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A Doll's House and All My Sons

            Consider and evaluate the different ways writers of your chosen texts present the causes of conflict in relationships.
             In the two plays, "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen and "All My Sons" by Arthur Miller present causes of conflict within relationships in both similar and different ways between characters in the plays. The common themes are money, secrets, love, antagonists and social responsibility which I will explore in detail throughout this essay. At the time of production of both plays, we see a conflict between characters relationships through social and individual responsibility. In "A Doll's House," we see Torvald attacking Nora on this issue of responsibility. Torvald says to Nora "You are betraying your most sacred duty.Isn't it your duty to your husband and your children? You are a wife and a mother." By using second person personal pronouns such as 'you', Torvald is able to make his opinion personal to Nora and this adds an emphasis to the fact that this is her responsibility. Ibsen also includes a rhetorical question in this attack on Nora as although the question is being asked to her, Torvald knows the answer he wants to hear, as does Nora making this understood by both the characters within the play and the audience as it is Torvald's opinions that have always been the 'answer' for both him and Nora's part in this play. The declarative sentence at the end of the quote shows that Ibsen is continuing Torvald's authority over Nora in the play. Ibsen shows Torvald to be telling Nora that it is her individual responsibility to be a wife and a mother but also socially as if she were to leave; it would be wrong in society's eyes and would be frowned upon by others within their community.
             In "All My Sons," we also see social and individual responsibilities of the time challenged by certain characters. Chris argues on behalf of the soldiers that "they didn't die; they killed themselves for each other".


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