SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC OPPRESSION OF WOMEN: A MARXIST FEMINISM STUDY OF A DOLL’S HOUSE AND HEDDA GABLER

The aim of this research is to illustrate the social and economic oppression of women in the light of Ibsen’s plays A Doll’s House and Hedda Gabler. On the other hand the research is based on the theory of Marxist Feminism which illustrates that the females are exploited socially, economically and morally. At the same time all the female characters especially the main female characters have been shown that they are used mere as a sex tool by the hands of the males and they have left with no choice. Even they are not given the human names rather they are treated as pets and that is the reason that they are not given the human names. Sometimes they are called as skylarks and sometimes dolls. This is the predominant view that females have no identity of their own and the plays under considerations are the true illustration of this view. This study mainly spans over five chapters where first chapter of the study is introduction that gives summary for the upcoming chapters. Second chapter of the study is literature review that contains the reviews of different writers and critics as well as the views of the researcher. However this chapter asserts to what extent the study is related to the reviews and how it is different from them. Third chapter of the study is theoretical framework which illustrates the basic postulates of the theory of feminism and its concerns with the present research. Fourth chapter of the study depicts the patriarchal oppression and women’s identity in A Doll’s House. The fifth chapter of the study is to depict the economic oppression and women’s psychological exploitation in Hedda Gabbler. In the end there is conclusion followed by the references