Don't+tell+us+what+to+think!+Essay

The best way to set people thinking is to not tell them what to think. Discuss in relation to the texts you have studied.

Modern plays typically present characters that grapple with morality. Ibsen, Williams and Miller challenge audiences to consider societal constraints and the way individuals within society are judged against a universal set of values. In Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, characters that break social norms are presented. Audiences are invited to question society’s role in the eventual direction of these characters’ lives.

Nora Helmer in ADH is an example of a character that breaks social norms. Throughout the play she is finding ways to undermine the authority of her husband, an idea at the time which was controversial. Ibsen gets the audience thinking about this through the symbolism of the macaroons. In the stage directions it says that “[Nora] takes from her pocket a bag containing macaroons and eats a couple…” this is an act of rebellion against her husband as Torvald has expressly forbidden eating them in the house. When Torvald enters she “pops the bag of macaroons in her pocket and wipes her mouth” to hide her actions. The fact that she finds this necessary hints at the fact that she is not content with her life as a subservient wife. On the outside she appears to be the happy wife that society expects her to be but she hides her true sentiments. Ibsen uses stage directions and the symbol of macaroons to set the audience thinking about how to fulfil their own role within society and whether this is morally justifiable.

19th century Norwegian society was structured upon clear gender roles that existed in the Victorian era. Men were typically the breadwinners in a family situation and the more dominant gender within a relationship, while women were subservient housewives that maintained the home, looked after the children and supported their husbands. Women depended on men and were not particularly powerful in society. Throughout A Doll’s House Nora Helmer consistently pushes against these societal stereotypes within her relationship with her husband Torvald. Despite her external pretences of adhering to her husband’s command. Similarly, in Death of a Salesman, the way in which Willy is pressured upon by societal norms is presented to us through the portrayal of the constrained relationship Willy has with his boss, Howard Wagner. The conversation Willy has with Howard epitomises the way in which Willy is portrayed in a subservient manner to how society judges him. In the scene where Willy begs Howard for a position in the office, Howard’s patronizing attitude towards Willy, despite Willy being ‘older’ than him is evident in their dialogue. This is ironic in that Howard is very much in his youth, but is in a much higher position in the company to that of Willy. Howard refers to Willy as a “kid”, and does not seem to ‘pay the respect’ to Willy, as an elder; let alone his request. Willy responds angrily in an attempt to revoke his position both in the company and in society. He valiantly defends his ideals and tells Howard that one “can’t eat an orange and throw away the peel. A man is not a piece of fruit.” Ironically, Howard consequently renders Willy redundant from the company, thereby accentuating the way in which Willy has become obsolete in society. Miller, through Willy’s redundancy, implicitly relays to readers the way in which Willy’s values and morals based on human favouritism is futile in a society built upon technicality and hard work.

In ADH and SND, Ibsen and Williams use the charcterisation of Stanley and Torvald to portray the conventional role of men’s dominance in the household. However, whilst Stanley controls Stella and Blanche physically through violence, Torvald manipulates Nora’s emotions mentally by treating her like a child.

When Stella challenges the power balance in the relationship, Stanley reasserts his dominance through physical aggression, hurling a plate to the floor and plays the role of a dominant alpha-male when he shouts //“I am the king around here so don’t forget it!”//. Similarly, Williams characterises him as an animal such as in the rape scene through the distorted cries of the jungle with its association of raw, primal instincts.In contrast, Torvald controls Nora mentally through the use of pet names such as //‘my little skylark’// that reduce her to the position of a child and assert his control over her. Establishing Torvald’s conventional role as a male, Nora is both financially and emotionally dependent on Torvald who tells her not to be afraid because //‘I have broad wings to shield you’.// With Nora's departure at the end of the play, audiences are forced to question whether or not the dominant role of men should be accepted.

The conflict between Blanche and her dead husband highlights the conflict between acceptable modern social norms and the traditional values by which Blanche was raised. This idea is introduced through Blanche’s dialogue with Mitch, and her subsequent flashback to the night of the death of her husband. Blanche recalls how she caught her young husband homosexualising, a discovery which sparked his suicide, after she came //“suddenly into a room that [she] thought was empty – which wasn’t empty...”// This scene personifies the conflict between the traditional, conservative perspective embodied by Blanche, and the modern, innocent, liberal social norms represented by Blanche’s husband’s sexual orientation. Blanche remarks: //“There was something different about the boy,”// – and the use of the word ‘different’ in this context highlights the way in which Blanche’s husband was considered an outsider in the conservative society he lived in. However, crucially, Williams does not attempt to persuade the audience that either the modern or traditional perspective is correct – he even goes on to write how Blanche felt guilty over her husband’s death – and the lack of an obvious argument for either set of values forces the audience to consider the facts presented in the play, and come to their own conclusion on the morality of Blanche’s and her husband’s actions.

In the opening scene of Death of a Salesman, the conversation between Happy and Biff demonstrates the failure of the American Dream; the idea that one can succeed merely by trying their hardest and that success is gained through materialistic means. Happy and Biff have both been brought up in a restricted environment based on Willy’s ideals of material wealth and the American Dream. However, Happy and Biff are described as “//well built//” (DoaS) and “//powerfully made//” (DoaS), suggesting that they suit an environment of manual labour, which defies the idea of material wealth. Happy’s name implies that he is satisfied with the life which he leads under Willy’s ideals. However, it is evident that he is in fact not as content as he seems to be, shown through how he answers Biff’s question, “//You’re a success aren’t you? Are you content?//” (DoaS) with “//Hell, no!//” (DoaS). The contrast between Biff and Happy’s aspirations clearly illustrates the unreliability of the American Dream. Even though both Biff and Happy have been brought up under Willy’s stubborn ideals, it is evident that Biff sways from this, shown by how he comments “//I don’t know – what I’m supposed to want.//” (DoaS), in comparison to Happy who firmly states, “//It’s what I always wanted//” (DoaS). This contrast provokes the audience to ponder whether such an ideal is the correct pathway to success in society, which is further emphasized through Happy’s character which is seemingly content. Through this, an impression is given that the ideal of the American Dream is not so instrumental in reaching success as it may have been enforced in those times, and that such a twisted ideal is able to sway the characters’ directions in their lives towards success.