Context Flashcards
Political: Norway
Norway was freed from Danish control in 1814
The subsequent treaty of Kiel presented Norway to Sweden. A constitution was passed giving Norway devolved power and Norwegians began to discover their own cultural identity. Therefore, issues involving freedom, both political and personal, were important in the minds of Norwegians.
Feminist?
Ibsen always denied that he believed in women’s rights, stating he believed in human rights. That ADH is about personal freedom and independence.
A Doll’s House
Ibsen based the play on the true story of a woman called Laura Kieler, who like Nora, illegally borrowed a sum of money to save her husband’s life. When Laura’s fraud was discovered, she had her children taken away from her and was admitted to a mental asylum.
Women
A woman’s place was in the home- domesticity and motherhood were considered, by society, to be sufficient for emotional fulfilment.
Motherhood was seen as affirmation of their identity.
Marriage signified a woman’s respectability and maturity- entered into the world of womanly virtue and female fulfilment.
For a woman not to be a mother meant she was liable to be named inadequate, a failure or abnormal in some way.
Women were believed to belong to the domestic sphere.
Women continued….
Victorian women became property to their husbands, giving them rights to what their body produced: children, sex and domestic labour. Marriage abrogated a woman's right to consent to sexual intercourse. Many Victorian women endured their husband's control and cruelty- sexual violence, emotional and physical abuse and economic deprivation. The 'Angel in the House' was a term coined by Coventry Patmore. Her poem included lines such as 'man must be pleased' presented the ideals of a middle- class Victorian woman- passive, powerless, passive, charming
Women….
Property restrictions made it difficult or impossible for a woman to leave a failed marriage. Women were not allowed to open bank accounts, enter into agreements or debt without their husband’s permission.
Women… in Rossetti i.e. UK
Legal protection against domestic violence was granted in 1853 with the ‘Act for the better prevention and punishment of aggravated assaults upon women and children’. This did not outright ban violence by the man, it imposed legal limits on the amount of force permitted.
Husbands participated in affairs with other women yet wives had to endure this infidelity. They had no rights to divorce on these grounds and divorce was considered a social taboo.
It was acceptable for men to have multiple sexual partners yet for a woman they were seen as fallen or ruined.
women… Rossetti
amendment to married women’s property act in 1882 recognised that women did not belong to their husband and were independent, separate people. Gave women the right to own and control a property in their own right. Before, property automatically became property of husbands. Same rights as unmarried women.
Contagious diseases act: women suspected of being unclean were subjected to an involuntary genital examination often by an untrained male police officer. Embarrassing and humiliating. Refusal or diagnosis meant confinement in prison or hospital.
