The Evolutionary Function of Illusion, Disillusionment and Reality in a Patriarchy in the Genesis of a New Self with Regard to Both Genders in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.

Abstract

Illusion and reality share an inextricable relationship in human life which is sometimes given to illusory ideas thereby creating a fantasy world in order to cope with the absurdity of life. But when this fantasy gets mingled with reality to a great degree, the difference between reality and illusion gets blurred. It is this disposition that often affects the entire personality of an individual and consequent decisions. Sometimes this illusory world becomes the foundation of survival and gradually pushes one to the edge of emotional collapse. However, when reality barges in, disillusionment results, and this make-believe world gets crumbled in no time.
Henrik Ibsen is one such great dramatist whose works border on realistic issues like unequal partnership in marriage, role of women in marriage and motherhood, laws, materialism, ideas of manliness in relation to social reputation, and, most importantly, how an unexamined life is not worth living with the focus being primarily on the individual as the oppressor and the oppressed. However, he does not explicitly talk about these issues in his plays but makes his characters’ actions stand as evidence regarding how an individual is capable of progress and can bring about social reformation. This article attempts to show how along with the politics of socio-cultural power structures, Ibsen delineates the problematic position of both genders in a patriarchy in his renowned play A Doll’s House (1879), by juxtaposing illusion and reality which eventually pave the path for the disillusionment and evolution of both genders.