Novel Comparison: Female Protagonists

Novel Comparison: Female Protagonists

  • Submitted By: hoss74
  • Date Submitted: 02/19/2009 9:08 PM
  • Category: Science
  • Words: 347
  • Page: 2
  • Views: 532

“A Doll’s protagonists who went through different struggles, but both of there themes have something in common. The theme is played out in both books in opposite consequences for the protagonists. The power of honesty can either hurt or heal lives. The truth means the downfall of Nora and Torvald’s marriage in “A Doll’s House” where the truth and honesty brings Elizabeth and Darcy closer in “Pride and Prejudice”. Honesty in both woman and man protagonists are equally important in forgoing a good relationship between each other. In both stories, strong honesty shapes the two couples fates.

Both novels begin with the dishonesty of female protagonists “ A Dolls House” and “Pride and Prejudice” are set in similar time periods and feature one who of the wives lied to her husband for eight years and one who keeps denying to herself her feelings about a man. Nora, the female in the story “A Doll’s House” , seems happy about her marriage to Torvald. She does not seem to mind Torvald treating her like a doll. However, Ibsen foreshadows Nora’s dishonesty with the very first word on the first page of the play: “Hide the Christmas tree away ”, and Nora’s action is eating macaroons and lying to Torvald about it. She also acts like an spontaneous and dependent child to Torvald as if she is trying to hide something from him, which is her knowledge of her business details, that she acquired to take a loan in order to save Torvald’s life. Elizabeth, the female protagonist of Pride and Prejudice, is a young and very intelligent woman whose good value and independence are able to make her to overcome the bounds of social class and harsh society. However, her course of making rash and imprudent judgment often leads to her failure: she prejudged Darcy’s personality as the most “proud and conceited (11)” after only meeting him once. She hated everything about him based only on her prejudgment. As a result, she was not able to admit her inner affection...

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