Originally posted by Afro
But as a guy i recognise that in essence P&P is a romantic fantasy that in actual society would never have occured... Browning and Ibsen say it as it realy is no need for this mushy stuff to cover up the truths of the subject..
You might need to start by looking a little further into it than that. Here's a start, from my interpretations:
P&P is a critique of social values, even though Austen doesn't go as far as Browning or Ibsen in that her characters end up embracing the social mores they have rebelled against - P&P is a gentle criticism.
Browning is basically telling it like it is for his characters, who are very much individuals in their society. his dramatic monologues are from the POV of the character, giving us a psychological insight into the individual's mind.
Remember that Ibsen intended 'A Doll's House' to be not feminist, but 'humanist' (not the secular belief system you may know about from SoR, just the most appropriate way i can think of just now to describe it). Ibsen is defending the right of all people to 'find themselves'...there's a good quote from Nora for this
basically, Ibsen is saying that social values shouldn't interfere with one's right to humanity...i think...i'm a little risty on ADH since i haven't studied it yet and we literally spent 2 classes on it.
hope that's given you a bit of a basis, i'm sure ash, s2ophie and the gang will be more than willing to elaborate on anything that doesn't make sense