Self -expression is about being able to voice out what you think, feel and mean in any form of activity. However, women that existed in the early centuries often have to follow the constrictive protocols prescribed by their patriarchal societies, thus depriving them many opportunities of self expression. This essay explores the different unique ways in which the female characters in Top Girls and A Doll's House challenge these protocols and how they respond to the patriarchal societies in which they live in. An analysis of the two play excerpts will be focused, followed by a comparison of the similarities and differences between both excerpts.
The first excerpt is taken from Act I of Top Girls, where Joan, Marlene, Nijo, Isabella and Gret are sharing their experiences about motherhood as well as their sufferings and sacrifices made for their success in a patriarchal society.
Traditionally, women are expected to play the role of a loving and devoted mother in little-valued domestic work like taking care of their children.
Title page in the manuscript of A Doll's House, pl...
English: Vera Komissarzhevskaya as Nora in Ibsen's...
Joan LeslieHowever, these successful female characters break the stereotypical roles of female's attitude towards motherhood. They are bound together by their indifference towards their children. This can be seen by Joan's impassive reply, "Oh yes, I think so, yes." towards a question regarding her own child's death, Nijo's unemotional statement about her baby, "But oddly enough I felt nothing for him." and Gret's monosyllabic reply "Ten." These women do not see motherhood as a benchmark of their success nor as an outlet of self expression. Instead, their success is measured by the extent of satisfaction in doing activities that interest them and allows them to express themselves.
In the excerpt, the success of both Joan and Isabella are depicted. Both have found their own outlet of self -expression. Joan found hers in...