FREE ESSAY ON MIDDLE CLASS MORALITY

MIDDLE CLASS MORALITY

MIDDLE CLASS MORALITY
Values and morals of the Victorian era are quite different than those that our society
upholds today. The satirical plays, A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, and Pygmalion by
George Bernard Shaw, examine the problems with certain beliefs held by the people, both
men and women, of the Victorian age. Furthermore, the people in general didn't not just
hold certain morals, but the different classes in the Victorian society also held their
own beliefs on moral code. Of which, the middle class beliefs are most closely examined
in both plays. Men and women were expected by others in Victorian society to uphold
certain moral behaviors. These expectations caused many problems for the individual that
upheld them by limiting their behavior, and overshadowing how the person really thinks he
or she should act or what he or she really believes.
Men in the Victorian era were anticipated by women and other men to do certain things
that would 'qualify' them to be an accomplished masculine figure. The first 'requirement'
is that the man must support and protect his woman. In A Doll's House Torvald, Nora's
husband, most definitely feels his obligation to protect his wife, whether she likes it
or not. Do you know, Nora, I have often wished that you might be threatened by some great
danger, so that I might risk my life's blood, and everything, for your sake(Ibsen 58).
Torvald hopes that one day he will be able to show his manly and virtuous side by
protecting his wife, most likely so he will be praised for it. Torvald also feels that
his woman must be protected because she most definitely cannot fend for herself. Aha! so
my obstinate little woman is obliged to get someone to come to her rescue? (Ibsen 27).
This is the exact, narrow-minded view many Victorian men displayed. Also, in Pygmalion
men have the obligation to protect women. This time the women are seen expecting the man
to care for them, like in Freddy's case. You really are very helpless, Freddy. Go again;
and don't come back until you have found a cab(Shaw 574). Because Freddy is a male, he is
expected by his mother and sister to find a cab for them in the rain when there are none
in sight. Even on the streets men will defend women who they don't even know. What
business is it of yours? You mind your own affairs....Nice thing a girl cant shelter from
the rain without being insulted,(Shaw 576). Bystanders noticing the flower girl is upset
by the note taker, they defend her, if she were a man they would have expected her to
fend for herself. The second requirement that makes a man a man in Victorian times is his
perfect family. There they are!...Look at them, Christine! Aren't they darlings?(Ibsen
19). Nora is showing off her perfect little children to her friend Mrs. Linde. Yes, take
a good look at her. I think she is worth looking at. Isn't she charming, Mrs.
Linde?(Ibsen 53). Torvald is now showing off his prize trophy, his wife, as if Mrs. Linde
really cares. With a perfect wife and children Torvald can be seen as a true
hard-working, good man.
Yet, many times these seemingly good values are flawed underneath. There are many
problems with these values imposed on men in Victorian times. In the case of protecting
his woman, we see Torvald's true 'colors' in the end of the play after he discovers
Nora's criminal act. All these eight years-she who was my joy and pride-a hypocrite, a
liar-worse, worse-a criminal! I ought to have suspected that something of the sort would
happen(Ibsen 59-60). Torvald himself is really the hypocrite, wasn't he longing for
something to protect his wife against? Now that the time is come he blames her for
burdening him to have to make the situation right. Nora has real guts, guts more than her
overbearing husband, in that she never has really needed his help, she, in fact, has
helped him a great deal and has never asked to be glorified for it, as her husband does.
And poor Freddy, he simply followed his mother's orders unquestioning. When he returns
with a cab to rescue his mother and sister they have found another way home! If he would
have refused to retrieve a cab he would have been looked at as selfish by them, And what
about us? Are we to stay here all night in this draught, with next to nothing on? You
selfish pig-(Shaw 574). How ironic that the women turned out to be the selfish ones. As
far as women and children as trophies go, they are worth nothing if they turn on you.
Torvald treated his wife too much like a trophy. ...I set you free from all your
obligations. You are not to feel yourself bound in the slightest way,(Ibsen 67). Nora is
leaving Torvald because of his over bearing, father-like attitude toward her. These
values are usually two-sided; the man may expect it of himself to uphold his morals when
the woman doesn't expect him to, or the woman may expect the man to uphold the morals
when he doesn't expect himself to.
Women, too, have the burden of great expectations from men and other women during
Victorian times. First, a woman is obligated to find a wealthy husband to support her
because she isn't supposed to work, she is supposed to polish herself and the other
trophies like the home and children. Mrs. Linde's first marriage is a perfect example of
this belief. And all this-only for the sake of money!(Ibsen 50). Mrs. Linde was forced to
marry a man who could support her and her family because she couldn't on her own. This
belief is also held by professor Higgins in Pygmalion. I should imagine you wont have
much difficulty in settling your-self somewhere or the other,...You might marry, you
know(Shaw 615). Liza is upset because she doesn't know what she will do now that the
experiment is over, Higgins suggest the logical Victorian answer of marrying a wealth man
to support her. Second it was thought that a woman's greatest satisfaction comes from the
service to her family. Mrs. Linde definitely longs for this satisfaction. ,I am like a
shipwrecked woman clinging to some wreckage-no one to mourn for, no one to care for(Ibsen
50). She wishes that she had someone to be of service to. As for Nora she is obligated to
serve and please her family, especially Torvald. I will do every-thing I can think of to
please you, Torvald!-I will sing for you, dance for you-(Ibsen25). She makes a wonderful
trophy for her husband. 
Just like in men's values, the women's values have a shadier side also. Because Mrs.
Linde was forced to marry for money she left her real true love, Krogstad. -a heartless
woman jilts a man when a more lucrative chance turns up?(Ibsen 49). Krogstad's love life
was ruined by the thoughtless values of Victorian times. Liza, on the other hand, is
aware of the problems with this seemingly simple value. I sold flowers. I didn't sell
myself(Shaw 616). After Higgins presents the solution of marriage for security, Liza
expresses that that is not her idea of a solution. Liza is kind of the heroine against
the evils of Victorian values. Yet, Mrs. Linde shows the virtue of service to family as a
wish, or blessing, she finds if you are not obligated to service, like Nora was by
Torvald, you will enjoy caring for your husband and children. Nils, give me someone and
something to work for(Ibsen 51). This is what she wishes to happen between her and
Krogstad. But, in Nora's case, her statements of service are only there to cover up her
dark secret, and prevent Torvald from discovering it. Throughout the play Nora act as
Torvald's doll, and in the end she turns all her Victorian values upside down. It seemed
as though her service to family was important, but she overlooked something more
important, herself. In the end she does put herself first, she makes the decision to
dance for Torvald no more and walk out on him. What makes the ending even more powerful
is that she is walking out on the children too, in true opposition to Victorian morals.
In conclusion, Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, and George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion
revealed the flaws of Victorian society's values, which most likely, did effect the
people of the time indefinitely because its criticism was so true of their very own
lives. The expectations of men and women during Victorian times has since changed, for
the most part, in our modern society of the Twentieth century. Perhaps, definitely, this
change in attitudes toward men and women's role has come largely because of these very
works of literature. If they had not been written perhaps our world would be a great deal
different.