I believe Torvald is an insecure man who cares only about appearances. Nora is nothing more than a possession and an object of beauty to him. I also think he is very controlling and shows it in the way he restricts Nora from eating sweets and even how she should dance. In the beginning I believed Nora was just a careless women who cared too much about expensive things but she is also lost. She has grown up being molded by her father and then married off to Torvald who molded her into something he wanted as well. She has never known independence and has no identity. I don’t really feel sympathy for Torvald because he only truly cares about looking the part in society. He cares little about his relationship with his family as long as they seem perfect to others. He did not care that Nora’s intentions were good and came from devotion or that she only wanted to help her husband. He has always treated Nora as a child and shows no respect towards her. I do believe Nora should not have been keeping secrets from Torvald but I can understand it was her way of having a sort of independence. Plus, in the time they were living in, she did not want to make Torvald feel emasculated. …show more content…
His last line gives me hope that he could begin to understand how to respect Nora as an individual but it could be too late. Nora does not give any hint that she will return to her children or her “marriage”, and I don’t think she feels obligated to come back either. But Nora has lived her whole life in good conditions and is used to a certain life style. She sates she will live with her friend, but life will be hard for her and society will look down on her. I think there is a good chance she will end up going back home to Torvald and her kids in hopes he will change his ways and finally treat her as an
In the play, the audience sees it from Nora’s perspective. Nora is Torvald’s little squirrel, his little, insignificant squirrel. Nora is worthless to Torvald and she only realizes in the end how foolish she is to think that he will
When Nora decided to leave her marriage behind this ended up being a turning point in Torvald’s attitude to Nora. While at first he was convinced that she would not really go calling her actions insane and childish, he is now taking what she says seriously and even offering to change for her. This shows that there is a part of Torvald that does perhaps truly love Nora. Although Torvald doesn’t want her to go, the fact that he agrees to give her his ring and not argue with her shows that he finally respects her wishes and ability to make decisions for herself.
Nora Helmer was a delicate character and she relied on Torvald for her identity. This dependence that she had kept her from having her own personality. Yet when it is discovered that Nora only plays the part of the good typical housewife who stays at home to please her husband, it is then understandable that she is living not for herself but to please others. From early childhood Nora has always held the opinions of either her father or Torvald, hoping to please them. This mentality makes her act infantile, showing that she has no ambitions of her own. Because she had been pampered all of her life, first by her father and now by Torvald, Nora would only have to make a cute animal sound to get what she wanted from Torvald, “If your little squirrel were to ask you for something very, very, prettily” (Ibsen 34) she said.
...rriage. We are finally able to see who Nora is and why she acts the way she does. When Torvald found out about Noras secret he became infuriated. He called her a liar and said that he should have seen something like this coming due to how she was raised. At is at this very moment that Nora realizes that she isn’t happy and that for the first time ever she is seeing the true Torvald. Before, they had been merely coexisting and were just going through the motions of husband and wife. It was there that she realized she didn’t love him and he didn’t love her.
Torvald is constantly referring to her through the use of pet names such as (quote pet names from book) and only ever refers to her by name when he is scolding her. Not only does Torvald see her as his doll, but also as her child (quote near end of story). By keeping Nora dependent and obedient to him, he plays the role of Nora’s second father. Nora eventually sees that her daughter is being treated in the same manner that she was her entire life, as a doll. In comes Mrs. Linde, Nora’s childhood best friend, whom she greats rather hesitantly.
Within the context of modern times, Nora's crime appears almost daring and creative, rather than completely criminal (Egan 67). In comparison, Torvald's reactions to Nora's crimes seem almost cruel and unimaginative. When he scolds Nora's father for a similar failure to secure proper signatures and condemns Nils for doing the same, he appears to be an unsympathetic individual. He scolds people and judges them for their actions without considering why the may have done what they did.
Nora’s behavior towards Torvald in expecting him to fall on the grenade that Nora created was in fact unreasonable. Also, at the end of the scene when Nora decided to abandon Torvald and her children was also unreasonable. Ultimately, Nora was unreasonably hard on Torvald and showed no consideration towards her children’s need of their
This simple act of dishonesty is representable of Nora 's character and the relationship that her and Torvald share. Nora also hides from him a large debt that she has because of a loan she took out behind his back. Torvald, similar to many men during this time period, seems to have ownership over his wife. He tells her what she can and can not eat, how to dress, etc. Even Though it seems that Torvald loves Nora. he is constantly belittling her and treating her like his “doll” to play with. He uses dehumanizing pet names such as “My little lark”, “Squirrel”, and “Spendthrift”. At the end of the play, Nora has an epiphany and realizes that torvald doesn 't truly love her. His constant degradation is part of what lead to her to leaving in the
This shows that Torvald is more interested in Nora physically than emotionally. He feels that it is one of Nora's main duties as his wife to physically pleasure him at his command.
A contrasting difference in the characters, are shown not in the characters themselves, but the role that they play in their marriages. These women have different relationships with their husbands. Torvald and Nora have a relationship where there is no equality. To Torvald Nora is an object. Hence, she plays the submissive role in a society where the lady plays the passive role. Her most important obligation is to please Torvald, making her role similar to a slave. He too considers himself superior to her.
Nora’s realization, however, gives her the courage to sit Torvald down and tell him she’s done being his doll. She takes a stand for herself, telling Torvald he never truly loved her. “I mean, then I went from Papa’s hands into yours. You arranged everything to your own taste, and so I got the same taste as you - or I pretended to; I can’t remember. I guess a little of both, first one, then the other.
Torvald is the only one in the family who works and provides for his family who needs to survive in their lifestyle. Because of this, Nora must always go and ask for money from Torvald, hoping for his acceptance of her using his income. Nora also had no possessions to her name because when a woman got married, all her possessions were considered under the control of her new husband.... ... middle of paper ...
Torvald is extremely cautious about how he is perceived by other people. He would do anything to keep his honourable image, even if it involves him doing something dishonourable. Another way the relationship between Nora and Torvald will end is from Nora’s desire for her own identity. Even though it might seem that without Krogstad’s extortion plan, Nora would have never developed her need for an identity, but she has shown signs of a new identity well before Krogstad tried to extort Nora from his job.
Nora, Torvald’s wife, is characterized to be a child in the body of an adult woman shown
Nora’s life struggle began at a young age. Her father treated her like an inhuman object, and now her husband has done the same thing. After many years of maintaining her “perfect” life, Nora could no longer live like this. She finally stands up for herself and makes a choice to leave her family. This decision is completely reasonable. It is unimaginable to think anyone could treat another person so crudely. No person should be molded into being someone they are not. It is unfair to treat a loved one like an object instead of an equal human being. Unfortunately there are many women today who find themselves in the same position in Nora. Many of which do not have the strength to confront, and to pry themselves from grips of their abusers. It is possible that the greatest miracle will be Nora, out on her own, finding her true self.