Personal Freedom in a Doll's House and Father Ibsen and Strindberg were influential playwrights of the late 19th century. Unlike earlier fictionalized dramas, Ibsen and Strindberg's respective plays, A Doll's House and The Father, depict traditional middle-class life. The plays explored the relationship between gender and unequal power in marriages of their era. Although both plays were written in the late 19th century, the playwrights had different approaches to presenting the characters' situations and attitudes toward the culture dominated by patriarchy. An examination of how Nora, the protagonist of A Doll's House, and Laura, the protagonist of The Father, struggle for personal freedom, shows each author's progressive views on gender roles in marriage. The protagonists of both plays are oppressed by their husbands and deprived of their personal freedoms in their oppressive, male-dominated society. Nora, in A Doll's House, is often referred to possessively, as an object, by her husband Torvald, with names like "my little lark" and "my squirrel" (145). The use of names for Nora emphasizes that he does not view her as an equal. Additionally, the costume and dance of the New Year's party further objectify Nora, emphasizing Torvald's delusion that Nora's identity is to be molded for his fantasies. In The Father, the Captain and Laura have conflicting plans for how their daughter should be raised. According to Scandinavian laws of the time, women were not allowed to interfere with their husbands' plans regarding determining their daughter's faith. The captain displays his authority over Laura when he says, "By the law as it now stands, children are brought up according to their father's faith... middle of paper ...... related with their plays, by exploring the idea of ​​patriarchy and disproportionate power in a marriage. The Doll's House questions gender roles, particularly motherhood. Marrying Torvald was no different from living with a stranger. By leaving her relationship for her own freedom, Nora sends the message that women's rights are often violated and that women should not be expected to conform to society's expectations of duty. The Father questions patriarchy by illustrating the struggle between husband and wife. In an exaggerated approach, the play reveals that both husband and wife are equally essential in a marriage. Both plays show the power and potential of women in their struggle for personal freedom. By depicting realistic situations and the wives' reactions, the two playwrights offer their progressive commentary on gender roles and power in marriage..