Marriage Ideology

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the drama of Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" and Gustave Flaubert's "Madame Bovary." The paper views the two works in tandem in order to paint a more complete picture of the failures inherent in 19th century marriage ideology. The paper suggests that, viewed individually, the works do not provide as clear a picture of this ideology.

From the Paper:

"Unlike Torvald, Charles approves of and facilitates his wife's indulgences because he derives pleasure from them and lacks Torvald's frugal and controlling character. Yet the division between the worlds of men and women in Madame Bovary still lays the grounds for an unhappy and uncommunicative marriage, just as it does in "A Doll's House." Because of Charles' lack of understanding of what such frivolities mean to Emma--they symbolize her longing for a romantic, sensual life that will take her away from him--a rift between husband and wife is created that is just as profound and damaging as Torvald's incomprehension of how his isolation of Nora from the real world will divide the two of them."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. 1856. Littrix Reading Room. 1 Apr 2006. <http://www.litrix.com/madameb/madam001.htm>
• Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll's House." Project Guttenberg e-text. 1 Apr 2006. <http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/dlshs11.txt>

More papers on Marriage Ideology:

• Research Paper # 75657 : "Liberals, Conservatives and Gay Marriage"
• Research Paper # 52416 : "Same-Sex Marriage in the U.S."
• Analytical Essay # 123157 : "Gender Ideology in 'Middlemarch' and 'Vanity Fair'"

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