International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development ISSN 2249-6149 Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm Issue 2, Vol.5 (July 2012) A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN HENRIK IBSEN’S A DOLL’S HOUSE AND AUGUST STRINDBERG’S MISS JULIE RAMANDEEP MAHAL MAHARISHI MARKANDESHWAR UNIVERSITY MULLANA (AMBALA) __________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Norwegian playwright and poet Henrik Ibsen was an acclaimed dramatist during his times. He had a great pride in his country Norway. In 1877 he was influenced by the social structure of his country. He wanted to extol the values of truth and freedom in his people with his works like The Pillars of the Society (1877) and then in 1879 A Doll’s House which questioned the suppressed role of women in the society. He is best known for creating female characters in dramas like Hedda Gabler (1890) and A Doll’s House. Nora the protagonist in the beginning of the play seems to be content with her life. She prances about and exhibits child like qualities. When Torvald enters the scene, Nora's childlike behavior becomes more patent. Torvald calls her pet names "little lark", "little squirrel", and "little miss extravagant". However Torvald‟s true character is revealed when he accuses Nora for the forgery and tries to disown her, unaware of the fact that she had forged the signature for his sake. His attitude suddenly changes when everything is sorted out. She decides to walk out of her marriage. Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist and essayist. He was a prolific writer who drew his writings from his personal experiences. In the play Miss Julie he confesses his hatred for the opposite sex. Julie suffers an identity crises. She blatantly displays her disregard for class and gender conventions. It is mentioned at the beginning of the play that the people of the estate are celebrating St John‟s eve with dance, song and revelry, and Julie mingles with the servants. Henceforth there is a discussion of Julie‟s behaviour between two characters indeed known to be the people of the low class. Her behaviour is quite absurd , at one moment she is forward and at next she is coy. Jean warns her against her impetuous behaviour. Julie further makes advances but Jean warns her of injury to his reputation. She wavers between the high and the low class identity and hence she is confused of her true identity. She has inherited the primitive intense passion of her mother and the aristocratic tendencies of her father. Her antics result in her downfall, in contrast to her Jean rises above her when she reveals her background of common birth. The play, A Doll’s House, emphatically stresses upon the status of women how their roles should be perceived in the context of the social norms, related with marriage and motherhood. It stresses the norms and functions of the Victorian women at that time. Further the play had been criticized on certain aspects of Nora. Strindberg was known to be a misogynist a, “hater of woman.” Strindberg was more of a confessional writer and much of his writings are an output of his three disastrous marriages. __________________________________________________________________________________________ A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN HENRIK IBSEN’S A DOLL’S HOUSE AND AUGUST STRINDBERG’S MISS JULIE The aim of our present study is to make a comparative study of women characters in Henrik Ibsen‟s A Doll’s House and August Strindberg‟s Miss Julie from a naturalistic point of view. Henrik Ibsen is known to be one of the most eminent playwrights of his time. He is often called the „father of the modern drama‟ because he had helped to popularize realism. Practically his whole life is devoted to the theatre. His spare hours were spent in the preparation for entrance to the Christiania University, where about at the age of twenty, he formed a friendship with Bjornson. During the winter of 1848 he wrote his first play Cateline. In about 1851 he was given the position of the „theatre poet‟. In 1857 he had become the director of the Norwegian theatre in Christiania. While there he published another work The Vikings at Hedgeland and married Suzannah in 1858. In 1860, he was under the attack of the press for the lack of productivity although he had published a few poems. The Christinia University went bankrupt in1862. During this period he completed The Pretenders (1863) and a dramatic epic poem Brand (1866) which soon achieved critical voice and this was followed by Peer Gynt (1867). The first of Ibsen‟s prose dramas were The League of the Youth, published in 1869, followed by Emperor and the Galilean (1873), his first work to be translated into English, and then The Pillars of the Society (1877), A Doll’s House (1879), Ghosts (1881), and An Enemy of the People (1882) are among the plays that contribute to realism. His next phase of works included a shift from social concerns to the isolation of the individual. The MasterBuilder (1892), Little Eyolf (1894), John Gabriel Page 473 International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development ISSN 2249-6149 Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm Issue 2, Vol.5 (July 2012) Borkman (1896), and When We Dead Awaken (1899), all treat the conflicts that arise between art and life, between creativity and expectations, and between personal contentment and self deception. The element of naturalism prevailed in his personal life. Ibsen himself was subjected to poverty as a result of his father‟s bankruptcy. Elizabeth Hardwick believed that, “his mother had suffered many hardships and had served as a model for the female characters” (43). In his early works Ibsen has used poetry with mythological themes but then switches to a realistic style with the play The Pillars of the Society. This realistic style is a break from the fanciful operas and the stock characters and Ibsen became a detailed observer of true human life. In 1888 women were finally given right of control over their money. In 1879 a wife was not legally permitted to borrow money without her husband‟s consent. This issue was already popular in Norway where Ibsen lived. Norway was a newly liberated country, having been freed from the Danish control. Norwegian law had passed laws regarding the protection of women and their employment. By the middle of the nineteenth century women had been provided the same laws of protection as to the male children. Women were permitted inheritance rights, though the employment wages they received were quite low. Although divorce was legal but it was only enacted if both the partners agreed. Such issues have been taken by Henrik Ibsen with great insight. In the book Performing Women: Female Characters, Male Playwrights and Modern Stage, Gay Gibson Cima says that, “Ibsen‟s work treats real life issues in an almost journalistic manner” (229). A Doll’s House was published on December 4, 1879 and was first performed in Copenhagen on December 21. This work was considered a publishing event and it sold around 8000 copies. However, it created a controversy that Ibsen had to disappointingly change its ending, he was forced to write a second ending for the play that he called as, “ a barbaric outrage” Ibsen believes that women were best suited to be mothers and wives, but at the same time, he had an eye for injustice and although he was embraced by feminists, Ibsen was no champion of human rights; he had only dealt with the problem of women‟s right as a facet of the realism within his play. Ibsen broke away from the romantic tradition with his realistic portrayals of individual characters and his focus on psychological concerns as he sought to portray the real world, especially the position of women in society. Ibsen had elevated theatre from mere entertainment to a forum for exposing social problems. Sheri Metzger in her essay discusses Ibsen‟s contribution to drama as a forum for exposing social problems remarked, “with A Doll’s House, Ibsen turned drama into a respectable genre for the examination of social issues” (25). Like exposing the flaws of Helmer and Nora‟s marriage, he made the private into the public and, “provided an advocacy for women”. A Doll’s House belongs to the second phase of Ibsen‟s career. It is during this phase he transformed from mythical and historical dramas to the social dramas. It is the first in the series investigating tensions in the family. Written during the Victorian era the controversial play featured the protagonist seeking individuality. This play introduced woman as having her own purpose and goals. The heroine Nora Helmer progressing during the course of the play. August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist and short story writer. He combined psychology, naturalism and later elements of literary forms. Having going through an unhappy childhood Strindberg had started writing at a very young age when his mother died when he was very young. His father remarried, it is believed that his stepmother did not treat him well. Circumstances made him a naturalistic writer. With his mother‟s background he wrote an autobiographical work The Son of a Servant Strindberg was enrolled in the University of Uppsalla, where he had failed to pass the preliminary examination in chemistry. He had worked for a little while in the Royal Dramatic Theatre, where he wrote three plays which were rejected. After various experiments, he resumed his studies in the University of Uppsalla. Back in Stockholm he worked as a journalist and wrote a historical drama known as Master Olof (1872) when he was only twenty three years old.