Beowulf Essay

Submitted By devtruth
Words: 795
Pages: 4

Gender Roles has played a major piece to our culture and in our history, literature breathes, and lives. There are many stereotypical expectations of gender both men and women. The female (in many cultures) has been considered the care taker; her duties are to cook, clean, bare and raise the children, ultimately being a stay at home mother. The male is the supposed supporter of and for his family; he is the man to “bring home the Chicken, Bacon, and things upon things to secure the home”. In the play “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen portrays some of these gender roles drastically- most definitely in act I.
The wife ‘Nora’ plays a role of the typical wife. The play starts off with Nora’s arrival; she comes home after shopping for Christmas surprises for her children. She looks to be cheerful as she invites her husband to see the gifts. Her life revolves around her family. However, money seems to be just as important as her family is. She nags her husband about being able to spend money on Christmas and taking out loans just so the kids get what they want. When Christine shows up to her house, instead of sympathizing with her over the loss of her husband, she condemns him for not having left Christine anything- no money, no children, no land.
Nora’s husband, Torvald, portrays the stereotypical “man” that works to get money for his family and she is exuberant about showing off the gifts to him in which he could afford. Since “A Doll’s House” was written in 1879, it depicts the distinct roles of females and males in that time period and in some other cultures even in those days. The husband was superior to the wife; he supported and provided for the family; she rose and cared for them all. In my opinion I see how gender roles were displayed then in relation to the 18th century compared to the 20th Century. Looking into modern times and analyzing the differences is a wonderful experience to see how women could react and change up their natural gender role by either promoting or demoting themselves. There is a ratio of women who love the thought of being a stay at home mother and others despise it. Some women degrade themselves when they do the nude videos, exploiting their bodies for money depreciating their worth. In many people’s opinions it’s not, but it truly depends upon that individual’s perception on seeing a woman work up the corporate ladder or sliding down the strippers’ pole, twerking to “Juicy J”. I would say if she earning her living let her live it, especially the way men could be as we see in this day and age. There is no sugar coating anything, we clearly see that men leave and abandon their women and children as the women has to be the protector and provider of the home, if left with one.
My conclusion will show how ungrateful and dumb some men can be, never really realizing that as a man, there should be no playing with “Doll’s Houses” or blatantly treating a grown woman as a