Male Dominance in Victorian and Shakespearean Society
Male Dominance in Victorian and Shakespearean Society
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper illustrates the reality of men’s dominance over women’s lives in Victorian Society. The husband, John, treats his wife, the unnamed narrator, as a petty and trivial person and stresses his superiority over her. John belittles his wife by calling her such names as “little girl” and “blessed little goose”. At first these names for his wife do not seem important, but as the story continues it reveals John’s love for his wife is more paternal love than anything else. Men in Victorian society are represented as the dominant sex, and women portray the weaker sex. The narrator feels helpless as a woman because of her role as an entrapped woman in Victorian Society. She becomes obsessed with the wallpaper in her room and does not want anyone to tamper with the wallpaper; the same way she does not want John to tamper with her inner-self. Doing this she produces a guard to subliminally protect herself from the male superiority presented by John. She slowly develops a sense of independence for herself. The narrator starts to capitalize the word “me” which emphasizes her newfound self-awareness. This society’s expectations finally defeats the narrator by eventually drives her insane. The fact that she goes insane symbolizes the weakening effects on women due to a male dominated society.
Like The Yellow Wallpaper, Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House depicts a husband-wife relation during the Victorian Era. The husband, Torvald, controls the marriage with a sense of parental love and treats his wife, Nora, like a child. He does not allow her to eat macaroons because he says they will rot her teeth. Doing this reveals his feelings of dominance in the relationship and his parental love. Similar to The Yellow Wallpaper, Torvald belittles Nora and calls her “girl” and “silly girl” conveying his feelings of superiority toward Nora. Torvald believes his purpose and man’s purpose is to protect and guide his wife. Influenced by Victorian Society, Torvald feels that Nora, as a woman, is weak and helpless by nature and that she should not have an equal role in their marriage. Women of this time are simply transferred from their fathers arms to their husbands, without any change in the affection brought toward them. Torvald forces Nora to dance with him, so his society will hold him in high prestige. Nora is...