¶ … Alienation of Women in "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "A Doll's House"
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Henrik Ibsen's play "A Doll's House" share similar themes of women being alienated from the community and offer similar solutions to this problem. Nora and the narrator of the yellow wallpaper are both alienated because of the limited role that society places them in. This limited role based on their place as women in society alienates them from the community by making them inferior. This does not only refer to how others perceive them, but how they come to perceive themselves. It essentially becomes an accepted view where the two women both accept being powerless and allow themselves to be dominated. Both Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henrik Ibsen show through their works that the solution to this problem is for women to recognize their limited roles and fight to break free from these roles.
Nora and the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" are both alienated from the community because of the limited role that society places them in. This refers to the way that women are viewed as wives and mothers and are not considered to have any greater value or ability. In both cases, the women are not physically isolated from society. Instead, it is more a case where they are isolated because they are not allowed to contribute as individuals or have any power in society. This is seen in "The Yellow Wallpaper" by the way that the narrator's doctor, brother, and husband all do not believe that there is anything wrong, despite the narrator suffering from symptoms of depression. Rather than taking her illness seriously, they consider that she is ill because she is stressing her mind by thinking. This illustrates that women are not even considered as being capable of thought. This is also seen by their solution to her illness, which is for her to avoid any form of thought, including avoiding thinking about her condition. For the males in the community, women are considered as only being useful for completing housework, with any form of real work or real thought considered bad for their health. It is also seen that the males in the community do not allow women to make any decisions, including decisions about themselves. This is seen by the way the narrator describes how she believes she is not ill and how she believes work would do her good, but is not allowed to voice these opinions. The isolation that the narrator feels then, is based on her not being able to contribute to society or function intelligently. She is considers as having nothing to offer and this leaves her mind isolated. The same situation is observed in "A Doll's House" with Nora. Just like the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper," Nora is confined to her role as wife and not considered as having any value beyond this. She is not allowed any responsibility in the marriage and remains powerless. The only significant difference with Nora is that she reacts to the situation differently. Instead of become depressed, she takes on the role of the child in the relationship with her husband. She recognizes that he is the authority, just as a child recognizes adults as authority figures, but she also defies her husband. This is seen by the way that she borrows money, while being aware that her husband will disapprove. Even in doing this, Nora is thinking like a child and disobeying for her own amusement. This includes that she has the expectation that Torvald will forgive her just as a father forgives a daughter. While Nora taking on the child role is different from how the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" reacts, both characters are in the same situation where they are isolated from the community because their role in women makes them inferior and powerless.
The next consideration is how the two characters respond to their roles. It must be noted that the alienation they experience is not just based on how others perceive them. Both characters also perceive themselves as being inferior and this contributes to their isolation. This is clearly seen at the start of "The Yellow Wallpaper" where the narrator describes how her husband views her. One of the first statements she makes is that "John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage" (Gilman 833). This...
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