Gender Inequality In A Doll's House

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Recommended: Women are largely unappreciated in the play A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

A Doll’s House is a play written by Henrik Ibsen during the Victorian era that portrays the role of women at that time, not only in marriage but in society as well, the gender discrimination suffered quietly by the women and witnessed impassively by the men, and subsequently reflects on the attitude each gender has towards itself as well as towards the other gender. In this paper the following is discussed – how Nora became aware of this inequality and the oppression she faced in the course of the three Acts in the play, what gender equality really meant at that time, and how the writer integrated such messages of inequality and oppression into the play.
In this play Ibsen talks about Nora Helmer’s journey of self-discovery, which led her to find her independence in a time when such acts by women were against norms of the society. Nora is one of the more confusing characters in the play; her attitude and behaviour have a wide span —she displays a childlike innocence at some instances in the play, while at other times she shows maturity and seriousness more suitable to a woman of her age or older. She is introduced in Act One with a chirpy and childish character which can be seen in her interactions with her husband. Frivolity is another character trait of hers that is established in the Act, witnessed in two separate occasions—when she allows the porter to “keep the change” and when she is asked by Torvald if she had “been wasting money again”. Torvald also calls her a “spendthrift” and states that any money he gives her is always spent on “...the housekeeping and any number of unnecessary things.”(Ibsen 6). From all this, we see how shallow he assumes her to be but more importantly, how he expects her to be. In reality Nora was n...

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... the consequences of such changing times—especially the women, who hoped to continue pretending that they were happy with their lives, and that they were truly loved. The play was an eye opener to most of that era. Through the quote “You don’t understand the conditions of the world in which you live” (Ibsen, 77) we can see that women were thought to be naive and inexperienced while the men where knowledgeable and worldly.
In conclusion, the play compels people to see how each gender carried themselves at that time. The inequality that had been prevalent was only subconsciously realized but never talked about outright. Ibsen portrayed Nora as a woman who became aware of this inequality and tried, in her own way, to overcome it. He wanted the men and women to face the facts not cower behind it. The subsequent reaction of the society to the book reflects Ibsen’s su

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