to the extent the female is brainwashed to remain childlike and delay social and intellectual development surely mirrors a predator and prey kind of scenario.
Ultimately, within literature women are invariably the passive victims, however, this term may differ based on the extent of what they are victimized. On the one hand, we have Beatrice, a devoted housewife who is a victim of societal pressure leading to the inability to contravene against her perverse and degrading spouse that has sexual desires for her niece. Similarly, Catherine is a victim of psychological manipulation ever since she was a child by a predator who claimed to be her benefactor but ultimately looked at her in a malicious sexual manner which could essentially blemish her life forever and lead to some detrimental trust issues. And finally, Nora; it can be argued that Nora has never been a victim of anybody but her self-captivity as her failure to realism due to the detrimental consequences for women at the time the play was written, delayed not only her moral stability but her chances of mobilizing within the socio-economic sector.
