women in power

The two predominant female characters of power in "A Dolls House" are Christine Linde and Nora Helmer, Christine shows direct power through her independence and ability to stand on her own two feet, whereas Nora does not reveal her power . Nora's power comes from her manipulative qualities, she is able to get her way by deceiving her husband , she puts on the illusion of helplessness and innocence.Nora is able to influence big decisions in the household by manipulating Torvald for example she convinced Torvald to hire Christine.Both these characters develop throughout the text, at first Christine may seem like a more empowered woman than Nora but Christine settles down with Krogstad because she needs stability. Nora realises that she must educate herself and must not be dependant on her husband. In the last scene she is able to change the course of the whole story with little effort, this shows that Nora truly has power. Women at the time of this text had very little control and power, the role of women at the time was to be the homemaker. This may have been because women were not often well educated, this lack of education would make them less capable of powerful responsibilities. This ideal became deeply embedded in society causing the men in the household to overpower the women. This is evident in Torvalds mentality throughout the text, in the end he wasn't able to accept the fact that Nora took control of a difficult situation and was able to take matters into her own hands. Torvald's response to the situation was not unusual because any major decisions in life were to be handled by the man. Even when Christine heard what Nora had done she was shocked that Torvald was unaware. This shows how women were valued at the time. Women were given the illusion of having power, but in reality they had no control.

Whereas in "Rear Window" women have more power, women are able to work and contribute to society, women were able to vote and the gender role of a domestic wife was not enforced as much.
We can see a bit of Torvald in Jeff, Jeff does not want to marry Lisa because he does not believe that Lisa is capable of living an adventurous life alongside Jeff. This shows that the idea of women not being capable has stuck with society ever so slightly. Lisa changes Jeff's mind by surprising him, she shows him that she has the power to do exactly what he can do when she sneaks into Thorwald's apartment. Stella also holds power because she is a working woman. We can see that Women lacking power is not as big as an issue in this text. Lisa also shows signs of deceptive power, she is able to prove to Jeff that she can change for him and vise versa, but in the end Lisa is reading Travel magazines in order to decisive Jeff but then she takes out her fashion magazine and continues to be who she is.

Nora is a foil for Lisa, Lisa is who Nora would like to be but her circumstances prohibit this. They way Lisa and Nora deceive their partners are similar, although Lisa's deception in on a smaller scale it shows what both these women are capable of. Both Torvald and Jeff have a preconceived idea of what their partners are capable off and are proven wrong by the end of the text.


In "King Lear" Women of wealth have power. Cordelia is completely powerless because she refused to express her love to her father , so he refused to provide her with wealth. Power in "King Lear" is very much linked to wealth and royalty, but there is clear evidence that women had very little power. Regan and Goneril are very deceitful and and use their femininity as a weapon. These women possess power in a very unique way, their royalty and status brings them power but so does their sexuality. Which they use in order to win over Edmund.