Role of Females in Plays by Male Playwrights
Male Dramatists were often deeply ambivalent towards women and the versions of womanhood they created for the theatre are corresponding ambiguous. Critically examine ‘versions of womanhood’ in 2 plays in the light of this comment. August Strindberg and Henrik Ibsen were both great playwrights of the 19th century, and both played a large role in the evolution of modern day naturalism/ realism. The plays I will be discussing are Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, and Strindberg’s Miss Julie. I have chosen to compare these to plays because although they were written during the same period, and in the a similar part of the world, the playwrights themselves had very differing attitudes on the issue of gender and the roles of women in society, so much so that it is believed that the playwrights saw each other as rivals. The plays I have chosen have many similarities and differences, and although both plays end with the suicide of the leading character, the circumstances by which they occur are very different. ... I will be looking at how these words fit into the ‘versions of womanhood’ both Ibsen and Strindberg have created in my chosen plays. In order to take these plays in their full context, it is important to examine the lives of the playwrights and see just how much of their own thoughts, beliefs and feelings are reflected in their plays. ... Julie inherits her mothers hatred of men, attempting to train her fiancé with a riding whip and fantasizing about the annihilation of the male sex. To me, Miss Julie seems to be a true ‘Battle of the sexes’ play, in which the male inevitably wins. ... The character of Julie is what Strindberg would describe as a ‘half-woman’- that is, she does not know her place in society and tries to dominate a male. ... She has the same desires and feelings as a male would in the same position, but I feel that Strindberg has created an atmosphere that after the incident between them, Miss Julie has committed a crime, but Jean had done nothing wrong, particularly when Miss Julie ask for Jean’s permission to kill herself. ... Strindberg reasoning behind the suicide of Miss Julie was probably to show the irrationality and hysterical nature of females, but by killing herself, Julie is following the patriarchal system of Victorian society, which surly Strindberg would see as proper and good. ... The reason, it seems, for Hedda’s apparent rudeness is the fact that she strives against the constraints of the narrow role society allows her (as we see in Strindberg’s Miss Julie) and wishes to satisfy her ambitious intellect. ... " Hedda is reminded not only of her feminine role of mother and nurturer here, but also as wife and "appendage" to Tesman. ... Along with her appearance of indifference is a trait that is usually common to men, another gender role reversal Hedda displays a financial awareness, which her husband, Jorgen does not posses. ... This is a role that is usually reserved for men. ... It seems that both Julie and Hedda were powerful women at the beginning of the play, but had their power taken from them by the male characters who challenged them. ... I think that the theme of suicide in both plays is very ambiguous, and the heroines can be seen as both weak and strong, depending on the reader’s personal view.