Examples of Symbolism in 'A Doll's House'

A Doll House written by Henrik Ibsen is about a housewife who realizes later in her marriage she is nothing more than another trophy of her husbands, such as his other symbols of wealth and status. She also realizes she has no understanding of what she desires, or what it means to be a woman really, or in love, or being her own person, and then decides to find out who she really is, outside of living in a "Doll's House" as if she were a plastic perfect doll. She has spent her entire life making others happy and being what they wanted her to be and not asking questions or having opinions. It finally catches up with her. This play is able to demonstrate what society thinks about what women should do or put into their gender roles. This play also displays many aspects of symbolism.

An example would be, the symbolic meaning of the title, "A Doll's House," refers to the female characters in the story. Each woman has a role, and she is expected to fulfill that role without question. The women through the title are portrayed as dolls, inanimate objects bereft of free will, dignity, or intelligence. Nora is the story's best example when describing her relationship with her father, "He used to call me his doll-child, and he played with me the way I played with my dolls," and "he told me all his opinions, so I had the same ones too." This was how she lived her entire life in relation to men. She did what she was told, and she acted in the manner that was expected. She was a belonging not a person.

Some other examples of symbolism would have been the Christmas tree or the letters. The Christmas tree, a festive object meant to serve a decorative purpose, symbolizes Nora's position in her household as a plaything who is pleasing to look at ...

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...nd inner revelation, Henrik Ibsen has written the dramatic and ironic work “A Doll’s House”. A gold mine of imagery, Ibsen foreshadows his story with macaroons, syphilis, and Christmas trees. Most prevalent of this author’s sneaky symbolism is one character’s description of another. The connection made between the heroine and her child-like behavior sets the scene and triggers a clear ripple effect.

The story was interesting for the fact that our society was and/or arguably the same as it was back from the time it was written thinking women had their own particular part in society and weren’t allowed to contribute in any other way beyond their gender roles. I’d like to say that it also shows societal progression in some way versus our views on equality between men and women. I also enjoyed the writing style from Mr. Ibsen from his play writing and poetical dramas.