Misogyny in Henrik Ibsen's Plays

Paper Summary:

This paper relates that, through an analysis of Henrik Ibsen's plays, "A Doll's House", "Ghosts", and "Hedda Gabler", one can realize the under current of misogyny that Ibsen provides in his own patriarchal Victorian milieu, which devalues the role of women under the various aggressions of men brought forth. The paper explains that, for Ibsen, women provided a servant function within patriarchal society that did not necessarily provide a "feminist" perspective, but revealed that men should be tolerant and respect women. The paper concludes that, as a result, the dark under current of misogynist values provided by Ibsen in his plays informs the reader of the struggle of women in Victorian society, but does not effectively redefine a feminist ideology for women to liberate themselves from patriarchal aggression.

From the Paper:

"Hedda's behaviors and actions often appear crude and uninformed as to the nature of husband to use her as a servant for his career. Ibsen often has Hedda appear as naive of the fact that her husband is merely trying to us her as a kind of "trophy wife" to accent his real desire to achieve success in his artistic ambitions. In this manner, she wholly a woman that is able to be traditional, but becomes so enamored of her love that she takes independent action to get his attention. The circumstances under which Hedda burns Lovborg's manuscript are, of course, entirely different and infinitely more dramatic"

Sample of Sources Used:

• Egan, Michael. Ibsen: The Critical Heritage. New York: Routledge, 1972.
• Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. New York: Dover, 1992.
• ---. Ghosts. New York: Hard Press, 2006.
• ---. Hedda Gabler. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 2004.

More papers on Misogyny in Henrik Ibsen's Plays:

• Analytical Essay # 133350 : "Understanding the Concept of Misogyny in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, Ghosts, and Hedda Gabler"
• Analytical Essay # 129499 : "Characterization in Henrik Ibsen's "The Doll House"
• Analytical Essay # 3030 : "Characterization in Henrik Ibsen's "The Master Builder"

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