Research Paper on:
Society and Women's Place According to Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henrik Ibsen

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
reading of these works reveals not only that the female protagonist in each work feels compelled to rebel against the social restrictions that circumscribe their lives, but that the patriarchal  framework of society serves, in general, to keep husbands and wives alienated from one another, preventing the true intimacy that is the bedrock of a successful marriage. At the beginning  of each narrative, the women submit to their prescribed role, but struggle to find a sense of themselves within this limited social space. Toward the end of Ibsens play,  Torvald tells Nora that she is "first and foremost a wife and mother," to which Nora replies, "I dont believe that any longer" (Ibsen). The disparity in this situation is  that Nora would never have described Torvald as "first and foremost a husband and father. Nora comes to the realization that none of the men in her life, first her  father and then her husband, have ever seen her as an individual. Rather these men have regarded her as one might a doll, that is, they saw her more as  a beloved object than a human being, with her own wants and desires. This is particularly evident in the case of Torvald, who uses endearments and pet names as  part of his micro-manipulation of Noras behavior. For example, he jokingly calls her his "Miss Sweet Tooth" as he grills her about possibly eating a cookie while on her shopping  trip in town. The audience knows full well that this is true since Nora ate a macaroon as soon as she entered the house. But now Nora feels compelled  to assert her innocence. Torvald also reproaches Nora in this scene for locking herself away for three weeks before last Christmas to make decorations that were later destroyed by the