A Doll's House Man Vs Women

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What is the most crucial aspect of having a real, long-lasting marriage between a man and a woman? Is it feeling of true love? Is it physical intimacies? Or is it adequate financial support to each other? The drama A Doll House written by Henrik Ibsen proposes one facet of a stable relationship by comparing two women living in the 19th Century regarding relation to a man. Nora, a mother of three kids, has illegally borrowed money for the trip to Italy as living there will cure the illness of her husband, Torvald. Without letting him know, Nora, with no significant job, stays accommodatingly to her husband's satisfaction and be careful about the use of money that she begged for from her husband to pay off the loan. Despite all those sacrifices, …show more content…

In this drama, Nora’s realization of Torvald’s attitude serves as a starting point of being reticent about her actions. After Nora found out that Torvald is a man of “No debts! Never borrow!” personality, Nora lies that the money that they used to go to Italy is from her father instead of saying she borrowed the money by forging her father’s signature(799). Furthermore, Nora tells Torvald that she needs money to buy expensive clothes and gifts for the family, but behind Torvald, she has to be thrifty to set aside some money to pay the debt. Even though she did all those things silently to prevent an argument, she does not realize that the truth will be revealed sooner or later and Torvald will get bitter about it anyhow. When Torvald finds out Nora’s loan secret, he describes Nora as “ a hypocrite, a liar- worse, worse- a criminal!” and also mentions that her action is disgusting, shameful, immoral(845). At this point, late leakage of her big lies even hurts Nora’s feelings because she does not get any little appreciation from her husband for all that she sacrificed and lied to save his life. More importantly, it makes her see no potential for her to continue a relationship with a man who does not understand her struggles and keeping secrets for the sake of him. In this case, even though Nora tells lies to avoid …show more content…

Beyond hiding secrets, staying in accord with her husband’s likes to please him ultimately leads Nora to puzzle the essence of her marriage. At the beginning of the play, Nora mentions to her friend, Mrs. Linde that she will tell Torvald about her big secret “when I’m no longer so attractive… Torvald loves me less than now, when he stops enjoying my dancing and dressing up and reciting for him” (807). It suggests that Nora’s marriage is not constructed with sincere love. She does not see Torvald as someone that she desires to live with for life. Instead, she considers her marriage life as a limited period during when she and Torvald seem to be fond of each other. Plus, it also suggests that acting like a lovely naggy child, dancing and staying pretty in front of Torvald does not reflect the real image of Nora. She does those things to get kindness and delights from Torvald, and to keep Torvald call her “my squirrel,” “my sweet little lark,” “my little songbird”(799, 801, 818). In fact, that makes her blind from the real purpose of her marriage. Worse is the more Nora acts like a childish woman to Torvald, the more Torvald sees her as a treasure that he needs to care to get pleasure on rather than as a life partner that he should respect. Moreover, when Nora finds out Torvald’s selfishness and how he cares only for his sake after Nora’s big

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