A Doll's House Gender Roles

Sheldin Kaithathara

Ms. Ledman

AP literature and Composition

24 March 2014

Analysis how Ibsen portray the role of both men and woman in A Doll House

Henrik Ibsen's A Doll House portrays the restrictions of life that applied to men and women living in 1870's Norway. Through his literary masterpiece, Ibsen exposes how specific-gender roles implemented as social norm during 1870’s are enforced within the minds of both the men and women to the extend where it affects every aspect on their life. He utilizes imagery, characterization, foreshadowing, diction, foils, and other literary devices to illustrates how the social norms has bounded the minds of men and women to archetypes of Macho male and trophy wife figure. Ibsen wrote this play during the late nineteen’s century, a time where the feminist revolution had not occurred to advocate civil rights and privileges which the females during the late nineteen’s century did not have. In reality, women during this

For instance Torvald calls Nora as: “my little squirrel,” “my little landshark,” “sweet little spendthrift,” and “my skylark.”Ibsen purposely add the “my” to display the possession of woman by the man and the degrading animal names to further display the degree of power the man hold as the woman as the woman are similar to a pet which the man nobly takes care of . This is a prime example of Nora’s dependence and inability to take care of herself: “Oh, it’s absolutely necessary, Torvald, but I can't get anywhere without you help. I've forgotten the whole thing completely.” Ibsen intentionally uses these words to describe how the socially implemented norm of a woman restrict the woman to be inferior to a man as the woman from the start to the completion of their life they are under the constant presences of a dominating figure of a man as a father and later on as a