Many authors write stories with similarities by coincidence, but sometimes they write similar stories on purpose. Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler are an example of an author writing similar stories on purpose, and one possible reason Ibsen wrote similarities into these plays was to draw attention to women’s rights. A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler are similar in many ways; in both stories there is a lead female character that is manipulative, escapes a problem they created, and have husbands that take their wives for granted. One similarity is both main characters are manipulative. In A Doll’s House, Nora tries to manipulate Torvald, her husband, into taking the blame of her crime. Nora had forged the signature of her father…show more content… In A Doll’s House, Nora literally leaves her family to live out her life and discover the world for herself. This literal exit is seen in the scene, “As I am now, I am no wife for you … Perhaps … if you have your doll taken away” (Ibsen 85). Nora decides that she can no longer be the wife to someone that refuses to be her equal and must leave. Nora feels she must leave because she has lost all connection she had with Torvald and cannot live with a stranger. The reason Nora lost this connection is because she could no longer manipulate Torvald. The main reason Nora liked Torvald is she could manipulate him. Without this power, Nora no longer wanted to be with Torvald. This scenario also plays out in Hedda Gabler when Hedda kills herself in order to escape the pain of being ignored by Jorgen. Hedda had attempted to draw attention to herself but ended up diverting wanted attention away from herself and gaining the attention of Mr. Brack. With this turn of events, Hedda responds to Mr. Brack, “Yes, you’re looking forward to that, aren’t you, Mr. Brack? Yourself as the only cock in the yard. …” (Ibsen 264) then promptly shoots herself in the head. This dramatic escape from the situation that she created is in desperation. Hedda had created an environment so contrary to that which she had wanted that she felt that her only option was suicide. Hedda could not stand being ignored by her husband that provided no entertainment, and could not stand being under the control of Mr. Brack. Hedda wanted control and attention but only gained unwanted attention resulting in suicide being her only perceived option. Ibsen made this similarity to bring emphasis to the problem of women’s rights; if both plays involve women creating problems that they then have to escape by themselves, the reader may then start to think of ways that the other (male) characters could have
