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Analysis between characters Nora and Minnie

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Analysis between characters Nora and Minnie
Compare and contrast Mrs. Minnie Wright and Mrs. Nora Helmer

Mrs. Minnie Wright is one of the main characters in the play “ Trifles” by Susan Glaspell. The act characterizes Mrs. Minnie Wright, a wife who is the prime suspect in the murder of her husband. She has to live an unhappy, miserable, tortured life by her husband, who treats her as nothing important like a trifle. The play A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen has theme of female rights, gender roles and marriage life. In A Doll House, Mrs. Nora Helmer is characterized as a happy, beautiful and fashionable woman like a doll of the house, who is loved by her husband, Mr. Trovald and happily living in family. Mrs. Nora Helmer and Mrs. Minnie Wright both are victims of male dominance in both plays but Nora is happy, pampered and loved by her husband and Mrs. Minnie Helmer is badly treated by her husband and lives a sad, empty life, which makes them to finish this unpleasant situation of life in a different way. Nora has a beautiful family. Her husband pampers her and relatives love her. Nora is the mother of three children, but in Minnie’s case, she doesn’t have any children. She works hard but her husband, Mr. John Wright provides her with little. Nobody comes to visit Minnie’s house because it is such an unhappy place. Nora lies to her husband when she has to get money for his treatment because in that time period, women were not allowed to take out a loan without a co-signer. She tells him that she got the money from her father. She puts herself in danger because if her husband knew about it then he can hurt her. It shows that she is not only a childish and pampered girl but also a daring lady. On other hand, Minnie is helpless. Her husband beats her and doesn’t allow talking with other people and receive calls. She is enduring a hard life. She can’t go against these tortures but when Mr. John Wright kills the canary, she feels like all of her desires, wishes, and dreams were being killed so she kills him, but Nora challenges the society by telling lie that she got money from her father. She saves her husband’s life. She seems like a wise lady who tries to continue the difficult situation with her conscience in a pleasant way. Nora and Minnie both come to a tragic end at the end of the play. Minnie kills her husband and Nora leaves the house because after knowing the lie her husband scolds her badly and she breaks down. In A Doll House Nora decorates Christmas tree by singing song, as Minnie likes singing song with canary so, both Nora and Minnie like singing. Although Nora was loved in her family more than Minnie, she was not accepted equally important as male in the society. Men ruled both Nora’s and Minnie’s lives. Men mistreated both female characters. They both have kind heart but the situations they had to face in their life made them to take an unusual decision.

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