Comparing Age of Innocence and "A Doll's House"

The the play "A Doll's House" and the novel Age of Innocence both depict the state of society of the current time with its rigid and patriarchal social structures.  In their respective works, Ibsen and Wharton both highlight the transformation of characters to illustrate the values of society.  While Nora and Archer both undergo journeys towards to a transformation, Nora's rebirth frees her from the rigid shackles of the metaphorical doll's house, while Archer's experience returns him to his expected role in society, revealing that individual progression can only be achieved through personal willingness and desire to break away from the accepted social values

Throughout the play "A Doll's House", Nora undergo small changes that ultimately lead to her decision to leave Torvald and the children.  Nora's transformation was driven by her own desire.  With her realization of Torvald's shallowness and inability to see past the set rules that dictate the required appearance of a family unit pushes her away from the picture-perfect family that she thought she had.  Nora concludes that she is now too far away from the idealistic appearance of the doll's house and choose to sever her ties with it instead of forcing herself back into the closed sphere of womanhood.  This destruction of their relationship and the metaphorical doll house, however, opens a path towards progress and change for both Nora and Torvald.  The winter season that the play sets in creates contrast between the harsh, cold environment outside and the safety and warmth of the doll house.  The Christmas holiday also symbolizes both the birth of Jesus Christ as well as the destruction and death of winter that allow the season of growth and fertility to follow.  This metaphysical rebirth of her surroundings mark the period of change that Nora experiences that ultimately allows her to herself change and evolve as a character.

In Age of Innocence, Archer also undergo a journey that leads him to stray away from his societal values.  While Nora's frustration with society stemmed from her denial of the facade that Torvald wanted to maintain, Archer's resentment for Old New York came from Ellen.  To Archer, Ellen was a symbol of rebellion against the qualities of his society that he deemed negative, including closed-mindedness, hypocrisy, and lack of creativity.  Even though throughout most of the novel, Archer thought he, like Ellen, was also free from these qualities, his judgement of Ellen and her past actions as well as his pity for Ned Winsett show that he embodies the hypocrisy that he so hated.  What Archer thought was honest, personal hatred of society was instead only his desire to rebel, which he then latched to Ellen as a symbol for his rebellion.  Unlike Nora, whose purpose for leaving came from her own dissatisfaction with her life, Archer embraces the values and believes of someone else.  As Ellen leaves for Europe, Archer is left without a purpose and is once again unwilling to abandon his society, which ultimately causes him to regress back to his marriage, a symbol for his imprisonment in society.

Comparison of Nora and May

The character Nora of "Doll House" and May of The Age of Innocence both embody the values of their society in the beginning of their respective work.  Both characters transform as their respective stories progress but the conclusion of their stories are different.  Both characters symbolize the extreme off innocence while simultaneously showing signs of experience that defines them.  The contrast between the facade that both characters puts up and their actual actions shows the duplicity of women in their roles in society.

Both characters appear to be innocent as we are introduced to them.  Nora, a typical housewife, seems to be the definition of cookie-cutter wife as she is playful and flirty with her husband while being totally submissive to his every whim.  In the opening act of "Doll House", Nora appears to be almost a doll that Torvald plays with as he controls every aspect of her life, including what she buys,what she eats, and how she dresses.  He also makes multiple remarks against her as a woman that she completely agrees with since as a woman, she is born with natural faults.  May was also the same when she was first introduced.  Archer points out that May is completely shaped by her up bringing and is incredibly closed minded.  Although he seemed frustrated with her naivete, Archer shows interest in taking her under his wing to teach her about the world.  Both women appear to be products of their society and innocent.  This innocence portrays the society that they live in as well as allows us to see the traditional roles of women during the time period.

Even though both characters show their innocent and naive sides in the start of their stories, it is later revealed that they are more mischievous than they appear.  In Act 2 of "Doll House", it is revealed that it is not Torvald, but rather Nora, that holds the balance of their entire fabricated reality.  She deviously goes behind Torvald's back to ensure his safety and protect the appearance of the doll house while simultaneously allows Torvald to think he is the sole defender of the house.  In later sections of The Age of Innocence, May also reveals some of her devious qualities.  It is hinted that she is aware of Archer's relationship with Ellen, which contrasts with her innocence and helplessness.  Also, May actively shields Archer away from sources of knowledge or experience that would pull Archer away from her Old New York society.  She prevents him from meeting the French tutor while the two honeymooned in Europe.  She also disclosed her pregnancy to Ellen behind Archer's back, causing Ellen to leave to Europe.  The sly and cunning sides of these two women illustrates the duplicity of women and their roles in society.  While it is socially accepted that women were part of the sphere and are helpless creatures, these two characters show that women at the period were responsible for just as much, or sometimes even more, as the men for keeping up the family appearance.