A Doll's House- Comparative Essay

Where is the wonderful? Women in the nineteenth century have only an exterior of wonderful, as illustrated in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Both authors make the choice to use a woman as the protagonist, to ponder the existence of women in a world of men, and the importance of individualism rather than conformity in society.1

Does happiness truly have to be sacrificed in order to maintain a picturesque marriage? Edna Pontellier and Nora Helmer do not believe so. Each woman has an awakening of self, a changed perception of life. For Edna, it is a nap that seems to last a hundred years, a fairy-tale feeling that engulfs her soul with curiosity. For Nora, it is the realization that life is not a fairy-tale, and that love, or the illusion of love, cannot conquer all.2

Edna’s awakening is sudden, intense, and earth-shattering. In one simple spell of sleep, her outlook on life changes drastically. She realizes that she must put herself before all others; that she is unwilling to sacrifice who she is to be liked in her society. It is no longer about pleasing her husband by entertaining guests, and learning how to play the piano. It is about meeting new and interesting people, and creating her own art through drawing and painting. Edna does not know another woman like herself, but she is perfectly content to forge her own path. 3

Nora's awakening is a gradual one. It starts with a comment, one piece of a conversation, that worries her into accepting reality. Her awakening is one of circumstance and consequence. Her world of shopping and playing with her children becomes an alternate reality. Nora grows up in the few days that it takes Krogstad to blackmail her. She begins to see the world in a new light. There is an understanding that choices cannot be made without repercussions, that love does not exist without equality and appreciation. For Nora, it becomes about finding herself in a world where husband and children come before anything. She sets out to find individuality, and to prove herself as an individual. 4

For both Edna and Nora, it is a war for freedom against the bonds of conformity. Both women, on separate sides of the world, are working for the same cause. It is a battle that continues still today. It is a campaign against prejudice, against all that are unwilling to accept change. It is a crusade to create equality, and to protect those that are willing to sacrifice for it. It is the awakening of both Edna and Nora that engages this war. Edna and Nora fight to find themselves. They struggle to overcome oppression. They strive to create a better world.