COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF HENRIK IBSEN’S A DOLL’S HOUSE AND KATE CHOPIN’S THE STORY OF AN HOUR: PORTRAYAL, FEMALE AGENCY, AND RATIONALE VERSUS EMOTION
Abstract
In the middle of the ongoing trials and tribulations of the patriarchal society, the first wave of the feminism movement started to rise in the 1850s. The first-wave feminism rose to fight for statutory reformation in women’s political power. Written around the time of the first-wave feminism, the drama A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen (1879) and the short story The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin (1894) have the same theme of women’s captivity in a patriarchal household and their attempts to liberate themselves from the oppression. This study aims to analyze A Doll’s House and The Story of an Hour to observe how the authors developed the theme of patriarchal households in the first-wave feminism era. The study was conducted using the close reading method in a comparative approach. The study concludes that the two works differ in (1) the portrayal of the patriarchal households; (2) the agency of the main characters to escape from the oppressive household; and (3) the focus on rationale versus emotion in the character’s decision-making process. The findings of this study will provide insights into how authors can utilize different approaches in writing about patriarchal household oppression and female agency.References
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