The nineteenth century was a time of male superiority and Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, is a great example of the introduction of feminist actions in the nineteenth century. Nora, the protagonist, portrays these characteristics within her heavy decision on whether to leave her family and pursue her own life or to stay, continuing the controlled life she grew increasingly bored of. In addition, Christine Linde, Nora’s friend, also exhibits the rebellion in her gender standards when she comes into the town that Nora lived in looking for work so that she may provide for herself. The actions done by these characters would be considered noble and admirable nowadays, though this story was set back in the nineteenth century. Then, morals were …show more content…
“One of the telling ironies of the play is that Torvald, whose very profession as merchant banker depends upon extending credit and loans, is constantly asserting the economic evils of incurring debt: “No debts! Never borrow! There’s always something inhibited, something unpleasant, about a home built on credit and borrowed money” (203). His business life and his home life, it would seem, are kept stringently separate, as if the “home” were some inviolate haven against the encroachment of the money ethic on family life, as if the debtless competence of the wife were some compensation for his immersion in the nastiness of daily business.”(Errol Durbach) In addition to Nora’s departure, in the beginning of the play, she took it upon herself to handle a financial issue involving her family, lading to her committing a crime. Such independence was unheard of in the nineteenth century. Christine Linde is another example for this perspective. She came to town looking for work so that she could survive without her husband, another thing frowned upon by …show more content…
Three major characters are women and three major characters are men. The female characters are Nora, Mrs. Linde, and Anne-Marie;and the male characters are Torvald, Dr. Rank, and Krogstad. This balance of gender roles is intentional, and each character’s role in the story contributes to the final revelation that women can be strong, men can be weak, and strength and weakness are human traits, not gender traits. In many cases, ‘manly ideals’ (courage, dignity, seriousness) were elevated to ‘human ideals’ and female ideals (gentleness, kindness, active sympathy)
In the play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, several literary lenses can be used to better help understand the storyline. The most prominent lens used throughout this play is gender. It plays a large role in the story A Doll’s House. Nora, the protagonist is faced with many challenges because of the normalities of 19th century society. She must overcome these difficulties throughout the play.
During the time in which the play took place society frowned upon women asserting themselves. Women were supposed to play a role in which they supported their husbands, took care of their children, and made sure everything was perfect around the house. Work, politics, and decisions were left to the males. Nora's first secession from society was when she broke the law and decided to borrow money to pay for her husbands treatment. By doing this, she not only broke the law but she stepped away from the role society had placed on her of being totally dependent on her husband. She proved herself not to be helpless like Torvald implied: "you poor helpless little creature!"
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 play, “A Doll House”, Torvald Helmer is a controlling, overbearing character who seems to care only about his reputation. He’s the most controlling when it comes to his wife, Nora. He controls her behavior so that it is to his liking and as a result hit reputation will be sturdy. Torvald follows the belief of a man’s role in marriage, and that is to protect and guide his wife in the right direction. He looks for every chance he gets to control his wife and “guide” her as if she is a child that needs assistance, but in reality, Torvald is the childlike character. Throughout the play, the audience will see the changes within Torvald’s character and how gender roles ultimately get flipped toward the end.
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.
Nora, the main character, obsessively tries to please her father and her husband. In an attempt to be the perfect daughter and a perfect wife, she conforms to the established by the men and in turn loses her identity. Due to her initial faith in the superficial laws created by the men, Nora even tries to embed the Victorian ideals in her daughter, Emmy. As a Christmas gift, Emmy receives a doll and a dolly's bedstead. Instead of being allowed to explore her potentials, Emmy is confined to practice to become martyr of the Victorian society. Women during this period were deliberately made powerless by the lack of prospective. Mrs. Linde, Nora's friend, is a victim of such social misfortune. In the absence of her father, Mrs. Linde acquires the responsibility of her sick mother and her two brothers. She sacrifices her love, Krogstad, and marries a wealthy man in order to take care of her family. If society had permitted, she could have attained both love and family. Nora's nursemaid, Anne Marie, is also a victim of the society. She is forced to forgo her only daughter because an illegitimate child. Apart from being used by a wicked man, she is disabled from raising her ...
The effects of the societal roles in men and women from the 19th century are displayed through the actions and morals of the characters in Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House. The play demonstrates through its main characters the demanding norms of society. When one does not abide the Victorian society norms they are shunned, pitied and left with almost nothing. Ibsen’s humanistic side is seen through this play as he creates realistic problems for fictional people to suffer through So, the effects of societal roles are seen in the character of Nora Helmer, who is the obedient, naïve wife that finds her true self and decides to rebel against societal prospects. It is also observed in Torvald Helmer, who displays the qualities of the stereotypical male of the Victorian era and this display of societal norms affects Nils Krogstad, who went from accepting the social order to rebelling against for the sake of his family. Each of these characters helps understand the concept of societal expectations and struggles to achieve them.
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...
The play “ A Dolls House” written by Henrik Ibsen is a play centered on Nora the main character and her husband Torvald Helmer. The play was published on December 4, 1879 back when times were different then they were today. Ibsen was well known as “ the father of modern drama” and his play was directed towards the position of women in society. The play “A Dolls House” shows that when a man does not show his wife her equality it can become a big loss for himself.
Henrik Ibsen’s play entitled A Doll House focuses on the secrets and deceit of a Victorian era housewife named Nora. Nora is originally portrayed as naïve and foolish, but the true depth of her character and the duplicity against her husband is revealed when she confides in a friend at the start of the play. Nora has broken the law, politically and socially, by going behind her husband’s back and receiving a loan to pay for his medical bills. Ibsen made sure to emphasize that Nora’s actions were totally and completely against the social norm of late 1800’s Norway; men were expected to take out necessary loans,
Gender roles are also seen in the rules Torvald for Nora to follow. Torvald is the only one in the family who works and provide for his family who needs to survive in their lifestyle. Because of this, Nora must always go and ask for money from Torvald hoping for his acceptance of her using his income. Nora also had no possessions to her name because when a woman got married, all her possessions were considered ...
Nora’s introduction in the play portrays her as a childish and immature “spendthrift” (Ibsen 44). As the story unfolds, it is discovered that Nora, in reality, is the complete opposite. Her true personality as a strong hearted and determined, intelligent woman emerges during the last scene of the play. During her opening scene, her actions, her choice of words, and the manner in which her husband...
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...
Torvald is not very kind towards his wife because he treats her like a kid this referring to the theme of ‘Men vs Masculinity because it’s evident in the text that he views himself as the higher authority figure, and he refers to her as, “little squirrel and “little spendthrift” example of Torvald stamping his male dominance over women is when. Never mind, never mind! [Walks about the room.] Yes, it is funny to think that we- that Torvald has such power over so many people. [Takes the bag from her pocket.] Doctor Rank, will you have a macaroon?” (11), this is reiterating the idea of male characterizes are held higher than women in this play because of Torvald. Tovrvald in the play is also seen by his kids and the audience as the man who brings in the money once again stereotyping the male as the ‘bread winner’, krogstand acts superior when he is around women by saying that the women he was talking to should be pleased that they are talking to him. Over the course of the play the audience realizes that Nora stamps herself as an independent women who does not reply on men and rejects the idea false idea of marriage and the burden of motherhood and won’t give into male dominance even though the male characters in the play are held higher than the
The roles of women have changed substantially throughout time. During the 19th century, it was normal for a man to dominantly rule his household. Ibsen wrote the play, A Doll House, in hopes of demonstrating and criticizing the marital roles of his century. It is clear Ibsen believed in a world that is equal. In this play, Ibsen created characters that struggled to escape these impractical expectations. Ibsen’s play, A Doll House, is a symbol of his view towards feminism during the 1800s and shows the effects caused by such a problem; evidence of this can be found in the similarities of his characters to the average woman of this time period, the theme of his play, and how these characters relate to women of today’s time.