Women?
Woman. Today a modern dictionary would define this word as the female counterpart of the human species; a random person on the street may say something like, female person or the opposite sex of a man. However, a century ago the meaning was quite different. Most definitions or opinions would contain the words, simple minded beauty or servant to man, none of which clearly depict a human being. These definitions could be pieced together to come up with some kind of creature, owned by man, that should be beautiful and have a mind that will not challenge its master. The fate of this creature is portrayed by Sylvia Plaths phenomenal poem, Daddy. She expresses how women are locked up and controlled by their master or any related male figure. However more importantly, she shows the woman striving to break free. This concept sheds light on the main idea expressed in two stories of rebellions, A Dolls House and The Thirteenth Night.
In Daddy, Plath narrates about a woman tied down to her father for ten years; however, even after his death she is still tied down for seven more years by a model of her father, her husband. This tragic live is also shared by Nora Helmer, the main character from Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House. Its is clear that Nora feels Plaths intent in Daddy, when she says, I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald. Thats how Ive survived. You wanted it like that. You and Papa have done me a great wrong. Its because of you Ive made nothing of my life (Ibsen). Nora view is completely understandable, yet outrageous according to the setting of the play. Ibsen wrote A Dolls House in 1879, during the European Victorian Era. During that time it was unacceptable for a woman to speak such words. An upper middle class womens job, like Nora was to simply to control the family and social aspects of their household. However, their main job, which overrules all others, was the duty to obey and follow the lead male in their life (Thomas). In Noras case it is not difficult to see everything she does to keep Torvald happy. She admits to this when she says, Free. To be free, absolutely free. To spend time playing with the children. To have a clean, beautiful house, the way Torvald likes it (Ibsen). At the beginning of the play, Nora believes that Torvalds love for her is so great, but as she realizes that it is not, she also comes to see that she was not completely satisfied with him either. This epiphany aids Nora in her decision to leave Torvald and finally fly free from male dominance. This resolution can be assumed to be the same for the narrator of Daddy, when she concludes, Im through (Plath).
The poem Daddy is a little too radical to be compared with Higuchi Ichiyos The Thirteenth Night. In this story, Oseki, the main character expressed her wish to leave her husband. Ichiyo wrote this story in 1895 and its setting was Japan. Japanese society at the time was completely male dominated. Pretty much like the rest of the world, a womens place was a home taking care of household matters. However besides that, Japan has its own sort of hierarchical respect in society. Elders and all males were always to be respected (Friedman). Therefore even though Osekis conclusion at the end of this story is not as harsh as Noras it was just as radical to the audience it was intended for. Oseki expresses her anger while still showing the respect that should always be given. For example she says, This alone would suffice to make me angry but he is my husband so I hold my temper (Ichiyo). Oseki also bypasses so many faults of her husband to show that no matter what she must still act like she respects him. This clearly evident when she says, Even if he were making a fool of himself over some geisha, or keeping a mistress, I would control my jealousy. I hear rumors from the maids, but thats the way men are. When a man works as hard a Isamu, youll have to expect hell want to play sometimes (Ichiyo). It is very difficult for most modern people to understand how Oseki can be so forgiving because they do not realize that it is part of her duty as a Japanese wife. The general idea of male dominance backing this story is the same as in Daddy, however it has an added complication with the idea of respect in a specific culture.
The status and role of the standard woman has changed evolutionarily over the last couple centuries. Although, the more significant change was women and mens shift of opinions due to this transformation of women. Women appreciated their newly received rights and continued to push for more as expected. On the other hand, the support of many revolutionary men was not so expected. For example of the two stories, A Dolls House is more radical than The Thirteenth Night, because of its conclusion, which is surprising because a man wrote it. However it is understandable because if a woman had written the play in the 1800s, it could have resulted in a much greater uproar. Some would consider The Thirteenth Night biased and over exaggerated in one sense because a woman wrote it. Yet it seems much more genuine because of the first hand experiences of sexist oppression that Ichiyo must have felt in her society. The gender of the author does not really change the intent of the story, but more so they way it is received because women authors at that time were not taken seriously. Most of the stories written by women in the 1800s contained dominating female characters or a woman becoming independent. This was a way for those authors to express the world that they believed should exist.
Real rebellions such as the ones depicted in these stories were not common in the nineteenth century. Most women would not dare to go against their fathers or husbands. They knew what their role was and they constantly obeyed like a pet. However there were some writers that took the bold step and reached out to start a revolution for womens rights. They efforts changed the way people looked at women. Over the years women became humans from creatures and equal citizens from possessions of men.
Works Citied
Ibsen, Henrik. A Dolls House. Literature and the Language Art: World Literature.
Ed. Skiba, Laurie. St. Paul, MN:EMC Paraign Publishing, 2001. 111-164
Ichiyo, Higuchi. The Thirteenth Night. I the Shade of Spring Leaves: The Life and Writings of
Higuchi Ichiyo, A Women of Letters in Meiji Japan. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 1981. 241-253.
Thomas, Pauline Weston. A Woman's Place in19thCentury Victorian History. Fashion-Era.
2010 <http://www.fashion-era.com/a_womans_place.htm#A Woman's Place Is In The Home>
Friedman, Seth. Women in Japanese Society: Their Changing Roles. Gol. December 1992
<http://www2.gol.com/users/friedman/writings/p1.html>
Plath, Sylvia. Daddy. Internal. October 12, 1962 <http://www.internal.org/Sylvia_Plath/Daddy>
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