societal expectations/reputation

reclaim

i must try to reclaim all the social respectability i can

control

k: are you forgetting that i would then have control over the reputation you leave behind?

n: [looks at him, speechless]

prospects

we couldn't wait for you, nils; your prospects were so far off back then

ugliness

oh the depths of ugliness in all this! shame, shame!

duty

no religion, no morals, no sense of duty

same

it must look as though everything were the same as before between us

saved

t: im saved! nora, im saved!

n: and me?

t: you too, naturally;

thought

leave your home, your husband and your children! and you havent a thought for what people will say

society

t: you dont understand the society you live in

n: no, i dont. but now i intend to look into it. i must find out who is right, society or me

people

i know, of course, that most people would say you're right, torvald [...] but i can no longer allow myself to be satisfied with what most people say

honour

but nobody would sacrifice their honour for the one they love

not (good friday)

not so those women loved

who with exceeding grief lamented thee;

not so fallen peter weeping bitterly

not so the thief was moved

o'er (good friday)

yet give not o'er

but seek thy sheep, true shepherd of the flock;

greater than moses, turn and look once more

and smite a rock

weak (twice)

yet a woman's words are weak

you should speak not i

question (twice)

all that i have i bring, all that i am i give

smile thou and i shall sing

but shall not question much

lizzie leading by example (goblin market)

lizzie veiled her blushes

"you should not peek at goblin men"

lizzie covered up her eyes

covered close lest they should look

woman being assertive (no thank you john)

i never said i loved you, john

you know i never loved you john

i have no heart? perhaps i have not

friendship (no thank you john)

here's friendship for you if you like; but love, -

no thank you john

guess (winter my secret)

perhaps my secret i may say

or you may guess

queen (maude clare)

his bride was like a village maid,

maude clare was like a queen

fair (maude clare)

yea though you're taller by the head, more wise and much more fair

ill love him till he loves me best, me best of all maude clare

weary (from the antique)

its a weary life, it is, she said:

doubly blank in a woman's lot

nothing (from the antique)

i should be nothing, while all the rest would wake and weary and fall asleep

hurt (in the round tower)

'will it hurt much?' 'no, mine own: i wish i could bear the pang for both'

'i wish i could bear the pang alone: courage, dear, i am not loth'

mire (soeur louise)

memory a bottomless gulf of mire

victim (critics quote)

'torvald is as much a victim as nora' - Thomas

disease (critics quote)

'restrictive norms are, for ibsen, the worse disease' - Soloski

moral code

'torvald's moral code is entirely derived from society's expectations' - Johnston

minority (critics quote)

'the minority is always right'- Ibsen

judged (critics quote, shut out)

'being a woman in victorian britain meant that you were doubly judged: by man and by god' - Bocher

attack (critics quote, twice)

'the attack is implicitly upon the powerlessness of women in a rigid patriarchal society' - Harrison

boundaries (critics quote, goblin market)

'an allegory for a woman trying to transcend the boundaries placed upon her by society' - Kirby

proposal (critics quote, no thank you john)

'to reject a marriage proposal seemed counter to the victorian mentality' - Galt

bullied (critics quote, no thank you john)

'she is not to be bullied into a relationship because a man or a social convention more generally demands it' - Avery

hegemonic (critics quote, maude clare)

'engages the discourse on hegemonic definitions of victorian femininity' - Philips

uncompromising (critics quote, from the antique)

'these lines are uncompromising in their analysis of a woman's place in society' - Avery

pairing (critics quote, in the round tower)

'rossetti creates a very conventional pairing: the husband is protector and the wife is infantilised' - Williams

expectations (critics quote)

'rossetti's speakers demonstrate both an awareness of and resistance to those social and political expectations which define roles for women' - Avery

reform (critics quote)

'typically rossetti's poems evince a concern with individual salvation rather than social reform'

rebel (critics quote)

'rossetti stopped trying to rebel: in her devotional writings she finds an appropriate place for a conventional woman's voice' - Mermin

radical (critics quote)

'her views may not be 'radical' as such, but they are usually far from conservative, and often questioning, challenging and potentially subverting'