Exploring Feminism in Ibsen's A Doll's House and Glaspell's Trifles

Marital Masquerades:

Looking beyond Feminism in A Doll’s House and Trifles

by Molly Miller

April 3 2009

To the modern reader, A Doll’s House and Trifles are filled with feminist ideas, but to their authors and the readers of the early 1900s, both plays took a look at a more universal social problem. Henrik Ibsen wrote A Doll’s House in 1879, concentrating on the tendency for those in social relationships to cover up problems. Ibsen wrote about a family trapped within their own marital masquerade. Likewise, in 1916, Susan Glaspell wrote Trifles, not to claim women’s superiority over men, but to identify the common pretense of a perfect marriage that was all too common during that time. Both Trifles and A Doll’s House examine the fragile necessity of reputation and appearances within nineteenth century marriages.

Ibsen’s world—Norway, late 1800s—was one untouched by the Feminist movement, which started in the United States in 1848 (Morash 107) and didn’t reach Norway until 1884 (Evans 82). The reaction to the Feminist movement in Norway was not as outrageous as in America because women of Norway had a considerable amount of freedom already. Women were already strong figures within Norwegian myths and legends and, by the 1870s they already had many economic rights including “admittance to the teaching position (1869), legal majority for unmarried women (1863), equal inheritance rights (1854), and occupational freedom (1866)” (Evans 82). This made Feminism somewhat of a moot point and, although marriage was more socially acceptable than living alone, there were other problems with the ideal of marriage larger than the suppression of women for Ibsen to write about.

Unlike Norway, the United States of America reacted with unbelievable force to the feminist movement. Yet, until about 1914, feminism flew under the public radar, concerning itself with individual relationships and families (Delap 34). It wasn’t just the oppression that was kept out of the public eye, however, Americans of the early 1900s liked to keep their all of their relationship problems private. Many married couples would do anything to keep their lives free from scandal, including lying to their neighbors and friends to keep up appearances. This was done to protect the married couple from being ostracized if ever their secrets turned into scandal. It was this aspect of marriage that inspired Glaspell to write Trifles, leaving feminism to be explored in further detail by those more interested in the subject.

A Doll’s House is filled with little clues revealing the true nature of the marriage between Torvald and Nora Helmer. All of these clues are presented within the seemingly harmless dialogue. Torvald calls Nora his “squirrel” and “little lark” in a seemingly affectionate manner, yet the connotations attached to these animals are somewhat derogatory (1258). Torvald might as well be praising Nora for her ability to scamper or flit about in a carefree, cute way. When people see squirrels or larks, they think of nice walks in the park, where everything in nature is just perfect and quaint. Likewise, Torvald is hinting that their marriage should appear pleasant and pretty as a picture. While Torvald hints at what the marriage should be, Nora offers clues about the troubles lurking within their actual marriage. She outwardly asks Torvald for money at the beginning of the play (1259); almost openly admitting that she is trying to conduct financial affairs without him. However, because they are more concerned with how their marriage looks to the public, and less focused on each other, neither Torvald nor Nora actually understands the implications of their conversations.

The characters in Trifles aren’t much better at understanding each other. Mr. and Mrs. Wright obviously had some strains on their marriage, caused by Mrs. Wright’s longing for a companion and Mr. Wright’s longing for silence. Because they did not communicate with each other, they ended up in a sorry state- with Mr. Wright dead and Mrs. Wright blamed for the murder. Yet Mrs. Wright seemed innocent enough, keeping up the appearance of a good wife. She was in her rocker when she was found right after the murder, “rockin’ back and forth. She had her apron in her hand and was kind of—pleating it” (Glaspell 1049). Even in jail, Mrs. Wright wanted to keep the appearance of a good wife, by requesting that Mrs. Peters bring her an apron, a symbol of her place as a wife (1052). Not only were Mr. and Mrs. Wright concerned with the appearance of their marriage, the friends of Mrs. Wright did all they could to keep a scandal from happening. They hide the truth, which might even save Mrs. Wright, in order to keep the troubles of their marriage a secret. They wanted to uphold the reputation of their friend’s marriage and the ideals of marriage in general.

Despite modern interpretations, Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Glaspell’s Trifles are not feminist works; instead they discuss the social importance of keeping marriage idealized. The plays do not focus exclusively on women and their oppression within marriage, but how shallow and trite a marriage is when the only thing holding it together is its reputation. Ibsen shows the desperation of keeping the image perfect through Torvald, who says “The thing has to be hushed up at any cost. And as for you and me, it’s got to seem like everything between us is just as it was—to the outside world, that is… From now on happiness doesn’t matter; all that matters is saving the bits and pieces, the appearance” (1300). In an instant the picture perfect appearance can be shattered, leaving the lie the couple lived exposed. This was the main reason Ibsen and Glaspell wrote their plays: to show how trivial and fleeting a reputation can be, urging readers to examine their marriages before it is too late.

Works Cited

Delap, Lucy. The Feminist avant-garde. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Evans, Richard J. The Feminists. Taylor & Francis, 1977.

Glaspell, Susan. Trifles. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Boston:

Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2009.

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Boston:

Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2009.

Morash, Merry. “The Feminist Movement.” Understanding Gender, Crime, and Justice.

SAGE, 2005.