Gender construction in modern drama: A stylistic analysis of A Doll’s House by Henry Ibsen

Abstract

The study aims to explore the gender roles which are constructed in the first revolutionary modern drama. Ibsen has beautifully explored the condition of marginalized women of that time. When the drama was written the existing society had no concept of feminism. The study is qualitative under the descriptive paradigm. The researcher has collected the data from the play A Doll’s House and analyzed it stylistically especially exploring implicit meanings (regarding gender roles) lying in rhetorical or figurative language used by Ibsen in A Doll’s House. Women were restricted to the household as they were expected inferior creature but man were supposed to be the symbol of world power, symbol of authority, symbol of reputation and symbol of superiority. He was the head regarded as the decision maker. By going through the drama we analyze that this position of man at that time is clearly elaborated by Ibsen. When Nora says, I simply transferred from my father’s hand to my husband’s hand, her words show the decision power of man. Throughout the drama, Nora made many sacrifices and had faced many challenges by remaining consistent. The work of Ibsen is a best example for the foundation of feminism. The work of Shakespeare in Hamlet and Oscar Wild’s work I the picture of dorian gray shows male dominance. But in their work, we find not so many supports for women. As in the work of Ibsen we can see had changed the thinking of women of that time.