Ibsen And Wilde's Female Protagonists

Ibsen and Wilde present their female protagonists as secretive women who hide the truth. To what extent do you agree that Nora and Mrs Arbuthnot are both performers?

In Victorian society there was a lot of pressure and expectation put on the institution of marriage, and mainly the women, to act in specific ways, particularly to be faithful and adhere to their duties, and the bulk of dramas aired in the Victorian era complimented this. So much so that Ibsen was told to re-write the ending of his play, as “A Doll’s House” was so shocking that it was deemed unfit for society, for its content of a hidden past of a middle class woman shown in this play by Nora, particularly at the ending as she leaves the institution of marriage. “A Woman of No Importance” was also seen as scandalous, for its favourable portrayal of a “Fallen Woman” in Mrs Arbuthnot. Wilde believed that women were not given the right they deserved, thinking that they were treated unjustly.

Nora has a hidden past, which she does her best to keep concealed by having a façade of happiness to please her husband, engaging with him in child-like treatment and games, showing how little respect men had for Victorian women, treating them as children, “Poor little Nora – of course you couldn’t, you did your best to please us - that’s the main thing”. This reflects the idea of Nora being the forced doll in the house. She also comments that this was the same with her father, Nora has always felt pressured to act in ways untrue to herself by men. The act of hiding feelings was expected of society, and when Nora finally shows some emotion, in the tarantella, Dr Rank asks Torvald if she is expecting, which shows how the Victorian men did not consider either the emotional or thought processes and problems that women may go through, his only way of explaining it is through a biological condition. This could link to the Victorian fascination (and male dominated) world of science. Nora’s entrance to the play is loud...