Comparing Age of Innocence and Doll House

When relating Doll House and The Age of innocence, one can extrapolate many similarities. First, let us start with the most obvious similarity- that is, the fact that we read these plays through a gender lens. When analyzing both characters of May and Nora, we view them in a child-like way. This is because, in the 19th century, women were seen as subordinate and uneducated, relying on their husbands for help and to suffice their needs. Nonetheless, both May and Nora rely on their respective husbands to take care of them, making them seem so dependent, as children.  Although women were "young," they attainted the morals of a women. In fact, they were framed as the heart of the home; the women would take care of the children, the husband, and the house, to provide peace, tranquility, and sacredness. In Doll House, this action is evident through Nora, who provides a calm household by saving the family from lies and "the ugly" that Helmer Torvald hates. In a way, she preserves happiness in the house, by shouldering burdens and burdens of lies. Although this may seem opposite to the "sacredness" that the women during the 19th century had to have, it still proved how she was responsible for joy and "the beautiful." Note that both in the Doll House and The Age of innocence, they implicitly highlight societies values too; in other words, the novel, thus far, has provided a story that scrutinizes society through the lens of the aristocrats, those of upper class. It is important to note that many of the themes I have extrapolated from the text revolve around the gender theory lens and the historical theory lens. Prevalent through the reading, were the motifs of: the innocent vs. the flawed, the hidden reality, internal truth vs. societal truth, and past and future. More importantly, both the texts imply that not only was society overly judgmental, but also lacked the internal thinking needed to understand someone. For example, In Age of Innocence, society doesn't take the time to understand Ellen and the fact that her problems were not instigated solely by her, but also by her husband. In Doll House,  Helmer refuses to see Nora as something other than a martial object. In both ways, society is depicted as being superficial and cruel.  Another important aspect we seen in both texts is the female shift from childhood to adulthood, youth to grown, naive to worldly. In Age of Innocence, we slowly and finally see a shift in May from one that is nave and lacks the ability to see her husband's betrayal to one that is purposefully ignoring their relationship in order to save herself from society. May is smart in telling Ellen that that she is pregnant as it still maintains her “innocence”, Diana like posture, but from the audience point of view, is very devious. In Doll House, Nora gains realization that the truth of her loan from Krogstad will eventually come out, showing a shift from hidden and playful to finally out in the open, worldly. In both texts, there are many similarities, ranging from gender roles, to historical references, to dramatic irony, to themes of love, sin, and shift.