Dramatists' Criticism of Society

P laywrights criticize society by having characters who represent some social class or ideological position and by using symbolism as well as direct statement to make the audience see something they believe to be wrong. The characters are shaped by the society in which they live and then behave in certain ways because of the conflict that develops between their psychology and their personality on the one hand and the demands and strictures of the society in which they live on the other. Both Nora in A Doll's House and Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman are products of their respective cultures. They can also be seen as victims of those cultures in that their lives have been determined and controlled to a degree by those cultures, cultures which contribute to their aspirations, limitations, and attitudes.

Henrik Ibsen is thought of as a social realist who embodied clear and direct criticisms of his society in his plays, and perhaps the most famous such critique reverberated through the theater with A Doll's House, cited today as a feminist play which prepared for the emancipation of women from the rigid social roles they once had. A number of influences helped shape Ibsen's point of view and his technique for presenting that point of view, including the major political events of his time, events which illuminated the conflict ridden nature of Norwegian class-society. In some plays, Ibsen creates businessmen who seem to be pillars of society but who are in reality denyin

to shift her thinking is the eagerness with which he would embrace having her be the sacrifice if he thought it would do any good. She sees that she is only a decoration in his life and only serves his interests so long as she fulfills his needs. She is not seen as a human being with needs of her own. Even when she does something wrong, society blames her husband--Nora is not considered intelligent enough, autonomous enough, or moral enough to be blamed herself. She had always accepted the "protection" of her husband as part of this package, but now she begins to see the need to be fully responsible, to escape from being a victim by accepting responsibility for her own actions and by escaping from the gilded cage into which she and all other women of her time have allowed themselves to be placed. Ibsen's approach is social realism, and the play takes place in the home of Nora and Torvald, with a realistic depiction of their lives. The theater of Arthur Miller, by contrast, is expressionistic, with the suggestion of a house, with past and present mixed, with the inner lives of characters expressed more openly than would be possible for Ibsen. Miller is still offering a realistic portrait of Willy Loman and his family, but

Category: Literature - D