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Nora's morality in a doll's house
Nora's feminist actions in a doll's house
Analysis of Doll's house by Henrik Ibsen
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The majority view of “A Doll’s House” is that Nora is viewed as a heroic character, who stands for a movement, but, in actuality, reality, Nora should not be viewed as anything, but a bystander of the feminist movement. The feminist movement in this story is defined by the negative action of men in “A Doll’s House.” Through the actions of men, Nora is view as the good person in the story and moral character. This should not be the case, Nora is a horrible person and should not be viewed as a good moral character; Nora is more like a false prophet of the feminist movement characterized by her interactions with Torvald, and interactions with other characters from the play. Through the actions of men, Nora is view as the good person in
Ibsen felt that, rather than the supremacy of men, husband and wife should live as equals and be free to become their own human beings. For example, Templeton uses an article from 1898 about Ibsen’s response to his plays at a Women’s Rights League convention. “Ibsen was inspired to write A Doll’s House by the terrible events in the life of Laura Petersen Kieler, a long life friend of Ibsen” (Templeton 21). This proves his view came from inspiration from men’s actions and not from a female’s. Henrik Ibsen viewed the life of Laura Petersen Kieler as tragic from action’s of men due to the men she surrounds herself with. The men in her life caused the feminist movement represented in “A Doll’s House” as they did not treat the women as they treated them as their equals and oppressed their women and pushed their views aside. Ibsen’s male character, Hemler saw the concept of marriage as something that should be fair, when he opening to Nora, Hemler said "Well, we will share it, Nora, as man and wife should. That is how it shall be.”, and Nora still doesn’t want that and chooses not to be with him. (Ibsen 15) Nora is not a feminist; Hemler agreed with the same stance of the feminist movement and quietly does more than Nora. Hemler, is the true hero for the feminist movement in this play and not
In Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll House, Ibsen tells a story of a wife and mother who not only has been wronged by society, but by her beloved father and husband because of her gender. Nora left her father’s house as a naïve daughter only to be passed to the hands of her husband forcing her to be naïve wife and mother, or so her husband thinks. When Nora’s husband, Torvald becomes deathly ill, she takes matters into her own hands and illegally is granted a loan that will give her the means to save her husband’s life. Her well guarded secret is later is used against her, to exort Torvald, who was clueless that his wife was or could be anything more than he made her. However, Nora has many unrecognized dimensions “Besides being lovable, Nora is selfish, frivolous, seductive, unprincipled, and deceitful” (Rosenberg and Templeton 894). Nora is a dynamic character because her father and her husband treat her as a child and do not allow her to have her own thoughts and opinions, as the play progresses she breaks free from the chains of her gender expectation to explore the world around her.
“There are two kinds of spiritual law, two kinds of conscience, one in man and another, altogether different, in women. They do not understand each other; but in practical life the women is judged by man’s law, as though she were not a woman but a man.” Those words were said by the great Henrik Ibsen himself. Henrik Ibsen was born on March twentieth eighteen twenty eight in Skien, Norway. He grew up in poverty following the demise of his father’s business. He was exiled to Italy, and then moved on to Germany. Ibsen wrote A Doll’s House in 1879, while in Germany. He sought to question social practices in the real world, and women’s position in society. He was commonly known as “The Father of Modern Drama”. Ibsen’s A Doll’s House was published in 1879 and first performed shortly after in the same year and month. The play turned out to be very controversial, which lead Ibsen to write an alternate ending. The play was later turned into a television show and multiple movie adaptations. (Galens 106,107 ) Ibsen creates many static and strong characters that help convey his message. Nora Helmer is the play’s protagonist and wife of Torvald Helmer. Torvald, Nora’s husband, is shown to be extremely controlling and dominating. He often treats Nora like a doll or child. There are many relevant themes in the play such as: appearance and reality, pride, honor, sexism, and the search for self-identity. Nora’s life as a married woman is overall symbolized by a doll. Henrik Ibsen’s characters Nora, Christine, and Torvald perfectly depict the marital and societal trends of the 19th century; while further explaining the choices some made leading to a more feminist and gender equal nation.
Nora is perceived as a helpless women, who goes out and wastes money that was earned by her husband. To Torvald, Nora is merely a plaything, which could be what the title of the play, "A Doll House", was hinting at. He found her helplessness to be attractive, because he was the one that was in control. For instance, when they received the Bond from Krogstad, Torvolld said, "I wouldn't be a man if this feminine helplessness didn't make you twice as attractive to me" followed by "It's as if she belongs to him in two ways now: in a sense he's given her fresh ...
Nora is portrayed to be representative of women of this time. The social distinction between men and women were very well-marked in the home. As W. E. Simonds said in his review of Henrik Ibsen’s work, “She is happy in her “doll-house,” and apparently knows nothing outside her home, her husband, and her children.” Women were expected to handle the household affairs and staff. Men were expected to work outside the home as the primary breadwinner, but the home was his castle run by his wife. Nora's responsibilities include the management of the household staff, and household expenses but as expected of the time, Nora’s husband gives her a household expense budget as well as in...
Although Ibsen has alluded to the fact that he was not a part of the women's movement, his brave portrayal of women in their socially confined positions can earn him the title of 'feminist writer.' In two of Ibsen's most famous works, A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler, the main characters are females who strive to be self-motivated beings. Because of the male-oriented society that dominates their lives, which resembles the world women had to deal with at the time when Ibsen created his works, the confined characters demonstrate their socially imposed roles. "Ibsen's Nora is not just a woman arguing for female liberation; she is much more. She embodies the comedy as well as the tragedy of modern life," insisted Einar Haugen, a doyen of American Scandinavian studies, over twenty years later, after feminism has resurfaced as an international movement (Templeton 111).
In the story A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen returns to one of his most vital ideas: the social misunderstanding/lie of the duty of the female. Nora Helmer is a devoted wife to her husband and children. She also goes out of her way to try and help her husband Torvald Helmer in any way that she can. However, once Krogstad (a bank teller whom Nora is indebted to) comes in the picture, he causes some major conflict between Nora and Torvald. From this major conflict, it is shown that throughout the entirety of the story Nora has been trapped by the conventions and mentality of her society.
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 of Torvald. Torvald has a very typical relationship with society.
I say this because there is no doubt that A Doll's House has long been seen as a landmark in our century's most important social struggle, the fight against the dehumanizing oppression of women, particularly in the middle-class family. Nora's final exit away from all her traditional social obligations is the most famous dramatic statement in fictional depictions of this struggle, and it helped to turn Ibsen (with or without his consent) into an applauded or vilified champion of women's rights and this play into a vital statement which feminists have repeatedly invoked to further their cause. So in reading responses to and interpretations of this play, one frequently comes across statements like the following:
A Doll’s House is set during a time when neither men nor society treated women as equals. Women were expected to be content as dutiful housewives. Nora and Torvald’s relationship reflects the unbalanced society. In Torvald’s eyes men are superior to women. Preoccupied with how society perceives him, he is appalled at the thought of others believing that his wife would have any input whatsoever in his decisions; “Do you suppose I am going to make myself ridiculous before my whole staff, to let people think I am a man to be swayed by all sorts of outside influence?” (Ibsen 35). Torvald controls practically everything; he finds power in her weakness and declares to her “I should not be a man if this womanly helplessness did not just give you a double attractiveness in my eyes” (Ibsen 64). Nora only has say over insignificant aspects of daily life, such as shopping or decorating for Christmas. In the beginning she is not bothered by the fact that Torvald treats her like his possession. Her father also treated her as an object, so she believes that is how they express their love for her. By the end of the play Nora comes to the heartbreaking realization that Torvald and her father have held her back by using her for...
In A Doll’s House, which ‘opened the door to a whole new world for women2’, Nora Helmer, wife to Torvald Helmer, is treated insignificantly by her husband. This is in relation to the title of the play. A doll is not a human being; it becomes what its owner makes of it. It does not have a role to play in public life. In the final act of the play, Nora certainly disputes this, by saying in the final act that ‘before everything else I’m a human being.’
A Doll’s House illustrates two types of women. Christine is without a husband and independent at the start of the play whereas Nora is married to Torvald and dependent on him and his position at the bank. Both begin at different ends of the spectrum. In the course of the play their paths cross and by the end of the play each woman is where the other started. It appears that a woman has two choices in society; to be married and dependent on a man or unmarried and struggle in the world because she does not have a man.
I say this because there is no doubt that A Doll's House has long been seen as a landmark in our century's most important social struggle, the fight against the dehumanizing oppression of women, particularly in the middle-class family. Nora's final exit away from all her traditional social obligations is the most famous dramatic statement in fictional depictions of this struggle, and it helped to turn Ibsen (with or without his consent) into an applauded or vilified champion of women's rights and this play into a vital statement which feminists have repeatedly invoked to further their cause. So in reading responses to and interpretations of this play, one frequently comes across statements like the following:
At the beginning of "A Doll's House", Nora seems completely happy. She responds to Torvald's teasing, relishes in the excitement of his new job, and takes pleasure in the company of her children and friends. Nora never appears to disagree with her doll-like existence, in which she is cuddled, pampered and patronized. As the play progresses, Nora's true character appears and proves that she is more than just a "silly girl" as Torvald calls her. Her understanding of the business details related to the dept she incurred in taking out a loan to help Torvald's health shows her intelligence and her abilities beyond being merely a wife. The secret labor she undertakes to pay off her dept demonstrates her determination and ambition. In addition, her willingness to break the law in order to aid her...
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is a realistic drama that serves to highlight the hypocrisy and the cultural conflicts of the Victorian society. It portrays the state of women rights and the suppressed role of women in that period. Repressed by the society’s norms that dictates women to be submissive to the husband, the drama follows Nora’s path to self-realization and individual fulfillment as she goes against the social injustice. Furthermore, the drama shows the effects of poverty in women, whose lives as a result are dictated by circumstances rather than their own choices and actions.
During the time in which Henrik Isben's play, A Doll?s House, took place society frowned upon women asserting themselves. Women were supposed to play a role in which they supported their husbands, took care of their children, and made sure everything was perfect around the house. Nora is portrayed as a doll throughout the play until she realizes the truth about the world she lives in, and cuts herself free.