A Doll's House By Henrik Ibsen Essay

The play, A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen is not only about the Helmers’ marriage, but also about the institution of marriage itself. There are three key points that appear in the play in which Ibsen highlights what detrimental effects could occur when a marriage is unequal. In the first act, we can observe and agree that within the Helmers’ marriage there is an imbalance of power. Helmer says to Nora, “What are little people called that are always wasting money?” To which Nora replies, “Sprendthifts—I know” (Abcarian, Klotz, and Cohen 165). In this scene not only is Nora practically begging Torvald to give her money, but then he constantly replies a belittling fashion. Torvald knows he is her only way of being able to have money and squeezes every bit of satisfaction out of having her beg him to give her some cash. Ibsen points out the imbalance of power in this scene by portraying Torvald as having the upper hand. In another part of the act, we catch on to the obvious fact that Nora is submissive but alongside has a manipulative demeanor. Nora declares, “Christine is tremendously clever at book-keeping, and she is frightfully anxious to work under some clever man, so

Then Torvald arrogantly addresses Mrs. Linde and says, “Very sensible, Mrs. Linde” (Abcarian, Klotz, and Cohen 175). Nora simply caters to Torvalds ego to get her way. Her end goal was to get her