A Doll's House Wealth Essay

Jamie Wainwright word count: 969

Written task 2: What is the significance of wealth in A Doll’s House?

• The issues involved in A Doll’s House are all related to wealth.

• Wealth creates a divide in society as it represents someone’s class.

• Money can give you financial freedom but not physiological freedom.

• The inability for women to own money gives men a possessive power over them.

• The independence of Norway and its new found Marxism it’s due to its economic rise in wealth.

The significance of wealth is exemplified throughout the play. Money is the catalyst to the issues presented in ‘A Doll’s House’; it constructs the moral

Objects such as Nora is to Helmer, cannot own objects such as money as she is an object herself. Nora is presented at the beginning of the play as seeming to be complacent with life with little understanding of her own imprisonment and unwilling to surpass anyone’s expectations of her. Her little ownership is demonstrated when Nora ‘rings a bell’ to enter the house she occupies, not having a key to her own home. This reveals that even with her husband’s secure place at the bank she still does not own anything of value, her importance depend on the status of her husband. She is just an extension of Helmer greedy and conformist mentality, as he imprisons her, her pure existence is for Helmer to conform to what society expects of him, this is done by having a respectable family. This is just a facade and not a real representation of a companionate family. Nora suppresses her desires to be independent, and not rely on the wealth of

She plays up to her diminutive role when in dialogue with her husband, for example when Nora is referred to being a ‘featherbrain’ in the context of money, she replies ‘you know how we spend and spend’. By accommodating Helmer’s possessive nature Nora is able to gain money the only way that is seen as acceptable for a married women. Moreover, by Nora being subject to this scrutiny, Helmers ego is filled therefore his judgement of his wife is clouded and is susceptible to being manipulated by Nora for money. When she is shown to be obsessed with money, she proves that she has principles concerning who she asks for it. Nora considers asking Dr Rank for money, but then decides against it. She doesn’t want to take advantage and manipulate him and have the same unequal and fictitious relationship that she has with Helmer to be the same with Dr Rank. His love for her could have been manipulated into owning some of Dr Rank’s wealth which she may have known she wouldn’t need to pay back due to his appending death but in doing this she would break the significant factor in their relationship which is they view each other as