At different points in time society has expectations for individuals of society. When these expectations are not met it is extremely out of the ordinary and seen as wrong. In the play, “A Doll’s House” most characters act outside of the expectations of society. Due to their actions, each character faces consequences for making decisions that are not in line with society’s expectations. Dr. Rank, Mrs. Linde, and Nora, all make ludicrous decisions that in turn come to change their lives. Dr. Rank’s actions in the play are outside of the social norm and in fact have malicious intent. Throughout “A Doll’s House” Dr. Rank plays the role of a doctor that comes and visits the Helmers’ home and seems to be a good friend of Torvald. Later in Act 2, …show more content…
Linde’s story of how she has lived her life is extremely different than the way most women lived their lives at that time. Mrs. Linde is an old friend of Nora’s that comes to visit her during Act 1 where they share stories about how their lives have been since they last saw each other. During the conversation, we see how much different Mrs. Linde lives than most women of society. In Act 1 Mrs. Linde talks about how she had to, “scrape up a living with a little shop and a little teaching and whatever else I could find” (Ibsen 192). Most women around this time were housewives, working under the patriarchal household they live in and taking care of the family. However, Mrs. Linde was doing the opposite once her husband died and she became a widow. She worked many different jobs and tasks to help her mother and her two younger brothers. Later in Act 3 Mrs. Linde makes a choice that brings Nora and her closer and fixes Nora’s blackmail problem. The importance of this is significant in their relationship; “As traditionally presented, her move to help Nora by marrying Krogstad makes her look noble… in turn, strengthens the relationship between her and Nora” (Benedict “A Doll’s House”) This courageous move by Mrs. Linde is helpful to Nora, but is still outside of societal norm. She marries Krogstad so quickly and without much thought. Most marriages in the 1800’s were built on the woman trusting the man to provide for the family, but Krogstad couldn’t do that. In
The protagonist of “A Doll’s House”, Nora Helmer, has a perfect life that has been made up, planned, and all done for her by the society and her husband, Torvald. Nora is trapped in a “dollhouse” that is her physical and actual home. Her husband has made and built a perfectly arranged life for his doll wife, and their dolly children. Nora’s relationship with her husband appears lovely and pleasant at first. Indeed she loves Torvald, at least that was what is expected of her. Women are supposed to love their husbands and their husband’s opinion is usually prioritized and superior towards the women’s. It was the custom of that time that women are expected to love their husbands and follow what they say. In the play, Torvald pampers Nora and talks to her as if she was a little baby. He treats her with no respect and sees her as nothing more than a doll, a pet, and a property he owns. Torvald sometimes puts up money above Nora’s head and lets her jump for it like a pet. In t...
Linde and the Nurse assumed a character of a female that sacrificed herself to be accepted and to survive. Nora sacrifices herself in borrowing money to save Torvald; she equally loses the children she loves when she decides to pursue her own identity. Mrs. Linde sacrifices Krogstad, who is the true love of her life and marries a man she does not love in order to support her dependent relatives. In order to survive financially, the Nurse has to give up her own child take the responsibility of taking care of other people’s children. Since she has committed the sin of having a child out of wedlock, she thinks that she is lucky to have got a lowly job. During the time of Ibsen, stigmatization was meted at women who had illegitimate children, while the men responsible often escaped
I really liked this play along with the other ones we have read in class. However, this plays seems to stand out to me because it takes a feminist point of view. It is always good to go inside the role of a woman and see how they feel and act upon their own thoughts. Good literature helps us to learn about how other people think and act. Moreover, when we can relate the characters actions to our lives or the world around us the meaning is more personal and beneficial. For some reason, I feel like many women out there really do feel like Nora. They are trapped in economic circumstances because it is the safe way to go. Many times woman do not truly love their husbands and are rather there just to live a safe and comfortable life. Even though I am not a woman I feel Nora's pain and her urge to "break free." It is the social constraints of society that despise woman to "break free," but Nora defies these constraints.
Torvald, a character who is a typical Victorian era husband, with a sweet wife, three children, a nanny, a maid and a well paid job; would have represented a large percentage of the play’s male audience. Only people, who were well off as Torvald, could go to the theatre and have such luxuries, in that period of time.
The plot of A Doll’s House begins on Christmas Eve where Nora makes preparation for Christmas. Her old friend Mrs. Linde arrives who explains that her husband has died and that she needs to find a job. Nora agrees to ask her husband to give Linde a job at the bank. Nora tells her about borrowing money from Krogstad to pay for the trip to Italy for her and her husband. She explains that Torvald doesn’t know that she paid for it. Later, Nora asks Torvald again not to fire Krogstad because if he gets fired he will Torvald how he lent Nora money but Torvald refuses. Then Dr. Rank enters and tells Nora about his worsening illness and Rank tells Nora that he loves her. After Rank leaves, Krogstad enters, angry about his dismissal and he leaves a letter to Torvald explaining Nora’s entire crime in the letter box. Nora tells all this to Mrs. Linde who later explains to Krogstad that she left him for money, but that she still loves him. They get back together and Krogstad decides to forget about the whole matter of Nora’s borrowing money. Later, Torvald checks his letter box and finds some letters and two Business cards from D...
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.
A Doll 's house is one of the modern works that Henrik Ibsen wrote. He was called the father of modern drama .He was famous for writing plays that related to real life. A Doll 's House is a three-act play that discusses the marriage in the 19th century. It is a well-made play that used the first act as an exposition. The extract that will be analyzed in the following paragraphs is a dialogue between Nora and the nurse that takes care of her children. This extract shows how she was afraid not only of Krogstad blackmail, but also of Torvald 's point of view about those who committed any mistake. Torvald says that the mothers who tell lies should not bring up children as they are not honest . Nora is also lying to her family and to Torvald. So she is afraid because she thinks she maybe 'poisoning ' her own children. The analysis of this extract will be about of Nora 's character, the theme, and the language in A Doll 's House.
“A Doll’s House” gives the reader a firsthand view at how gender roles affected the characters actions and interactions throughout the play. The play helps to portray the different struggles women faced during the 19th century with gender roles, and how the roles affected their relationships with men as well as society. It also helps to show the luxury of being a male during this time and how their higher status socially over women affected their relationships with women and others during this time period. Torvald Helmer starts off the story with a new job as a bank manager. He has a wife, Nora, who does not have a job in the workforce since that was the man's role.
In the case of `A Doll's House', the marriage of Nora and Torvald is clearly representative of the struggle between individualism and the expectations of society. At the beginning of the play Nora is almost completely immersed in the roles that are set out for her by society - that of a dutiful wife and mother. In her dialogue with Mrs Linde, Nora illustrates how a woman was valued according to how well she fulfilled those two roles. Her sympathy is evident ...
In "A Doll's House", Ibsen portrays the bleak picture of a role held by women of all economic classes that is sacrificial. The female characters in the play back-up Nora's assertion that even though men are unable to sacrifice their integrity, "hundreds of thousands of woman have." Mrs. Linde found it necessary to abandon Krogstad, her true but poor love, and marry a richer man in order to support her mother and two brothers. The nanny has to abandon her children to support herself by working for Nora. Though Nora is economically advantaged, in comparison to the other female characters, she leads a hard life because society dictates that Torvald be the marriages dominant member. Torvald condescends Nora and inadvertently forces Nora to hide the loan from him. Nora knows that Torvald could never accept the idea that his wife, or any other woman, could aid in saving his life.
In the play A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen makes it obvious that Nora loves Torvald because of the things she does for him; for instance, the contract that she took to go on a trip to save Torvald's life. However, Ibsen uses symbolism, as in the contract taken out between Nora and Krogstad; dialogue, and in Nora's blatant confessional on the forged contract to develop Nora's love for Krogstad in very subtle manner. The first sign of Nora's love for Krogstad came from the contract she made with him before the story began. Nora felt that she could only trust Krogstad to make the contract with. She could have gone to anyone else; however, she still ended up going to him.
Who's Needs Should Be Met? "Putting yourself first doesn’t mean you don’t care about others, It means you're smart enough to know you can't help others if you don’t help yourself first" During a certain era, it was selfish to put yourself and your needs before other's needs. Many thought that putting everyone in front was humble and that is what they should strive to do. For example, if a mother was unhappy in a marriage and wanted to leave, the people in her community would frown upon her because, saying she was being selfish. Many saying she should stay in the marriage for her children's sake, completely disregarding how it affects the mother.
The women had very little influence on what their husbands thought, how they acted, or what they did. Nora followed many of Torvalds’s commands, allowing him to hear little of what she did behind his back. In a scene where Krogstad asked her for a favor to convince Torvald to let him keep his position at the bank, Nora responds with, “What should make you think I have any influence of that kind with my husband?” (24). This proves that Nora would have little effect on her husband. Many of the times she tried to talk to him, he would easily demean her. He would call her his “little skylark” or other names what would make her feel like a child with little power over him. During the 1870’s women had a hard time finding positions in their home and in life without the influence of their husband. It wasn’t until after the 1870’s that women officially started to gain more rights, such as voting, divorce rights, and property claims.
A Doll House was a play written well ahead of its time. This play was written in a time when it was considered an outrage for a woman such as Nora not only to display a mind of her own, but also to leave her husband in order to obtain her freedom. This play relates to the Art Nouveau and Edwardian period because just as the furniture and clothing were considered decorative pieces, so were women. Women were expected only to tend to the husband's and children's needs. Women were not supposed to do anything without first consulting the husband and certainly never do anything without his prior knowledge and approval. Women were expected to be at home and always looking presentable for their husbands.
Ibsen deliberately chooses to show Nora’s true self by revealing it in conversations between her and other characters; Mrs. Linde is one of these minor characters who is juxtaposed against Nora. Mrs. Linde married primarily for financial security and future ambitions, while Nora sincerely believes that she married Torvald for love and happiness. This provides a conflict for the apparently childlike Nora as she realizes that her partner in the marriage probably didn’t marry her for the same reason. Also, an example of dramatic irony arises at the end of the play when Mrs. Linde’s relationship with Krogstad revives again, while Nora’s marriage to Helmer crumbles. As Nora unhappily but determinedly leaves her home for a different life, Mrs. Linde’s happiness seems to be just beginning: "How different now!