Women Empowerment in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Marsha Norman’s ’night, Mother

Abstract

Empowerment as a concept can broadly be defined as a medium fostering power in human relationships. It initiates individuals to gain control over their lives, thus effecting change in themselves which eventually extends to others. Through such self-empowerment, a character can face restrictions and maybe even remove them, gaining self-confidence in asserting themselves. Each of Ibsen’s Nora and Norman’s Jessie finds herself in an oppressed situation by her closest kin(s) that leads to the dehumanisation of the self. Coming from different ages, cultures and environments, each tries to assert her identity, individuality and autonomy by taking matters in her own hands, but through different means. Theirs is an insistence to prove themselves in an unfair patriarchal world of powerful oppressive relationships. With reference to Simone de Beauvoir, this paper examines how the concept of empowerment works within those two female protagonists who strive to regain their humanity