5 pages essay

Misogyny in the Movies/Literature 1

Misogyny in the Movies/Literature

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Misogyny in the Movies/Literature !2

Misogyny in the Movies/Literature

Following the women protagonists in the “Revolutionary Road” and “A Doll’s House”,

April Wheeler and Nora Helmer in particular greatly explicates the effects on female

protagonists. These two great artistic works both happened in cultures of strict conformity,

intending both men and women must “play roles” in almost all aspects of their daily lives. In the

Revolutionary Road, April Wheeler is a passionate and independent-minded woman, but

inveterate unhappy. As a suburban lady of the house, she is generally perceived miserable with

her life. Her parents who were partygoers did not consent her and she was brought up by her

aunts in an affluent setting. April struggles and wants to fit in among neighbors who led a

lifetime of excitement.

Attending to the play, A Doll’s House, Nora Helmer portrayed as a young woman, has

three children and married to Torvald Helmer. At the outset of the play, she is carefree and

bubbly, excited about her husband’s promotion and Christmas. Despite the fact that she intrigued

by some maters in her household, she entirely remains skeptical about it. With this overview,

misogyny in these women portrayed within both context reflects the various effects that

channeled them undertake certain actions.

In both contexts, misogyny is well manifested, though as a feature that cannot be spoken

but whispered, mostly inclining at setting off certain circumstances. In the movie and the play,

misogyny relates to the contempt against women. They are viewed as objects to be disrespected

by showing lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense disdain. In the Revolutionary

Misogyny in the Movies/Literature !3

Road, April Wheeler is subjected to social exclusion, an indication that reflects misogyny,

particularly by the fact that she feels she does not fit into society. Upon meeting Frank, she

believes that Frank is an intelligent man who can present her to a world less excluding. She

abandons her dream of becoming a professional actress and marries him. She, however, does not

accord the idea of getting children till her late-twenties but is otherwise convinced by Frank not

to abort an inadvertent pregnancy.

Conforming to A Doll’s House, Nora Helmer is also subjected to a treacherous experience

of male privilege, an example to misogyny. At the beginning of the Play, Tovarld Helmer, her

husband views him as a spendthrift. She is largely downtrodden and scolded by her husband

throughout the entire play. She, however, does not seem really concerned about this and

jubilantly plays along with her husband’s pet names such as “Skylark,” “squirrel,” “pet” and

“Songbird,”. In general, her husband seems dominant to her, controlling her and making all sorts

of treatments, like “A Doll.”

Despite this, Torvald regularly treats her or refers to her as a child. A good example is an

inclination that her husband forbade her from eating on macaroons, something that she

frequently does anyway in spite of her promises to her husband of total obedience to him. The

imagery of both animal and child reflect Nora’s clearly carefree nature, innocent, and suggest

that Torvald does not perceive of her as a mature adult by the fact that she is a woman.

On another overview, male dominance is predominately expressed in the Revolutionary

Road where Frank had choices and options over April. From time to time, Frank went every day

to the city on the train with other men to their “boring jobs” while April stayed at home as a

Misogyny in the Movies/Literature !4

homemaker. Yet on the play, A Doll’s House, Nora is perceived to has no formal occupation

because she cannot be given the opportunity to be employed. She is constantly reminded by her

husband that women were allowed to work only if they were widowed or unmarried. In the play,

Nora is only permitted to do light work such as embroidery, crochet.

Contrary to these aspects of misogyny, we can perceive women hostility in Revolutionary

Road. After the opening night of the theatre, April and Frank had an awful fight while on their

way back home, a fight that managed to make their affair even less friendly. In an attempt to

regain his lost state of being a man and draw his attention away from his problems, Frank

committed adultery with a young and naïve woman, Maureen. The context in this overview

explicates women hostility by the fact that they are harshly treated as well as the idea of adultery

that Frank engaged. On the play, A Doll’s House, it can be ascertained that Nora was a total

subject to hostility. Upon Torvald opening his letterbox, he calls her a liar and a hypocrite to an

extent of complaining that Nora has ruined his happiness.

Torvald further declares that Nora will be discontinued upon raising their children. As a

result, the protagonist in the play does not easily submit to the status quo. When Torvald further

learns of the debt and eventually fails to forgive her till he is certain that his reputation is indeed

safe, Nora becomes fully aware that her apprehension of herself, her marriage, her husband and

the society at large was all wrong. She then gives consent that she cannot for more time be happy

in her marriage and life, and finally resolves at leaving both her husband and her home in search

of purpose, a sense of self and a chance be cognizant about the world.

Misogyny in the Movies/Literature !5

In addition to the misogynistic environment between the two contexts, the contemplate

against women can be further perceived through sexual objectification. In the Revolutionary

Road, sexual objectification is attended by the fact that April has two children and having the

third one on the way before her alternative to aborting, which led to undesirable consequences.

To April’s horror and despair, she found out that she was indeed pregnant with her third child and

this factor greatly ruined all her dreams and hopes. However, on the play, A Doll’s House, things

were not baffling. Nora had three children with her husband and during his lifetime, tendered and

cared for his family. He even had to intervene in her husband’s illness and secure a loan which

was bound by secrets. Though she had good intentions of keeping this a secret, the consequences

that followed his choices led him to an abrasive relationship.

By this means, i think that these protagonists, both caught by their cultures’ misogyny

trump over the cultural attitudes and got doomed by it respectively. Attending to the

Revolutionary Road, the main protagonist, April Wheeler was doomed by the culture’s

misogyny. Following his crumpled dream of moving to Europe, where she could ideally change

her status quo by eventually resorting to working, sparing Frank all the time he needed to figure

out what he could do.

The hurt was intense and April crashed. Similarly, to Frank, April she slept with her old

admirer, Shep Campbell, as an attempt to get through her sorrow. April eventually died in a

hospital due to an unsuccessful attempt of self-abortion. Frank then learned that April really

never loved him, from the last note she left before dying. Frank would never be in a position to

recover from this, compelling him to abandon his own children who lived with his elder brother.

Misogyny in the Movies/Literature !6

On the other hand, Nora managed to trump over the culture’s misogyny in the play A

Doll’s House. As perceived through the paper, upon her husband opening the letterbox, he throws

insults to Nora, to whom she perceives this as unpleasantly stern. Torvald complains that Nora

has ruined his life after calling her a liar and a hypocrite, eventually declaring that she will not be

in apposition to raise their children.

However, at a subsequent time upon Helene bringing him another letter, Torvald

discovers that Krogstad, who faced dismissal has delivered Nora’s contract which typically

contains the forged signature. Torvald, who is extremely joyful attempts to dismiss his insults,

but the harsh words had triggered Nora’s senses. She then declares to her husband that in spite of

their 8 years of marriage, both of them do not quite understand each other. Nora asserts, that

Torvald has over time taken her as a “doll” to be admired and played with. She leaves Torvald,

declaring that she ought to “make sense of [her]self and everything around her”.

Indeed, the misogyny in these women that are portrayed within both context reflects the

various effects that channeled them undertake certain actions. The interiorized impacts of

misogyny on women in both cultures is largely reflected issues with the outcome of the event as

relative to the individuals. With the content of female objectification that is ingrained deeply in

the minds of women during their shaping period, the pressure of maintaining a pleasing

appearance to men is often ineluctable (Shaw, 2017).

Misogyny in the Movies/Literature !7

References

Yates, R. (2010). Revolutionary Road.

Garland, P., Hampton, C., Elkins, H., Bloom, C., Hopkins, A., Richardson, R., Elliott,

D., ... Ibsen, H. (2013). A doll's house. United States: Sheba Blake Publishing.

Shaw, D. (2017). Movies with meaning: Existentialism through film.

Ibsen, H., In Rem, T., Dawkin, D., & Skuggevik, E. (2016). A doll's house and other

plays.