Women and Men in 19th century Europe - a discrepancy

By Sanya Garg

If one goes through the human history and society through the medieval ages, one thing is common that there had been an imbalance in the relative position of men and women. The nature of society was such that men enjoyed predominant position not only outside the house but also within the house, in all respects. He was considered more powerful, more intelligent, more wise to handle all worldly affairs, so he was the one who required to be educated and most fit to earn and lead the family and society. Women on the other hand were considered weak, docile, not very intelligent so not wise enough to be considered fit for education or to take decisions on their own or even earn on their own. It was presumed and accepted that women were to look after the house, the husband, children as, an efficient caretaker of the house, a loving wife for the husband and a dotting mother for the kids, not ignoring- her role as an obedient follower and implementer of her father or husband’s directions. What a man would decide about matters was, beyond questioning, and what a man would judge a woman’s (wife’s) work was to be doubted about. The power equation even in the nineteenth century was such that man had the final word in every respect.

In the play, “A Doll’s House”, Ibsen has shown this unequal position, of man and woman in the nineteenth century and highlighted their harmony and contradictions while covering human psychology in those times. Daily life in the nineteenth century was full of a number of domestic and social tasks. Most of the tasks were to be carried out by human hand only, therefore they were to be consistently done neatly, in an attractive manner and timely, in order to get involved in the society in a proper way. Those who were good at fulfilling these tasks in the socially accepted and desired way were considered better and accorded higher. This was the reason why women were to look after and focus only on these daily chores, and their position and aspirations as a person or individual were of not any significance. The moral code about women and men in that time also supported this imbalance by the view that men were to be the centre of family life with an honourable position. Men were not to show an emotional weakness. Women, in the nineteenth century society, were to get married ensure harmony and care for the family. They were to be sensitive and emotional apart from being responsible for children and housework such positioning and relationship man and woman were desired and considered morally correct by the society which we now call stereotype perceptions. 

In the play, “A Doll’s House”, Nora, the woman is the protagonist and is placed just like a doll who does what she is told by her husband, representing a man of nineteenth century. Her husband Torvald represents the nineteenth century man who frequently humiliates his wife with the words like “My little lark”, “squirrel” etc. Nora as a wife and a nineteenth century woman has not only to do all the household chores but also to please her husband. This type of wife-husband relationship leads Nora eventually to start questioning her position as a human. She sees herself just as a little, obedient doll who is for pleasure for her husband Torvald and nothing else. She is to do the routine chores, take care of the children and keep Torvald happy, that’s all. She doesn’t have a say in any childish matter often considered unwise and sometimes, she is supposed to be happy with her husband the way he is and the way he behaves. Torvald on the other hand expects Nora to be physically and traditionally perfect. His behaviour quite clearly shows a strong patriarchal characteristics of that time. This also gets reflected when Torvald compares himself to Nora’s father: “My little Nora, between your father and me there is all the difference in the world. Your father was not altogether unimpeachable. I am; I hope to remain so.” Torvald is loaded with self interest and egoism besides being a perfectionist husband. This characteristic gets reflected by his fault finding nature toward Nora’s chores and calling her names of pet animals. He on numerous occasions treats Nora as a child. He always infringes Nora’s ability to live in such a way that sometimes her self esteem seems to crash down.  Torvald like men of that time never allowed Nora to have any freedom even in domestic chores as women in that time in society were only (housewives) and did not have a real job which could bring them money and empower them financially. Nora did not have freedom even to decide about what to wear to the ball. Torvald’s comments to Nora show that she is not wise to understand anything because she was a woman. 

It could be finally said that women in the nineteenth century Europe were considered inferior, weak, less intelligent and wise who were to look after the brutally domestic chores including keeping their husbands happy and were to be dependent on men for everything.