A Feminist Analysis of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House

Henrik Ibsen'in A Doll's House Eserinin Feminist Analizi

Abstract: This research paper attempts to give a feminist analysis

of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House based on the Anglo-American approach to feminist literary theory. It will first explain the feminist literary theory as a term as well as a practice and its function in literary criticism, followed by an explanation of the Anglo-American

approach and some of its prominent writers. The paper will also

explore how and to what degree (if at all) Henrik Ibsen, who is

mostly famous for his realist dramas but has also been credited for his feminist characters and content, is involved with the women's cause by referring to some of his speeches, letters and acquaintances. It will then attempt a feminist analysis of the play based on

the Anglo-American approach and Showalter's feminist critique, using quotes from and references to the three acts of the play as a justification to show how Henrik Ibsen challenged the stereotypical representation of women in literature with his female characters.

Keywords: Henrik Ibsen, Anglo-American feminism, feminist criticism, analysis of A Doll's House, the feminist critique.

Introduction

A Doll's House is not only one of Henrik Ibsen's famous plays but also a great contribution to feminist literature even though the characters do mot seem very outstanding at first sight.Ibsen never explicitly identified

himself as a feminist but some of his speeches and acquaintances prove

that he was concerned with the women's cause; this is also proven by hisplay's development and characters. Usually a lot of credit and attention is given to the protagonist, Nora, who is more or less the epitome of a modern woman when it comes to choice and behavior by the end of the

third and final act. This study will not only focus on her but also the other characters, be it male or female, and how they have contributed to the play.

The paper will also analyze how Ibsen's female characters do not absolutely fit into any of the main stereotypical images of women in literature as the angel in the home or the madwoman in the attic. For that purpose, the study will make use of Anglo-American feminist criticism which is also concerned with the stereotypical and false representation of women in literature.Furthermore, it will explore how Ibsen challenged the public/private split of society and the common belief that a woman's activity in the male-dominated public sphere will result in her depravity. It will also discuss how Ibsen portrays the contrasting fate of couples whose marriage is either based on equality of both spouses or the dominance of the husband and suppression of the wife.

1. The Feminist Literary Theory and the Anglo-American Approach

1.1. The Feminist Literary Theory

Feminist literary theory, as a term, gained currency during the mid 1980s; the term feminist literary criticism had previously been applied. Conventionally, criticism was used to refer to a practical approach to literary study, i.e. the close reading of texts; while theory referred to the

interpretation, evaluation and examination of the philosophical and political underpinnings of the texts. Today, criticism and theory appear simultaneously in feminist anthologies and the feminist literary theory includes both, practical and theoretical, approaches to literature (Code 2000: 261).

As mentioned by Code, the function of the feminist literary theory is "analys[ing] the role that literary forms and practices, together with the

discourses of literary criticism and theory, play in perpetuating or challenging hierarchies of gender, class, race and sexuality" (ibid.). Wallace states that "feminist literary theory, then, engages with the political and

social goals of feminism, and it concentrates on literary culture and theory as a possible site of struggle and as a means of eventual change" (Wallace 2009: vii). Cuddon defines feminist criticism as:

A development and movement in critical theory and in the evaluation of literature which was well under way by the late 1960s and which has burgeoned

steadily since. It is an attempt to describe and interpret (and reinterpret)

women's experience as depicted in various kinds of literature-especially the

novel; and, to a lesser extent, poetry and drama (Cuddon 1998: 351).

Feminist criticism challenges the patriarchal attitudes in literature; the traditional male ideas about women and their nature. Thus, it questions prejudices and assumptions made by the dominant male writers and their tendency to put women in stock character roles (ibid.). According to

Wallace, it was necessary for the would-be woman writer to kill "the angel in the house" (from Patmore's poem) which represents the embodiment of the late 19th century expectation of femininity; that is, the expectation that women "should be nice and sympathetic rather than forceful, outspoken, or intellectually vigorous" (Wallace 2009: 612). The aim of the feminist literary theory (and feminism in general) "must be to break

down the public/private split and the binaries of masculinity/ femininity,

mind/body, reason/ feeling" (Rice and Waugh 2001: 144).

Showalter identified three phases of modern women's literary development which are: the Feminine, the Feminist and the Female phase respectively. During the Feminine phase (1840-80), women writers largely imitated the dominant male writers and their assumptions about female nature; the distinguishing feature of this period is the introduction of the male pseudonym. In the Feminist phase (1880-1920), women used literature to present wronged womanhood, advocated for their rights and rejected male standards and expectations of femininity. In the Female phase (1920-present), women reject imitation as well as protest and instead deal with women's texts as an autonomous art (Rice and Waugh 2001: 153-4).

1.2. The Anglo-American Approach

Anglo-American feminist criticism is an approach to literature that, according to Wallace, "analyzes literary texts, the conditions of their

production, reception, circulation, and their cultural effects from the perspective of gender difference" (Wallace 2009: 22). As the name suggests, this approach has been influenced by American and British feminism.

American feminist criticism was affected by the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Friedan, who founded the National Organization of Women in1966, expressed in her book The Feminine Mystique (1963) "the fundamental grievance of middle-class American women, their entrapment within private, domestic life and their inability to pursue public

careers" (Habib 2011: 254). The Feminine Mystique (1963) disillusioned many educated women with the "dominant image of the happy American suburban housewife and mother" (Guerin, et al. 2011: 255). Millet's Sexual Politics (1969) was concerned about the representation of women in literature and argued that "male writers distort women by associating them with (male) deviance" (ibid.). American feminist criticism's main concern was restoring and including writings of female authors to the literary canon. Gilbert and Gubar also argue that men, whose voice has been dominant for far too long, define and create images of women as they please. According to them, the two main stereotypical images created by

man are "the angel in the house" and "the mad woman in the attic", both equally unrealistic. These images need to be examined and debunked for women to achieve literary autonomy (Bressler 1999: 177-8).

British feminist criticism has had a rather political orientation; Mitchell's Women: The Longest Revolution (1966) examined Marxist categories of production and private property along with psychoanalytic theories of gender (Habib 2011: 255). According to Wallace (2009: 81), British

feminism has been marked by two distinguishing features: first, it emerged through other radical political discourses (specifically Marxism) and second, it was preoccupied with documenting and analyzing the effects of culture and ideology on women. This type of feminism saw art, literature and life as inseparable; the way women were portrayed in literature has an influence on the treatment of women in real life. According to British feminists, the patriarchal society does not exploit women only

through literature but also socially and economically; the family structure causes women to be economically dependent on men. This type of feminist criticism does not only aim to critique society but also to change it (Bressler 1999: 178). Wallace states that Anglo-American feminism has

gone through four phases:

From the early images-of-women criticism through a preoccupation with women's writing and its tradition to a phase of theorization induced by Continental poststructuralist and psychoanalytic thought and fundamental to the presently dominant gender critique (Wallace 2009: 22).

Cornillon's Images of Women in Fiction focuses on the stereotypical characterization of women in writings of male and female writers and instead of those false images, critics asked for faithful representations of female characters. In search for more self-reliant women feminist critics such as Washington, Showalter and Moers, Gilbert and Gubar searched and researched literature by women that was still marginalized at the

time (ibid.).

2. Henrik Ibsen as a Feminist

Whether Henrik Ibsen was a feminist or not may be an arguable question. Finney states that "the view supporting Ibsen as feminist can be seen to lie along a spectrum of attitudes with Ibsen as quasi-socialist at one end and Ibsen as humanist at the other" (Finney 1994: 89). Those

supporting the former stance may refer to an amateur performance of A Doll's House which was performed by Karl Marx's daughter, Eleanor; her husband, Edward Aveling; William Morris's daughter May and Bernard Shaw; all of whom were not only involved in the women's cause but they were or would also be notable figures in the British socialist movement. During the 19th century, feminism and socialism were closely connected. Finney argues that "the most prominent socialist thinkers of the day, male and female, saw that true sexual equality necessitates fundamental changes in the structure of society" (ibid.). Ibsen never overtly admitted being a feminist as proved by his speech held at the festival of the Norwegian Women's Right League in Christiana, May 26th, 1898:

I am not a member of the Women's Rights League. Whatever I have written has been without any conscious thought of making propaganda. I have been more poet and less social philosopher than people generally seem to believe. I thank you for the toast, but must disclaim the honor of having consciously worked for the women's rights movement. I am not even quite clear as to just what this women's rights movement really is. To me it has seemed a problem of humanity in general. And if you read my books carefully, you will understand this. True enough, it is desirable to solve the problem of women's rights, along with the others; but that has not been the whole purpose. My task has been the description of humanity(Ibsen 1910: 65).

Perhaps Ibsen's concerns were neither political nor feminist but rather human. He might have believed that one does not necessarily need to be a feminist in order to defend women; one only needs to be human.

As mentioned by Templeton (1989: 28), Henrik Ibsen's most feminist play A Doll's House may not even be concerned about the women's

cause but rather about humans and individualism in general. Nora, the protagonist, may not merely be a feminist heroine but rather a representation of Everyman.

But to say that Henrik Ibsen was not involved in the women's cause would be a mistake since there are many of his speeches and letters which prove that he was concerned about the so-called weaker sex1. In his speech to the working men of Trondhjem on June 14th, 1885, he mentions:

The reshaping of social conditions which is now under way out there in Europe is concerned chiefly with the future position of the workingman and of woman. That it is which I hope for and wait for; and it is that that I will work for (Ibsen 1910: 54).

Furthermore, Ibsen was considered one of the four central male

voices for feminism in Norway along with Bjornstjerne Bjornston, Jonas

Lie and Alexander Kielland. They unanimously petitioned the Norwegian

National Assembly and demanded that women should have the right to control their estates and this right should be made automatic (Lorentzen

Women are generally considered the "weaker sex" due to the biological differences between men and women. For further detail, see Wallace(2009: 63-65).