In the play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, gender and societal roles share one common subject: women are inferior to men. References to the childish objects and playthings symbolize that women in the Victorian Era are viewed as “dolls.” Throughout the play, Nora’s husband Torvald gives her names of endearment instead of actually using her name: “Is that my little stark twitter away out there?” (Ibsen 12; act 1). Torvald calling Nora the nickname “little stark” is a way of dehumanizing her and alluding that he is treating his wife as his possession. In addition to the childish pet names, Torvald treats Nora like a child. Their relationship portrays to be more of a father and daughter than a husband and wife: “... that being with Torvald is a …show more content…
She has no freedom and is expected to comply to every one of her husband's wishes. Torvald controls their relationship like a puppeteer and his marionette. Nora herself admits that she is nothing towards men and only exists to pleasure them: “You and Papa have committed a great sin against me. It is your fault that I have made nothing of my life” (Ibsen 111; act 3). Gradually, she sees that her innocent, childish relationship with her father becomes the same innocent, childish relationship with Torvald. She sacrificed her adulthood just to be a “plaything” for her husband. Ibsen’s play reflects on the subject that women are helpless to a degree and that they need a husband to obey. The idea coincides with the societal beliefs of women as housewives during the Victorian Era: “I can laugh and play with the children. I can buy all the new modern things for the house- which Torvald loves” (Ibsen 30; act 1). Nora is conscious of her job in the house and that Torvald is the one making money outside the house. Decorating the house- the way Torvald likes it- represents her obedience and her role to please her
In Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll House, Ibsen tells a story of a wife and mother who not only has been wronged by society, but by her beloved father and husband because of her gender. Nora left her father’s house as a naïve daughter only to be passed to the hands of her husband forcing her to be naïve wife and mother, or so her husband thinks. When Nora’s husband, Torvald becomes deathly ill, she takes matters into her own hands and illegally is granted a loan that will give her the means to save her husband’s life. Her well guarded secret is later is used against her, to exort Torvald, who was clueless that his wife was or could be anything more than he made her. However, Nora has many unrecognized dimensions “Besides being lovable, Nora is selfish, frivolous, seductive, unprincipled, and deceitful” (Rosenberg and Templeton 894). Nora is a dynamic character because her father and her husband treat her as a child and do not allow her to have her own thoughts and opinions, as the play progresses she breaks free from the chains of her gender expectation to explore the world around her.
In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House, a drama written in the midst of an 1879, middle-class, suburban Europe, he boldly depicts a female protagonist. In a culture with concern for fulfilling, or more so portraying a socially acceptable image, Nora faces the restraints of being a doll in her own house and a little helpless bird. She has been said to be the most complex character of drama, and rightfully so, the pressure of strict Victorian values is the spark that ignites the play's central conflicts. Controversy is soon to arise when any social-norm is challenged, which Nora will eventually do. She evolves throughout the play, from submissive housewife to liberated woman. It seems as though what took women in America almost a century to accomplish, Nora does in a three-day drama. Ibsen challenges the stereotypical roles of men and women in a societally-pleasing marriage. He leads his readers through the journey of a woman with emerging strength and self-respect. Nora plays the typical housewife, but reveals many more dimensions that a typical woman would never portray in such a setting.
Upon reading “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen, many readers may find the character Nora to be a rather frivolous spending mother of three who is more concerned about putting up a front to make others think her life is perfect, rather than finding herself. At the beginning of the play, this may be true, but as the play unfolds, you see that Nora is not only trying to pay off a secret debt, but also a woman who is merely acting as her husbands “doll” fulfilling whatever he so asks of her. Nora is not only an independent woman who took a risk, but also a woman whose marriage was more along the lines of a father-child relationship.
In A Doll’s House, Ibsen portrays his lead character, Nora, who is a housewife in the Helmer’s family. She has undergone a transformation throughout the play that she reacts differently to her husband. Her husband, Torvald, is an example of men who are only interested in their appearance and the amount of control they have over a person. In particular, he has a very clear and narrow definition of a woman's role. At the beginning of the story, as from the title of the play, Nora symbolizes the “doll” in the house, which means that she has been treated as treats Nora like a child or doll. For example, husband called Nora ‘bird’ and it implies that husband treats her like his pet and she is his doll as the title is a doll house. In other words, her husband wanted her to be a ‘lark' or ‘songbird' so he can enjoy h...
This becomes one of the main driving forces of Ibsen’s play. (Quote from Torvald and the money). It immediately distinguishes the differences in gender roles and morals in Norway during the late 1800’s. While Nora is willing to give the porter twice what is owed, we assume she is full of holiday spirit; Torvald has a much more sensible outlook on financial concerns. While he jokingly calls her his little spendthrift, he asserts that her lack of understanding is a result of her gender “Nora, my Nora, that is just like a woman” (Ibsen). Torvald believes that her place in the home is simply ornamental, a trophy that serves as decoration for his home. Torvald is constantly referring to her through the use of pet names such as (quote pet names from book) and only ever refers to her by name when he is scolding her. Not only does Torvald see her as his doll, but also as her child (quote near end of story). By keeping Nora dependent and obedient to him, he plays the role of Nora’s second father. Nora eventually sees that her daughter is being treated in the same manner that she was her entire life, as a
In the nineteenth century, it was normal for the husband to have a job and the wife to stay home and wait on her husband. A woman would make sure they looked a certain way and kept the home a certain way. In A Doll’s House, Torvald treats Nora the way most husbands did in the nineteenth century. Torvald treats his wife like a doll, or toy. He criticizes Nora and is only worried about his appearances and not his wife’s feelings.
The enforcement of specific gender roles by societal standards in 19th century married life proved to be suffocating. Women were objects to perform those duties for which their gender was thought to have been created: to remain complacent, readily accept any chore and complete it “gracefully” (Ibsen 213). Contrarily, men were the absolute monarchs over their respective homes and all that dwelled within. In Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, Nora is subjected to moral degradation through her familial role, the consistent patronization of her husband and her own assumed subordinance. Ibsen belittles the role of the housewife through means of stage direction, diminutive pet names and through Nora’s interaction with her morally ultimate husband, Torvald. Nora parades the façade of being naïve and frivolous, deteriorating her character from being a seemingly ignorant child-wife to a desperate woman in order to preserve her illusion of the security of home and ironically her own sanity. A Doll’s House ‘s depiction of the entrapment of the average 19th century housewife and the societal pressures placed upon her displays a woman’s gradual descent into madness. Ibsen illustrates this descent through Torvald’s progressive infantilization of Nora and the pressure on Nora to adhere to societal norms. Nora is a woman pressured by 19th century societal standards and their oppressive nature result in the gradual degradation of her character that destroys all semblances of family and identity.Nora’s role in her family is initially portrayed as being background, often “laughing quietly and happily to herself” (Ibsen 148) because of her isolation in not only space, but also person. Ibsen’s character rarely ventures from the main set of the drawi...
Throughout A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen illustrates through an intriguing story how a once infantile-like woman gains independence and a life of her own. Ibsen creates a naturalistic drama that demonstrates how on the outside Nora and Torvald seam to have it all, but in reality their life together is empty. Instead of meaningful discussions, Torvald uses degrading pet names and meaningless talk to relate to Nora. Continuing to treat Nora like a pampered yet unimportant pet, Torvald thoroughly demonstrates how men of his era treat women as insignificant items to be possessed and shown off. While the Helmer household may have the appearance of being sociably acceptable, the marriage of Torvald and Nora was falling apart because of the lack of identity, love, and communication.
In Henry Ibsen’s play the Doll House, Torvald restraints Nora Helmer’s freedom. Torvald sees Nora as a doll and a child instead of an equal partner or wife. When Torvald does not sacrifice his reputation to save her, Nora realizes that “[she] had been living all these years with a strange man, and [she] had born him three children.” After years of having to live as a doll, Nora has an awakening that kindles her passion for freedom.
Nora engages in a mutually dependent game with Torvald in that she gains power in the relationship by being perceived as weak, yet paradoxically she has no real power or independence because she is a slave to the social construction of her gender. Her epiphany at the end at the play realises her and her marriage as a product of society, Nora comes to understand that she has been living with a constr...
Henrik Ibsen paints a sad picture of the sacrificial role of women throughout all social economical classes in his play “A Doll House”. The story is set in the late 19th century and all minor female characters had to overcome adversity to the expense of love, family and self-realization, in order to lead a comfortable life. While the main female protagonist Nora struggles with her increasingly troubled marriage, she soon realizes, she needs to change her life to be happy as the play climaxes. Her journey to self-discovery is achieved by the threat of her past crime and her oppressing husband, Torvald and the society he represents. The minor female characters exemplifying Nora’s ultimate sacrifice.
The inferior role of Nora is extremely important to her character. Nora is oppressed by a variety of "tyrannical social conventions." Ibsen in his "A Doll's House" depicts the role of women as subordinate in order to emphasize their role in society. Nora is oppressed by the manipulation from Torvald. Torvald has a very typical relationship with society. He is a smug bank manager. With his job arrive many responsibilities. He often treats his wife as if she is one of these responsibilities. Torvald is very authoritative and puts his appearance, both social and physical, ahead of his wife that he supposedly loves. Torvald is a man that is worried about his reputation, and cares little about his wife's feelings.
As “A Doll’s House” is a realistic drama, each of Ibsen’s characters encapsulates a role in his society. Nora as the main protagonist is branded by others as “an extravagant little thing”, and represents what was typical of a housewife. The social construct of a mother’s role restricts her behaviour and actions as a woman and individual. Not only is Nora the subservient woman, but her relationship with her husband, Torvald, is reminiscent of that of a father and his “little girl”, reflecting the idea that ownership of a woman is acquired by her husband from her father. Torvald is the personification of masculine authority in Ibsen’s context.
A contrasting difference in the characters, are shown not in the characters themselves, but the role that they play in their marriages. These women have different relationships with their husbands. Torvald and Nora have a relationship where there is no equality. To Torvald Nora is an object. Hence, she plays the submissive role in a society where the lady plays the passive role. Her most important obligation is to please Torvald, making her role similar to a slave. He too considers himself superior to her.
In "A Doll's House", Ibsen portrays the bleak picture of a role held by women of all economic classes that is sacrificial. The female characters in the play back-up Nora's assertion that even though men are unable to sacrifice their integrity, "hundreds of thousands of woman have." Mrs. Linde found it necessary to abandon Krogstad, her true but poor love, and marry a richer man in order to support her mother and two brothers. The nanny has to abandon her children to support herself by working for Nora. Though Nora is economically advantaged, in comparison to the other female characters, she leads a hard life because society dictates that Torvald be the marriages dominant member. Torvald condescends Nora and inadvertently forces Nora to hide the loan from him. Nora knows that Torvald could never accept the idea that his wife, or any other woman, could aid in saving his life.