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Introduction
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House follows the life of Norah and her attempts to guard the secret about a debt that she took to save the life of her husband, Torvald. On the other hand, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” follows the story of a narrator suffering from post-partum depression and is under the care of her extremely practical husband, John. Both stories have direct similarities in their thematic elements and styles of narration. In particular, both stories share ideas on marriage, patriarchy, infantilization of women, and employ symbolism in their titles.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Doll’s House”
The theme of marriage is portrayed in “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Doll’s House”. At the beginning of the play, Nora and Torvald’s marriage is depicted as a happy union. The marriage is filled with affection as Torvald teases his wife using sweet nicknames, often calling her “little squirrel” (Ibsen 6). As the play progresses, their marriage becomes strained. Torvald chastises her for spending a lot on Christmas gifts to the point of calling her reckless. Marriage in “A Doll’s House” is built on circumstances. Nora cherishes her husband upon learning of his promotion at the Bank and shares the news with Mrs. Linde. When Torvald was broke, he depended on his wife and considered her wise to have money during his recovery in Italy. However, upon learning the secret, Torvald is angry even though she took the loan to help him. He even declares their marriage to be over and only good as a fragment for keeping up appearances (Haque 126). On the other hand, Mrs. Linde’s marriage to her former husband was due to materialism and she only returned to marry Krogstad because she seeks to raise her social status from a widow to a wife.
The marriage between the narrator and John is void of emotion in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The lack of sincere love and affection reveals how society perceives marriage in light fashion (Haque 125). Gilman characterizes John and the narrator as husband and wife. While the two live in the colonial mansion, their marriage appears aloof. The colonial mansion symbolizes how the two characters have been trapped in a marriage with significant emotional and physical distance (Sahoo 189). The narrator stays secluded in her room left to ponder on different issues while John focuses on his physician duties. The marriage becomes a source of depression for both characters. She hates that she is a burden to her husband claiming that “I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already” (Gilman 648). On the other hand, John portrays himself as a loving husband but does not take into account her needs (Sahoo 189). He regularly downplays her concerns and takes care of her on his own terms.
A major similarity between “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Doll’s House” is the idea of infantilization of women, where adults are treated as children for prolonged periods of time. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, for example, John uses his practicality to treat his wife’s illness. While she can do most things on her own, John takes on the mantle of a father figure and decides everything for his wife, including the tiniest of details. For instance, the wife notes that John “is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction” (Gilman 648). She barely resists the terms set forth by her husband as she has internalized the infantilization process undertaken by her husband (Wolter 198). Similarly, in “A Doll’s House”, infantilization is evident in Torvald’s treatment of his wife, Nora. Apart from controlling her money and giving her allowances like a father, Torvald calls her pet names such as “little squirrel” and he even confesses to her that she is “both wife and child to him” (Ibsen 195). In both cases, the wives are not allowed to make small decisions without the interference or consultation of their husbands in ways that infantilize them.
In addition to infantilization, both “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Doll’s House” depict the patriarchal nature of society. In fact, infantilization is a direct product of the patriarchal society. In “A Doll’s House”, for example, Nora’s acceptance of a subordinate position represents how women are acclimatized to a marginalized status whereas men take on more dominant roles (Hewa 52). The debt she took in secret becomes the source of her trouble not only with her father, but her husband and friend, Krogstad. Earning money and doing breadwinning duties are reserved for men as reflected in Nora’s confession when she tells Mrs. Linde that the process of her doing copywriting work to pay her debt was tiring but “it was like being a man” (Ibsen 41). In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, patriarchy is revealed through men treating women as lesser persons needing their guidance and protection (Raquf 157). The narrator believes that “congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good” but she is “absolutely forbidden to work” by both her husband and brother (Gilman 648). In both instances, the stories reflect how patriarchal powers enable men to control women in areas of finances, health, and other home affairs.
Alongside the question of patriarchy, both “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Doll’s House” discuss the concept of miscommunication which is in the form of secrets or stifled self-expression. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, for example, the narrator believes that both her husband and brother do not want to listen to her about her needs. They disregard her demands on the basis on her mental illness. According to her, she prefers to do some writing so that she gets better but John does not allow it. She is desperate for John to understand her predicament and she confesses that “John does not know how much I really suffer” (Gilman 649). However, John barely pays attention to his wife to understand what would make her better. In “A Doll’s House”, miscommunication comes in the form of secrecy and deceit. While Nora appears dutiful and obedient to her husband at the beginning, it is quickly revealed that she is keeping a secret from him. She did not only forge her father’s signature to get a loan from Krogstad, she has been secretly taking jobs to raise money and pay the debt without her husband’s knowledge. When Mrs. Linder learns of this secret, she advocates for honesty as she believes it would do away with miscommunication, stating that truthfulness is the only way a relationship of mutual dependence could be built (Kumari and Sunalini 838). However, when Torvald eventually finds out about the secret, he seems to care only about her lies rather than her intentions of acquiring the loan to help him recover from illness. Unsurprisingly, both instances of miscommunication come from women having their self-expression rights being under threat. Both wives knew that their opinions would either be disregarded or used against them by their male counterparts.
Apart from sharing thematic elements, both “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Doll’s House” use symbolism in their respective titles. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator is trapped in a room similar to the wallpaper which makes her obsessed with it as she has nothing else to do. At first, she thinks of it as a “ripped, soiled, and an “unclean” item, but it later on changes with its sub-patterns representing a ghostly woman trying to desperately overcome the main pattern (Gilman 649). Having been imprisoned for too long in the room, she starts decoding the wallpaper and identifies herself within the woman in the wallpaper (Rragami 110). In “A Doll’s House”, the title is a symbolic representation of Nora’s life. Nora is like a doll whose house is constantly under interference and is being played with by others who have power over her, including her friend Mrs. Linde, Torvald, and Krogstad. In both stories, there is evidence that women are in some form of entrapment either through secrecy or because of illness. In each case, Ibsen and Gilman use the titles of their stories to convey symbolism.
Conclusion
In conclusion, “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Doll’s House” share different plots but have largely similar elements. Both authors employed similar ideas on the issues such as marriage, patriarchy, and infantilization of women. They employ similar writing styles with both Ibsen and Gilman going for symbolic titles in their stories. Despite creative differences, audiences can use both works to reflect on the affairs that happened in society at the time of writing. Simultaneously, however, determining their respective differences would be another interesting way of learning.
Works Cited
Gilman, Charlotte P. “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Other Stories. Courier Corporation, 1997.
Haque, Salma. “Strained Marriage Relationships in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers: A Critical Analysis.” Smart Moves Journal IJELLH, vol. 8, no. 1, 2020, pp. 124-141.
Hewa, S. G. “Tragedy of womanhood within patriarchy: An analysis of gender and sexualities in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.” KDU Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, vol. 3, no. 2, 2021, pp. 48-55.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House. Luarna Ediciones, 2008.
Kumari, Nirmala, and K. K. Sunalini. “Women Perspective in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 8, no. 4, 2017, pp. 835-840.
Raquf, Chalak. “Patriarchy’s Control on the Narrator in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper.” Research Journal of English Language and Literature, vol. 2, no. 2, 2014, pp. 157-162.
Rragami, Anejda. “An Analysis of the Image of The Woman In “The Revolt Of The Mother” And “The Yellow Wallpaper”.” European Journal of Literature, Language and Linguistics Studies, vol. 1, no. 2, 2017, pp. 105-115.
Sahoo, Anwesha. “Interpreting ‘madwomen’: A Study of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Pratibha Ray’s “The Eyes”.” Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, vol. 44, no. 1, 2021, pp. 187-194.
Wolter, Jürgen. “”The Yellow Wall-Paper”: The Ambivalence of Changing Discourses.” Amerikastudien / American Studies, vol. 54, no. 2, 2009, pp. 195-210.
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