Henrick Ibsen's A Doll's House and Bernard's Shaw Pygmalion are two plays that show
occurrences between two female protagonists: Nora Helmer and Eliza Doolittle, whom their
relationships with the people around them lead to powerful outcomes and decisions that
ultimately transform their lives.
             At the beginning of the play, Eliza is an unimportant and uneducated flower girl who
tries to make a living, but no one traces her existence. Gifted with intelligence, strong power, and
self-esteem, she accepts to being taught in becoming a duchess by Higgins, a noble-class
professor of phonetics. During her stay at Higgin's house, Eliza becomes his interest, not as a
human being who utters words in a deplorable way, but to be used for his research in order to
speak like a lady in a flower shop. Thus regarded as a functional housemaid . She worked so hard
in learning his lessons, meaning that she has the right stamina for doing things right and
behaving like a lady. She complains of becoming a slave and treated like his property hence
feeling to be a useless person.
             On the other hand, at the beginning of the play, Nora seems completely happy with her
husband Torvald. She responds affectionately to him and speaks with excitement about his new
job. She is also pleased in the company of her children and friends .Even if she is uneducated,
but she has agency and decision-making skills in paying the debt she had to help her sick
husband. She does not seem to mind her doll-like existence, in which she is cuddled, pampered,
and patronized. She is painted as a shallow woman who is overly concerned with material
delights. More important, once the secret of Nora's loan is revealed, her interest in money stems
more from her concern to her family's welfare than from pretty desires. .
             In Pygmalion, Eliza's great sensitivity made a sharp conflict with Higgins, which shows
the traditional role of women's independence on men.

THE ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL PRESSURE ON WOMEN AND WOMEN’S STRUGGLE FOR

EXISTENCE THROUGH HENRIK IBSEN’S NORA IN A DOLL’S HOUSE AND BERNARD
SHAW’S LIZA IN PYGMALION.

This study examines that the social pressure on women and women’s struggle for existence
through Henrik Ibsen’s Nora in A Doll’s House (1999) and Bernard Shaw’s Liza in Pygmalion
(1988).
The roles of men and women in society are generally related to the value system and structure of
society. In traditional societies, it is known that man is a sanctioning power that limits all actions
and thoughts, and women are overwhelmed by this power. The Enlightenment movement, the
Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution played an important role in the displacement of
the patriarchal system and dogmatic idea that has lasted for centuries (Şener, 1982). With the
development of human rights and freedoms, gaining women’s own rights, reached a better level
in the last few years.

In societies, where radical changes cannot be achieved, instead of eliminating traditional gender
values, it is obvious that they emerged again by giving them new forms and discourses.
Individuals have to live with these impositions by accepting the roles imposed on them. Society
is forced women to act according to gender roles. Women are forced to take their education in
this direction because they should not face any problems in business life or family life (Donovan,
2012). In addition to these, one of the social pressures on women is psychological pressure.
Controlling women, supervising, punishing, humiliating, accusing, accepting as the patient, not
respecting the physical structure or thought structure, is a reflection of the forms of
psychological pressure on women.

After the first wave of Feminism, social pressure on women became one of the essential subjects
in literature. As notable writers of the 20th century, Henrik Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw had
frequently used women’s figures, who are constantly supervising by the patriarchal society, in
their plays and they forced their audiences to think and understand this social pressure and
gender inequality. Ibsen’s A Doll’s House as a revolution and Shaw’s Pygmalion as a ground-
breaking play are the most significant play samples which include women’s struggle in Modern
English Literature (Legois, 1990).

The analysis of social pressure on Nora and Eliza

From past to present, the roles imposed and enforced by society have been rejected by many
female characters. Every woman who stepped in the way of proving that she is an individual has
to face the brutal cruelty of society. These impositions for some women can differently begin as
soon as they open their eyes to the world. Society tries to instructing, change women, and make
them welladjusted. Especially in traditional societies, this effort is much more common.
However, there are women who have succeeded in exposing the struggle for existence within
every woman. But these women generally are not accepted in society.

When we look at Ibsen and Shaw’s plays, we see a struggle for existence in both of their
characters. First of all, if Nora is examined, it is clear that she is a child and represents a woman
shaped by society. At the beginning of the play, Nora, who is not obstinacy by respecting her
husband, is one of the finest examples of good women’s perceptions of society. Nora is actually
a strong woman inside, but she doesn’t worry about having a passive

character because of her upbringing and she talks the way her husband likes. The women in
Ibsen’s play demonstrate their existence in accordance with social norms. Ibsen draws attention
to the extent to which an economically progressive society can be dropped behind behaviourally
and ideationally. Actually, Nora is a re-created woman like Shaw’s Eliza and she has not any
social role except for wifehood and motherhood. In the character of Nora, the desire for freedom
that exists within each individual is witnessed, first rasped by his father, and then almost
completely forgotten because of society. We learn from the big secret that Nora is stubborn. This
secret shows that Nora is not a child and in serious situations, she can exceed the limits of
society. Unfortunately, this secret has been a source of shame not pride for Nora in the
patriarchal society. The rebellion found in Nora’s essence embeds in deep, because of her
father’s and husband’s impositions, which include love and compassion. However, when we
look at the end of the play, Nora, realizing her own power, abandons her husband, because she
does not feel belonging to her house and husband and tries to find her own essence. In this sense,
Nora is a symbol of her desire to attain her freedom, which was taken from women. Nora, a good
woman within the framework of social values since the beginning of the play, is defined as an
immoral woman at the end of the play. If Shaw’s Eliza is considered in this context, it is obvious
that she is already an incompatible florist girl, at the beginning of the play. Higgins’ desire to
educate her represents the desire of society to shape women. As Eliza represents an incompatible
woman in the patriarchal society, Higgins represents a society that is educated but intellectually
incomplete. Eliza is a woman who is not accepted in society and is aware of this situation,
therefore, she accepts Higgins’ offer. Just as Nora obeys her father and husband, Eliza obeys
Higgins as well and does what he says. Unlike Nora, Eliza’s education is carried out with
condescending, not love. This difference is an indicator of the hypocrisy of society. A woman
like Eliza should be educated with tyranny, not with love. Eliza, who became a woman respected
by society over time, revolts against Higgins, by listening to the incompatible woman inside her,
at the end of the play. The final scene of the play is one of the most beautiful examples of
women’s upheaval to society. Eliza changes both physically and intellectually and she is neither
the old florist girl nor belongs to that class, although she is accepted in the elite class. When she
feels like a stranger on both sides of society, like Nora, she tries to find her own existence by
rejecting everything she has. The problem of proving the existence of women is an issue that has
been questioned and worked on from the past to the present. This problem is not still solved in a
common ground, in our contemporary period as well. In this context, Nora and Eliza are the two
special characters who accept to be shaped within the impositions of society but eventually reach
the consciousness of the individual and both of them are still symbols of a revolt in society.

Da hum wogora

Several years ago, men had little respect for women because of their gender. Females were not
given the rights they deserve. They were controlled by their fathers, then handed straight over to
their husbands. Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion have occurrences
that show similarities between the two female protagonists, Nora Helmer and Eliza Doolittle.
Nora and Eliza are comparable in several different ways because both go through experiences
with powerful outcomes ultimately transforming their lives throughout the play. From the start
both women are young and naïve. Torvald and Mr. Higgins completely controlled and take over
both women’s lives by…show more content…
Nora and Eliza are disrespected through the entire play by the men they are dependent on the
most. Mr. Higgins and Torvald complete controls Eliza’s and Nora’s lives, giving them absolutely
no freedom to live the life they deserve.
Torvald and Nora do not have the typical husband and wife relationship. Torvald treats Nora how
a protective father would treat his daughter, she considers herself a doll living in his doll house.
Nora obeys everything Torvald says and he makes all of her decisions. Nora is always stuck in the
house with absolutely nothing to do except play with the children. In the end of the play, Nora
tells Torvald how she feels about the way he treats her. “I mean that I was simply handed over
from Papa to you.” (A Doll’s House, pg 111) Torvald treats her exactly as her father did, and now
that he is not around, Torvald finds it necessary to act as a father figure instead of a husband.
Torvald gives Nora nicknames such as “little squirrel.” These names represent Nora’s false self.
Torvald acts as if she is a small child that wants a pet name.