“The Dead” and “A Doll’s House”: A Comparison
(Part 2)
The male characters of this play share many trivial and not so trivial events and idiosyncrasies. Ibsen’s Torvald, much like Joyce’s Gabriel does not eat sweets. The difference is that Gabriel’s distaste for sugars is his only, Torvald forces his preference upon his wife as well and gets angry when she does not follow suit. Both men do not think very highly of their spouses intellectual abilities. Mr. Conroy refers to his wife as unthinking and Torvald repeatedly demeans his wife, calling her a “featherbrain”, “scatterbrains” and “child”. Torvald’s treatment of his wife is much more condescending than Gabriel’s manner with Gretta.
In both of these tales, doll-like women surprise their husbands with acts of individuality. Nora’s expression of individualism is more about independence, while Gretta Conroy’s is a reminiscence of times past. Both marriages are at an impasse, and while the male characters feel a reemergence of their former passion, the female characters have different ideas. Nora proclaims that Torvald is at fault for keeping her in a “doll’s house,” and she wishes she could have made more of her life. Differing, Gretta reflects on a dead lover, a side that Gabriel had never known of his wife. On the topic of the dead love, Theoharis points out that Joyce actually seems to borrow this from another Ibsen piece, Hedda Gabler, in which a dead lover of the female character hangs over the relationship between her and her husband.
Each husband suffers an amount of humiliation during the stories, though Gabriel’s embarrassment is of his own creation. His ignorance of the reputation of The Daily Express is his own fault, and being confronted by the intellectual nationalist Miss Ivors was an eventuality. Torvald is embarrassed of his wife’s flat out disregard for his “authority” and place as husband. Nora’s rejection of the false image Torvald had created in his mind is the source of his chagrin. She was not the child he wanted her to be, she was an independent and playful woman.
Each man, recognizing a lull in the passion of their marriage finds himself overcome with passion for his wife. Gretta and Nora both dance at the respective Christmas parties, enticing their significant others into thoughts of bedroom passion. This romanticism is reinforced when both men express desire for the opportunity to demonstrate their love by saving their “helpless” wives from danger. Gabriel wants to “defend [Gretta] against something” and Torvald wishes “some danger” against Nora so that he has the chance to “risk body and soul to save her.”
It is therefore justifiable to say that Gabriel is at least in part taken from Ibsen’s Torvald. Many critics claim that he is created mostly from Joyce himself, and also from Joyce’s father, but the above relationships show that Torvald and Gabriel’s connection is more than happenstance. Both men share so many tiny details and actions, as well as idiosyncracies that it would be too coincidental that two authors, so closely link would create two characters resembling each other as nearly as Gabriel and Torvald.
The male characters of this play share many trivial and not so trivial events and idiosyncrasies. Ibsen’s Torvald, much like Joyce’s Gabriel does not eat sweets. The difference is that Gabriel’s distaste for sugars is his only, Torvald forces his preference upon his wife as well and gets angry when she does not follow suit. Both men do not think very highly of their spouses intellectual abilities. Mr. Conroy refers to his wife as unthinking and Torvald repeatedly demeans his wife, calling her a “featherbrain”, “scatterbrains” and “child”. Torvald’s treatment of his wife is much more condescending than Gabriel’s manner with Gretta.
In both of these tales, doll-like women surprise their husbands with acts of individuality. Nora’s expression of individualism is more about independence, while Gretta Conroy’s is a reminiscence of times past. Both marriages are at an impasse, and while the male characters feel a reemergence of their former passion, the female characters have different ideas. Nora proclaims that Torvald is at fault for keeping her in a “doll’s house,” and she wishes she could have made more of her life. Differing, Gretta reflects on a dead lover, a side that Gabriel had never known of his wife. On the topic of the dead love, Theoharis points out that Joyce actually seems to borrow this from another Ibsen piece, Hedda Gabler, in which a dead lover of the female character hangs over the relationship between her and her husband.
Each husband suffers an amount of humiliation during the stories, though Gabriel’s embarrassment is of his own creation. His ignorance of the reputation of The Daily Express is his own fault, and being confronted by the intellectual nationalist Miss Ivors was an eventuality. Torvald is embarrassed of his wife’s flat out disregard for his “authority” and place as husband. Nora’s rejection of the false image Torvald had created in his mind is the source of his chagrin. She was not the child he wanted her to be, she was an independent and playful woman.
Each man, recognizing a lull in the passion of their marriage finds himself overcome with passion for his wife. Gretta and Nora both dance at the respective Christmas parties, enticing their significant others into thoughts of bedroom passion. This romanticism is reinforced when both men express desire for the opportunity to demonstrate their love by saving their “helpless” wives from danger. Gabriel wants to “defend [Gretta] against something” and Torvald wishes “some danger” against Nora so that he has the chance to “risk body and soul to save her.”
It is therefore justifiable to say that Gabriel is at least in part taken from Ibsen’s Torvald. Many critics claim that he is created mostly from Joyce himself, and also from Joyce’s father, but the above relationships show that Torvald and Gabriel’s connection is more than happenstance. Both men share so many tiny details and actions, as well as idiosyncracies that it would be too coincidental that two authors, so closely link would create two characters resembling each other as nearly as Gabriel and Torvald.
posted by Brian at 5:30 p.m.
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