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Realism in Uncle Vanya and A Doll's House
Essay submitted by Anonymous
A play serves as the author's tool for critiquing society. One rarely encounters the
ability to transcend accepted social beliefs. These plays reflect controversial issues
that the audience can relate to because they interact in the same situations every day.
As late nineteenth century playwrights point out the flaws of mankind they also provide
an answer to the controversy. Unknowingly the hero or heroine solves the problem at the
end of the play and indirectly sends a message to the audience on how to solve their own
problem. 
Henrik Ibsen and Anton Chekov both provide unique analysis on issues their culture never
thought as wrong. In the play A Doll's House Ibsen tackles women's rights as a matter of
importance being neglected. In his play he acknowledges the fact that in nineteenth
century European life the role of the women was to stay home, raise the children, and
attend to her husband. Chekov illustrates the role of a dysfunctional family and how its
members are effected. Both of the aforementioned problems are solved through the
playwrights' recommendations and the actions of the characters. In the plays A Doll's
House and Uncle Vanya the authors use realism to present a problem and solution to
controversial societal issues.
While both plays mainly concentrate on the negative aspects of culture, there are
positive facets explored by the playwrights. In A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen focuses on
the lack of power and authority given to women, but through Nora we also see the strength
and willpower masked by her husband Torvald. To save her husband's life Nora secretly
forges her father's signature and receives a loan to finance a trip to the sea. Nora's
naivety of the law puts her in a situation that questions her morality and dedication.
Nora is not aware that under the law she is a criminal. She believes that her forgery is
justified through her motive. She is not a criminal like Krogstad because his crime was
simply a moral failing and not for the good of his family. A morally unjustified crime is
the only type of crime. Nora's believes that her love for her husband is what propelled
her to sign her father's name and pass it off as his own. Nora's motive is to save her
husband's life and keeping it secret is to save him from pain and humiliation. If he
knew, it would hurt his manly independence (p. 22) and upset Nora and Torvald's mutual
relations (p.22). Nora knows that without forging her father's signature she would not be
able to save her husband. Nora uses her wit to find a way to be able to overcome the
shackles placed on her by society and get enough money to save Torvald's life. 
In Uncle Vanya Chekov ends the play with Sonya and Uncle Vanya returning to their normal
lifestyle and forgetting about the upset Serebryakov and Elena's presence creates. Sonya
protests that she and her uncle will bear patiently bear the trials fate sends (Chekov p.
230) and work for others (p. 230). Sonya sacrifices her own happiness for that of her
father and stepmother. Sonya exudes every positive trait that society contains. She
sacrifices her life to work for her father without questioning his motives for leaving.
She dedicates herself to her family and overlooks their flaws to help them. Sonya, Uncle
Vanya, and Nora's make sacrifices for the love of their family members and do so without
questions. 
The sacrifices made by the positive characters are far outweighed by the actions of their
counterparts. Torvald sees Nora's only role as being the subservient and loving wife. He
refers to Nora as my little squirrel (Ibsen p.12), song-bird (p. 33) or skylark (p. 40).
To him, she is only a possession. Torvald calls Nora by pet-names and speaks down to her
because he thinks that she is not intelligent and that she can not think on her own.
Whenever she begins to voice an opinion Torvald quickly drops the pet-names and insults
her as a women. When Nora asks if he can reinstate Krogstad at the bank he claims that
she only asks because she fears that he will suffer the same fate as her father. Nora
realizes that living with Torvald prevents her from being a real person. He treats her as
a doll because that is what he wants. He does not want a wife who will challenge him with
her own thoughts and actions. The final confrontation between the couple involves more
oppression by Torvald, but by this time Nora has realized the situation he wishes to
maintain. Torvald calls her childish (p. 70) and ungrateful (p. 68) even though she saved
his life. Nora expected Torvald to be grateful to her, when this does not happen she
decides that the only way to fix the situation is to leave him and her children and find
herself independently. Nora wants Torvald to take the blame for the forgery and realize
that how he treats her is not the way a husband should treat his wife. When he doesn't
take the blame she knows that independence is the only answer and so she leaves. The
oppression of women caused many women to believe that their duty in life was only to be a
wife. Ibsen provides a narrative on one woman's plight to find her purpose in life. 
In Uncle Vanya the wrong that is committed is not directed toward one character, but two.
Serebryakov dumps the burden of his lifestyle onto his daughter and brother-in-law. Only
at the end of Serebryakov's and Elena's stay at the family estate is it realized that
everyone is miserable. Elena who has been married into this family is the only person who
at once comprehends her unhappiness. Sonya tells her stepmother that she is so happy
(Chekov p. 201). Sonya has yet to grasp that her father only leaves her at the estate to
help make money so he can finance his expensive lifestyle. Serebryakov is concerned with
his position in society. He marries a young and beautiful woman and tries to move ahead
in life using money. He ignores emotions, even the misery that he feels. In the late
nineteenth century rank was determined by who one married and how much money one's family
had. Serebryakov exemplifies this lifestyle by only trying to move ahead in society to
the point of sacrificing anything to get to the to top, even his daughter. These two
families point out societies flawed traditions and the subsequent effect upon these
people.
In presenting these problems the authors end their plays with a solution to the
characters' unhappiness. Ibsen was the first author in Europe to tackle the issue of
women's place in the world and label it as wrong. Nora's realization of Torvald's part in
her misery allows her to leave him. She does not fully blame Torvald for her unhappiness,
but she knows that she can't be happy with him. Her expectation of the most wonderful
thing (Ibsen p. 72) leaves her with the knowledge that Torvald will never change. Nora
becomes cognizant of the mistreatment she has endured, and consequently leaves to become
someone different. Ibsen encourages women to make a change by taking action and not to
watch their life pass by unfulfillingly. Nora becomes a role model for change. 
Chekov on the other hand does not solve his characters' problem in Uncle Vanya. He ends
the play where it began, without resolution. Sonya and Uncle Vanya take on the burden of
running the estate for Serebryakov without reimbursement while he lives abroad and enjoys
the riches of life. Uncle Vanya cries while Sonya talks about how hard they will work for
her father and expect nothing in return. Unlike Nora, Sonya accepts her life and does not
make any change. She does not even try to change the family in which she was born . She
believes that if she does what is asked of her she will be rewarded in afterlife. Chekov
lets Sonya further entrench herself in the problem. The audience knows from Uncle Vanya's
tears that Sonya's decision is not the right one. 
In A Doll's House and Uncle Vanya the audience gathers a picture of what it was like to
live in the late eighteen hundreds. This picture is not a positive one. More wrongs are
committed against the characters of these plays than any sort of reward for the hardships
they endure. These plays reflect an accurate representation of the society that existed
when they were written. Nora and Sonya find that they are trapped in a world that they do
not belong in. Nora finds a way out and Sonya waits for a new world to come along and
rescue her. Society oppressed both families by masking the truth of their lives for so
long. Chekov and Ibsen contribute to the solution by providing their plays as examples of
why Europe was wrong.