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Lies and deception in a doll's house
How lies and deceit are exposed in a doll's house
How lies and deceit are exposed in a doll's house
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In the dramatic play, “A Doll House”, Torvald comes across as an over controllable and degrading husband towards his wife, Nora. He becomes more overbearing throughout the play, thus treating his wife more as a child than a woman. Interactions between Torvald and his wife are displayed more as a father talking to his child. In his head, Torvald believes that he is better than the rest and his mentality is easily displayed through his actions towards not only Nora, but others as well. Torvald is depicted as a moralistic being who has a mindset that a husband must hold the most power within a marriage.
In the beginning of act I, Torvald uses phrases that are seen as degrading towards his wife. “When did my squirrel get in?” (Ibsen, 1106) Torvald seems to be dehumanizing his wife with pet names. Although Nora keeps the conversation going as if it doesn’t bother her, Torvald believes that he has the most power in the relationship, thus talking to Nora in a childish manner. Throughout this same scene, Torvald shows signs that his work is more important than what his wife asks of him. After Nora asks Torvald to come see what she had bought, he replies that he “Can’t be disturbed” (Ibsen, 1106). Although Torvald then gets up to see what she has bought, it is clear that money is more important than Nora’s demands.
Later on in Act I, Torvald stereotypically describes women as frivolous money spenders. “Nora, Nora, how like a woman! […] you know what I think about that. No debts! Never borrow!” (Ibsen, 1107) In this scene, Torvald vaguely hints at how women in general love to spend the money in the relationship, whereas the men are the breadwinners.
Towards the end of Act I and opening of Act II, Nora tries to persuade her husband int...
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...8) Torvald sees himself as a husband who is trying to protect his wife from everything.
Ibsen’s play, “A Doll House” was highly influenced by the gender roles of the twentieth century, which was when he chose to write the play itself. Within his time period, woman were portrayed as inferior counterparts to men. “Women were denied participation in public life; their access to education was limited; their social lives were narrowly circumscribed; and they could not legally transact business, own property, or inherit.” (A Doll’s House) The way women were portrayed in the twentieth century reveals Ibsen’s reasoning for creating such a husband, Torvald. Nora seems to be inferior towards Torvald because of the gender roles set back in previous generations. Throughout the play, Torvald undoubtedly provides evidence that he depicts Nora more as a child than a wife to him.
Upon the first glance of Torvald and Nora’s relationship, Nora is returning from a day of Christmas shopping. She is acknowledged by her husband’s greetings of belittling pet names that he uses in an inconspicuous thus unnoticed form of verbal oppression and a verbal stake to claim her as his property “But if Helmer considers Nora his property, as he apparently does, Nora encourages him to do so. To him, she calls herself his little squirrel and his lark” (Dukore 121). These actions are not Nora’s fault, it appears Nora does not fight his degrading pet names because she knows no difference and also it benefits her in the ability to manipulate Torvald w...
to discover and educate herself. She must strive to find her individuality. That the perception of woman is inaccurate is also supported by the role of Torvald. Woman is believed to be subordinate to the domineering husband. Instead of being the strong supporter and protector of his family, Nora's husband is a mean and cowardly man. Worried about his reputation he cares little about his wife's feelings and fails to notice many of her needs. The popular impression of man is discarded in favor of a more realistic view, thus illustrating society's distorted views. Ibsen, through this controversial play, has an impact upon society's view of the subordinate position of women. By describing this role of woman, discussing its effects, and predicting a change in contemporary views, he stressed the importance of woman's realization of this believed inferiority. Woman should no longer be seen as the shadow of man, but a person in herself, with her own triumphs and tragedies. The exploration of Nora reveals that she is dependant upon her husband and displays no independent standing. Her progression of understanding suggests woman's future ability to comprehend their plight. Her state of shocked awareness at the end of the play is representative of the awakening of society to the changing view of the role of woman. "A Doll's House" magnificently illustrates the need f...
Throughout A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen illustrates through an intriguing story how a once infantile-like woman gains independence and a life of her own. Ibsen creates a naturalistic drama that demonstrates how on the outside Nora and Torvald seam to have it all, but in reality their life together is empty. Instead of meaningful discussions, Torvald uses degrading pet names and meaningless talk to relate to Nora. Continuing to treat Nora like a pampered yet unimportant pet, Torvald thoroughly demonstrates how men of his era treat women as insignificant items to be possessed and shown off. While the Helmer household may have the appearance of being sociably acceptable, the marriage of Torvald and Nora was falling apart because of the lack of identity, love, and communication.
In “A Doll’s House”, when Torvald learns of her secret affairs concerning Nora forging her father’s signature to get a loan to save Torvald’s life, he began to treat her horribly, insulting her in every way that is possible. In that moment, Nora realized that she could no longer live a life as Torvald’s wife anymore. He wanted to live a life in which no one in the society would know what had happened. They would act like they were a happily married couple in public, but in private they would act as though they were brother and sisters. Torvald cared about his image rather than
Torvald is the typical husband of the time of the play. He tries to control his wife and expect her to submit to him. He manipulates her through many different ways. First, he calls her pet names such as "little lark" (3) and "squirrel" (4) and speaks to her in a condescending tone, as if she is a child. He then tries to control her habits so he will not let her eat sweets or spend too much money. In fact, all the money she gets comes from him. He demands that she is subservient and treats her as almost a dog later on in the play. At the end, when Nora's secret is out, he lashes out at her and kicks her out of the house. When he wants her back after he realizes that he will no longer get into trouble for what she did, she does not want to come back, he finally realizes that she does not love him anymore and that his manipulation of her is over. This leaves him in a pickle because he now has to take care of his children without Nora, hardly a good position for him.
The manner in which Torvald talks down to his wife and the apparent. unopposed acceptance of this by his wife, is evidence that, at least. Initially, power firmly rests in the grip of Nora’s husband. Nora’s language is full of indefinite, qualitative statements, demonstrated. especially when talking about Torvald's salary, however, when Torvald speaks.
Quote from Torvald and the money. It immediately distinguishes the differences in gender roles and morals in Norway during the late 1800’s. While Nora is willing to give the porter twice what is owed, we assume she is full of holiday spirit; Torvald has a much more sensible outlook on financial concerns. While he jokingly calls her his little spendthrift, he asserts that her lack of understanding is a result of her gender “Nora, my Nora, that is just like a woman” (Ibsen). Torvald believes that her place in the home is simply ornamental, a trophy that serves as decoration for his home.
He is a smug bank manager. With his job comes 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.
The problem in "A Doll's House" does not lie with Torvald alone. Though he does not help the situation, he is a product of his society. In his society, females were confined in every way imaginable.
Gender roles are also seen in the rules Torvald for Nora to follow. Torvald is the only one in the family who works and provide 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 ...
In the time this play was written, women had very few rights in public society. Ibsen reflects this by portraying Nora as having very few rights in the household. Torvald runs everything, and Nora has no say in how the house is run.
Nora was extremely ecstatic when she brought up her loan of four thousand, eight hundred kroner. She even describes the loan as something she is “proud and happy about” (1.316). Not only was Torvald’s wish of having no debt defied by Nora’s own action, but she has a sense of pride and believes that her actions were justified without any input from Torvald. Nora taking out the loan was her first step in approaching maturity and independence, and it instilled in Nora’s mind a need for an identity different from Torvald’s.
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, the idea of marriage during their time period is very different from the idea of marriage that people have in this time period. In this play, the husband Torvald controls every single thing that the wife, Nora, does. He controls many things in her life, even things like telling her what she can and cannot eat. During the play it seems as if Nora is a type of doll that is controlled by Torvald. Throughout the entire plot, Nora acts as if she is completely dependent on Torvald, even though sometimes she doesn’t need him or his help at all.”You're only playing your little teasing bird game with me; aren't you, Nora? Don't want to? I'm your husband, aren't I (Isben 447)”? Torvald feels that Nora’s main job as a wife is to satisfy him physically more than mentally. Marriages more in this century, are more the husband and wife depending on each other for both physically and mentally attributes, unlike what is happening in this play.
She is a heroic character for her positive development and maturation over the course of the play. Vocalizing for all the women that enjoy independence, her character describes the feeling of being trapped as the primed and proper doll of the household that wishes to break free of her societal responsibilities. In the beginning, Nora is an easily manipulated wife who is made to never dabble in her husband’s affairs. This is due to the belief that women aren’t made to interfere with male dominated business matters. She also endures his seemingly harmless pet names that are actually used as an intimidation technique to make her feel more submissive. Torvald states, “Is that my squirrel rummaging around?” (1728). His subtle technique of using unconventional animals such as squirrels to make her feel inferior, reveals his dominating nature. Torvald’s actions are not only controlling but they are also selfish. Nora, on the other hand, secretly helped save her husband’s life by borrowing money to fund a trip in order to improve his ill health. She did so without seeking recognition and to simply help her husband, which is what a true hero does. The play also outlines the fact that women tend to sacrifice more when they dedicate their whole