Choose two of the dramas or plays we read in class together or were assigned through homework. Identify a shared theme and analyze its presence in both pieces.
“Illusion is an anodyne, bred by the gap between wish and reality,” contended Herman Wouk. As portended by the quote, it is rather often that humans, pithy creatures they are, fall victim to the fallacies brought about by illusion juxtaposed against reality. This theme is well demonstrated in both Henrik Ibsen’s drama A Doll’s House and Susan Glaspell’s Trifles. In the case of the former, the main character, Nora Helmer, disguises her manipulative, capable self from her husband and friends for years, allowing them to believe she is a dependent housewife; in the case of the latter, the wives of two men investigating a recent murder uncover evidence of the killer’s motive with greater skill and ease than the trained lawmen themselves, who choose to believe that the motive is simply too ethereal for them to pin down, experienced investigators that they are. In such a way, then, the theme of illusion vs. reality is made apparent in both of these works, one being a full drama and the other being a one-act play.
In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, a play controversial in its time, the story focuses upon Nora Helmer, a Norwegian housewife who once forged documentation to take out a loan in order to financially support her family when making a trip to Italy that was intended to save her husband’s life; years later, as Christmastime nears and her husband prepares to take a higher position at the local bank, this illegality comes back to haunt her. Even though she has long managed to deceive her family and friends, particularly her husband, Torvald Helmer, by appearing to amiably fulfill the role of a dutiful homemaker with a feminine lack of money-sense, Nora has, in reality, been gradually repaying the loan she had once taken out. “Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again?” (Ibsen, 214) queries Torvald Helmer of his wife at the beginning of the play, believing his wife’s expenses to be the result of a lack of economical restraint. When explaining the truth of the situation to her friend, Mrs. Linde, however, Nora describes how she has been performing “...payment in installments, and it is always so dreadfully difficult to manage them. I have had to save a little here and there, where I could, you understand” (Ibsen, 222). Torvald may have always suspected something was amiss, but he chooses to believe in the comforting illusion instead of poking and prodding to discover the uncomfortable reality. Even to the very end of his marriage, he holds that his wife is simply irresponsible and unknowing of financial or discretionary matters, saying to Nora, “But do you suppose you are any the less dear to me, because you don't understand how to act on your own responsibility?” (Ibsen, 262) Reality is often a hard pill to swallow, and even when confronted with a painful truth, Torvald continues Nora’s deception for his own benefit, choosing the illusion that his marriage was safe over the reality of its dysfunctional nature.
The same arrogance displayed by Torvald in Ibsen’s work can be found in the lawmen of Glaspell’s Trifles. Here, a dreadful strangulation of a farmer, Mr. John Wright, is scrutinized by the local Sheriff, County Attorney, and investigative neighbors; the primary suspect is the wife of the deceased, and so the question for the legal experts becomes one concerning the motive to prove her guilt. The wives of the County Attorney and Mr. Hale accompany the men, and during the investigation, they are left to their own devices. It is during this time that the women begin to uncover the true evidence of Mrs. Wright’s motive for killing her husband, observing many small ‘trifles’ of evidence to piece together the story of Mrs. Wright’s descent into murderous action. Noticing their scrutiny of the downstairs, Mr. Hale comments on Mrs. Peters’ and Mrs. Hale’s behavior, saying, “Well, women are used to worrying over trifles” (Glaspell, 1076). Clearly, he does not take any observations to be made by the females as being seriously credible. The illusion here, then, is that the men, supposedly experienced in matters of law and crime, are more observant than the women, when in reality, the women achieve the goal that the men are unable to. Having sympathized with Mrs. Minnie Wright, née Foster, Mrs. Peters and Mrs Hale ultimately conspire to conceal the evidence they have uncovered, believing it more just to allow Mrs. Wright to escape guilt for her alleged crime. Such a believe is derived from the story they have gleaned; the two women consider that Minnie Wright lived in a dilapidated, drab household that crushed the spirit, which was damaged even more by a potentially abusive husband. The evidence that was uncovered by the women was a dead canary with its neck wrung, indicating that Minnie Wright had replicated a crime she believed her husband had committed against her one pet. Whether this was true or not is inconsequential, for what is of weight is that the women choose to conceal evidence that the men, oblivious to the illusion they have chosen to live, failed to observe. “Getting all stirred up over a little thing like a—dead canary. As if that could have anything to do with—with—wouldn't they laugh!” (Glaspell, 1084) nervously exclaims Mrs. Peters near the end of the drama, justifying hers and Mrs. Hale’s decision, deceiving even herself. It is not just the men who abide by the illusion, but the women, too, for their own sakes; it is comforting for all involved to believe that should Mrs. Wright be presumed innocent in a court of law, it is in spite of all being done to prove her guilt. Reality, a trifling thing, is cast aside for that which brings satisfaction.
The plots of the two dramas, wildly different in length, tone, and content, do indeed bear similarity in how they address a common theme. Henrik Ibsen and Susan Glaspell alike wove commentary on illusion vs. reality into their respective works, and it shows. Nora Helmer’s deception of her family and friends, Torvald Helmer’s deception of himself, Mrs. Peters’ and Mrs. Hale’s deception of their husbands, and the lawmen’s deception of themselves are all the same at heart. Illusion is often easier for humans to believe in than reality because it can conform to whatever expectations or desires we fancy; reality is unbending, morphing only to alterations in space or time, physical changes. The mind, being what it is, can deceive itself into living an existence more preferable than that which is presented to it by the outside world. For many of the characters in these two plays, that was the choice that was made; for many of the people of this Earth, that choice is made every day.
Glaspell, Susan. Trifles Literature the Human Experience. Richard Abcarian, et al. 12th ed. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016. 1073-1085.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House Literature the Human Experience. Richard Abcarian, et al. 12th ed. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016. 213-268.