The Character of Marital Discourse

Paper Summary:

This paper compares and contrasts Virginia Woolf's "To The Lighthouse" with Henrik Ibsen's "The Dollhouse." It focuses on the marital relationships of each work's central protagonists. The paper describes how the women of these couples are subject to male domination. The author states that in both works the marriage relationships are determined by the characters' perceptions of themselves and of their spouses, as well as by the degree to which their needs are fulfilled by their spouses.

From the Paper:

"In Virginia Woolf's "To The Lighthouse" and Henrik Ibsen's "The Dollhouse" the texts revolve around intrafamilial relationships and focus on the marital relationship of the main characters. Perhaps because of the very different genres to which the two works belong, the marital relationships of the two couples, different types of characterization define the Ramsays and the Helmers. The Ramsays are characterized by their modes of speech, with little characterization through action, whereas the relationship of the Helmers (as characters in a play) is defined largely by their actions towards one another.

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