The play Dolls house which is a modern tragedy that was written by Henrick Ibsen, who was considered to be the father of modern drama, was written in 1879. The original language for the play was Norwegian, and the setting in which the play took place was around the 1870s. On the other hand, the play Fences, by August Wilson was written in the 1950s. The plays Fences and Dolls house both show incredible similarities in very many aspects. In the play Dolls house, the central theme was about the role of women in the specified time, and this central issue can also be seen in the play fences in its period. There is significant similarity in both the plays because they mainly talk about gender roles and even the lives of the characters.

In both the play, the theme of household gender roles is brought out.  The setting of both plays, it is clear that the woman is given the house help role whereby, the husband did all the work, and the wife remained at home and took care of the family. In Fences, Troy is considered to be the sole provider of the family whereby he is supposed to give his wife and children money for use and everything. Rose is a very typical hose wife as she had lost any aspiration that she may have had and decided to do house chores. Rose willingly took the responsibility of raising Raynell, and this shows a motherly quality that was expected of her at that time.

On the other hand, Troy was given the responsibility of building a fence, and this depicts the responsibility that men were given, which was more into physical work, compared to that of women. Also on dolls house, it is evident that Torvard was the one who provided everything for the family and this would be shown where his wife persistently asks him for money. After a while, Helmer says, “there!” (Ibsen 4) And hands Nora some notes of money and tells her, “I know all sorts of things are wanted for Christmas.” This shows that Nora has to depend on her husband to provide everything and give her money for every need.

Additionally in both the plays, the theme of women’s inferiority is brought out, whereby women are seen as weaker genders than the men. Torvald Helmer and Troy Maxson face challenges in their love life and family whereby Nora, who is the wife to Torvald is a woman of her ways. She is a housewife who takes care of her kids and family, she allows her husband to control her and do whatever she is asked of, and she is not allowed to think and behave as she wants to. Control is clearly shown whereby Nora enters Helmer’s room, and as they are having a conversation, Nora says, “just a minute,” and then she hides the bag of macaroons in her pocket and wipes her mouth. When her husband suspects that she has been eating macaroons, he asks if the little Miss Sweet Tooth has been breaking the rules in town today. This statement implies control over Nora and what she eats has to be known, and if it is a secret, then that is considered as lawbreaking.

In the way that women are treated in both the plays, it is evident that the men rule the women and that they do not have a much say but do whatever their husbands what them to do. In the play Dolls house, Torvald addresses her wife as “little” and also uses names like “sweet tooth,” and this clearly shows that Torvald sees his wife as a “doll-wife” that can do whatever he wants, and Nora acts accordingly, by doing whatever it is that Torvald wants. This is similar to the play the fence whereby Troy tells his wife that she should go away and leave him to talk to his friend because it was a man talk. He says, “What you worried about what are we getting into for? This is men talk, woman”. The conversation shows that Rose has no right to engage herself in discussions that involved men and she was considered inferior and would do whatever she was asked to do.

Moreover, in both plays, the aspect of women’s lack of economic power is shown whereby the women live a life of lies and deceit. The element of lack of economic power is demonstrated by the characters, whereby in the play Dolls house, Nora is called degrading name like “sweet tooth.” Nora does not like the names, but she pretends to like them so that she can please her husband. Nora is made to feel like a doll who was of little importance, but she always agrees to it, which shows a character of deceit. By not complaining or stopping her husband from calling her the degrading names, it may be considered that she is a liar. Lies are also shown in the play where Nora lies to his husband about where she got the money that she paid his hospital bills. He had told her husband that her father gave her the money before he died, but she had borrowed the money from somewhere else, and that shows an aspect of lies (Ibsen 15).

On the other hand in the play fence, there is a similar case whereby, troy shows characters of dishonesty and hypocrisy. Troy was raised by a father who would not care about him and would beat him, and his suffering would even be shown whereby his mother left him while he was still eight years. In the play, Troy lies daily and tries to cover himself up by accusing other people of lying. The most excellent level of self-lies that are shown by Troy is a case whereby Troy chooses to believe that he was thrown out of the big league baseball because of his race. He tells Bono, “ I told that boy about that football stuff. The white man ain’t gonna let him get nowhere with the football”. And in the real sense, the fact is that he was kept out because of his age. The fifteen years that Troy spent in prison made him too old to participate in major leagues.

Additionally, in both the play, the theme of household gender roles is brought out. The setting of both plays, it is clear that the woman is given the household role whereby, the husband did all the work, and the wife remained at home and took care of the family. In Fences, Troy is considered to be the sole provider of the family whereby he is supposed to give his wife and children money for use and everything. Rose is a very typical hose wife as she had lost any aspiration that she may have had and decided to do house chores. Rose willingly took the responsibility of raising Raynell, and this shows a motherly quality that was expected of her at that time.

On the other hand, Troy was given the responsibility of building a fence, and this depicts the responsibility that men were given, which was more into physical work, compared to that of women. Also on dolls house, it is evident that Torvard was the one who provided everything for the family and this would be shown where his wife persistently asks him for money. After a while, Helmer says, “there!” (Ibsen 4) And hands Nora some notes of money and tells her, “I know all sorts of things are wanted for Christmas.” This shows that Nora has to depend on her husband to provide everything and give her money for every need.

Nevertheless, aspects of courage are shown in both plays by Rose and Nora, whereby in the play Dolls house, Nora shows courage whereby she decides to take a loan to pay for his husband’s medication in Italy, with the permission from his husband. Nora’s courage in forging her father’s signature on investment and the consequences of the act that Nora had to face, shows her strong courage. Nora’s courage is also shown in the final act she did whereby she decided to leave her husband because of an unhealthy marriage. However, courage is also shown in the play fence where Rose persists in talking in the conversation that her wife and Bono had, even after her husband reprimands her and tells her to leave, claiming that it was a men’s talk.

The plays are still famous in the present age due to many factors. The play Dolls house is still famous because of its excellent construction. It is well developed such that each scene exerts a lot of pressure on Nora, and she is so pushed to nearly a breaking point. Not only did the writer of the play choose the best attire, like the best facial expression that any playwriter can have, but he also brought stories to a new world where he exposed what takes place behind the families and the challenges faced by families in his period. The play is also famous because of the creative nature of the author, whereby the climax of the play is brought out where Nora dances so that she can save her marriage. The tarantella was a dance that originated from Italy, and it was believed that the dance originated from the Tarantula spider whose poison was thought to make someone have an uncontrollable urge to dance. However, the cure for the poison was for someone to dance to exhaustion.

Additionally, the play fences are famous until now because of the way the author actively develops his themes. The development of themes can be shown by the way August extends his idea of racism and how it interferes with Troy’s dream. At as the play begins, Troy wants to be the first African –America who can ride garbage truck instead of being a can lifter. Moreover, the pay Dolls house can be regarded as being in the category of great literature because of the many devices that have been used. The tools include both internal and external conflict, whereby external conflict has been shown between Torvald and Nora, and this reflects the conflict in our real lives, and it helps keep the audience interested in the play. Internal strife is shown where Nora is in a dilemma whether to tell her husband about her forgery or to remain silent.

Works Cited

Ibsen, Henrik.  ADoll’s House. 2008, A & C Black.

Wilson, August. Fences. 2016, Penguin.