'The outsider is always an intriguing figure in literature' essay comparing Rossetti and Ibsen
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Drama and poetry pre-1900 (H472)
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Exemplar comparison essay between Christina Rossetti's poetry and Henrik Ibsen's 'A Doll's House' - essay question: 'the outsider is always an intriguing figure in literature' - example of an A response to a challenging exam question
‘The outsider is always an intriguing figure in literature'.
In the light of this view consider ways in which writers explore characters who
are outsiders. In you answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
Rossetti and Ibsen depict various characters, that can be considered outsiders, and their
experiences as unconventional figures in Victorian society or as ostracised societal members
due to their nonconformity to 19th Century rules and standards. Certainly, this reflects both
of the writers’ own tumultuous relationships with Victorian societal conventions, although it
can be argued as to whether either were able to fully explore outsiders in their work due to
these strict social boundaries.
Both in ‘A Doll’s House’ and much of Rossetti’s poetry, characters who do not match the
Victorian archetypal upstanding member of society are given centre stage, in a
contemporaneous world where they were not usually heard from. In ‘Maude Clare’, the
titular character is portrayed as a “Fallen Woman”, having ‘waded ankle-deep’ with
‘Thomas’ outside of marriage, but is also compared to a ‘queen’ whose strength far
surpasses that of the male groom, who ‘faltered in his place’ and ‘hid his face’ upon her
confrontation. This character may have been inspired by Rossetti’s volunteering at the
Highgate Penitentiary for Fallen Women, where she learnt of the extreme maltreatment of
female prostitutes by men and society. Although there is no doubt that ‘Maude Clare’ is an
intriguing character, so is her resilient female counterpart ‘Nell’, who is not an outsider but
a simple ‘village maid’, that stands up to Maude Clare when her husband can’t. Ibsen also
denounces the “Angel in the House” expectation of women through both Mrs Linde and
Nora. Though both characters began by following this convention as wives whose sole
purpose was to look after children, as the play draws to a close, Linde is a sturdy working
woman who chooses to be with the man she loves, despite his tainted societal status, and
Nora realises the immorality in acting as a ‘doll-wife’ and decides to leave her husband and
children to find her own identity. Perhaps, however, Linde’s status as a ‘widower’ makes her
defiance less significant and not so obvious an outsider, due to her being permitted the right
to work, unlike married women. Though not so shocking to a modern reader, this ending
defied Victorian expectations so drastically that Ibsen was forced to write an alternative
ending, whereby Nora doesn’t abandon her family. These controversial female
presentations are, arguably, what makes Ibsen’s play so renowned and names him the
‘father of modern drama’.
Critic Dr Simon Avery argues that “time and again in Rossetti’s poems, the female figure is
depicted as entrapped… physically, psychologically or both”, which can be seen in her
characters’ inability to escape their position as an outsider. ‘Shut Out’ and ‘Soeur Louise de
la Misericorde’ both convey women who feel socially isolated, the first ‘blinded by tears’
due to being ‘shut’ from her ‘garden’ at the hands of a ‘shadowless figure’, the second a
depiction of Louis XIV’s ex-mistress who has left society to become a nun. There is an
overarching sense of hopelessness in both poems, both becoming social rejects by simply
being women (the Femme Covert meant that women were not recognised under the law)
and unable to match the incredible power given to Victorian men. As well as this, the
speaker in ‘Good Friday’ is confined to her abnormality as a Christian who does ‘not weep’
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