Essay
I&R - female desire essay
Essay on how female desire is presented in Christina Rossetti's poetry and Henrik Ibsen's 'A Doll's House'.
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‘Female desire is a flaw’. Compare how Ibsen and Rossetti present desire in theretrospective texts.
Through Ibsen’s 1879 realist play A Doll’s House and Rossetti’s collected poetry of
the Victorian era, female sexual desire is explored through negative attitudes
enforced by a predominantly religious society in 19 th century Europe, as well as
being influenced by male desire and dominance within relationships. Writing in 19th
Century Norway, Ibsen was influenced by the imbalance of power in relationships,
particularly through his own experience of his father, who was an alcoholic and who
took out his own troubles on his children and wife; Ibsen’s sister described their
mother as “loving and self-sacrificing", which can be reflected through Nora’s
character. He was highly influenced by members of family who were involved in the
feminist movement in the late 1800s, which also fed into areas of his writing –
particularly in relation to his female characters. Similarly, writing in 19 th century
England, Rossetti was influenced by the negative influence that desire had on
women; her work at St Mary Magdalene House from 1859 until 1870 certainly had a
significant impact on this through the influence of religion and its negative attitude
towards female desire. Whilst A Doll’s House displays that female sexual desire is
influence by male desire and dominance within relationships, Rossetti’s collection of
poetry shows that female sexual desire is explored through negative attitudes
enforce by a predominantly religious society in 19 th century Europe.
Both Ibsen and Rossetti use their writing to explore the theme of female desire as
being influenced by male desire and masculine dominance within relationships –
thus highlighting the imbalance of power between men and women in the 19 th
century. Ibsen argues that “A Doll’s House is not about everybody’s struggle to find
him or herself, but about everywoman’s struggle against everyman”, and this really
highlights the significance of the imbalance of power between men and women
through their freedom to express desire whilst women are forced to supress it.
Similarly, Rossetti’s poetry collection of the Victorian era shows the desire of men
and the way that it is prioritised over the needs and desires of women. In Rossetti’s
When I am Dead, My Dearest, readers in the late 19th century could probably have
assumed the speaker to be male due to the commanding speech of the deceased
telling ‘my dearest’ what they should and shouldn’t so and how they should feel.
“Sing no sad songs for me” shows the speaker assuming that his dearest has the
same level of desire from him as he does for her. Landow argues that the poem
“clearly embodied male vantage points”, showing the reliance that she must have
had on him within their relationship. Whilst these male vantage points do suggest a
pressure within their relationship, it could also suggest a forced suppression of
female desire as even after death the mourner is still forced to obey her supposed
husband. Comparatively, Rossetti’s Maude Clare, argues critic Avery “is a clear
critique of dominant masculinity”. This is clear as when “my lord gazed on pale
Maude Clare”, she in turn returns her “half of the golden chain/ …[he] wore about...
[his] neck”. Maude Clare’s actions contrast that expected by society in the late 1800s
through her sheer dismissal of Thomas’ desire for her. The emphasis on the
lengthening of words “long” and “lord” through their sound mirrors the extent of their
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