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Essays on the play A doll by Henrik Ibsen
Essays on the play A doll by Henrik Ibsen
Essay from Henrik Ibsen, "the doll's house
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Recommended: Essays on the play A doll by Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House contained controversy and scrutiny since its first performance in 1879 as audience’s perspectives and cultural views became challenged when Ibsen criticized their relationships and societal standings. Ibsen constructs the plot and characters of his play as a method to voice his opinions toward his audience. In effect, he employs the stock character of Torvald to fall align with societal values and culture and in effect represent his audience. Furthermore, this thus leads Ibsen to grant Torvald his two major characteristics: his obsession of beauty and appearances as he attempts to mainly critique that. Ibsen then constructs his criticisms of Torvald and consequently society through the interactions between Torvald …show more content…
The first major characteristic of society and Torvald that he attempts to castigate consist of the continuous preoccupation with beauty. For example, in act 3’s scene after the Tarantella dance, Ibsen questions “Why shouldn’t I look at my dearest treasure? —at all the beauty that is mine, all my very own?” (Ibsen 55). In this metaphor, Ibsen directly compares Torvald’s marriage with Nora to Torvald possessing some sort of wonderous treasure. This reveals to readers that in the eyes of Torvald he only sees Nora as some inanimate object with major importance on its beauty whereas, the character of Nora contains more traits and aspects passed her elegance. The audience can connect with this characteristic of Torvald as he conforms to the general cultural values of the time that women in marriage persisted as just “trophies” with most importance given to their physical appearance. Consequently, there persisted no pure relationship among a husband and wife. This leads to Ibsen expressing his opinion about this characteristic of society when he states, “This is what our marriage has been, Torvald.” (Ibsen 63). as he uses the character of Nora’s departure to expose Torvald for merely playing with her as if she was a “doll” and not containing a true relationship with her thus highlighting to readers relationships are …show more content…
Clearly, Ibsen criticizes this in the act 2’s scene in which Nora attempts persuade Torvald to forgive the infamous Krogstad for the peace of the family when he states, “Isn’t it an insult to think that I should be afraid of a starving quill-driver’s vengeance?” (Ibsen 35). This metonymy associates “a starving quill-driver” to Krogstad as it reveals Torvald’s opinion toward Krogstad as just a poor writer. His emphasis on view of Krogstad in a negative light causes him to overlook the potential damage to his family socially and financially that he encompasses. Furthermore, this device allows the audience to connect with Torvald as both don’t look past the societal appearances of others. However, Ibsen uses the power Krogstad possesses over Torvald to elucidate his opinion that merely following societal images of individuals serves as an ineffective way of truly understanding someone. Torvald’s obsession of societal appearances again becomes criticized in the act 3’s scene in which Nora separates from Torvald when Ibsen states “An abyss has opened between us—There is no denying it. But, Nora, would it not be possible to fill it up?” (Ibsen 66). In this metaphor Ibsen compares the deteriorative and terrible condition of Torvald and Nora’s relationship to an abyss to bring an effect that the relationship became very dark with no
Both of the authors have manifold of disparities in their plots. Ibsen’s play begins with a cheerful, young wife Nora Helmer, excited for her husband’s new job as a bank director. As the play progressed, Nora revealed that she once secretly borrowed a great sum of money so that her husband, Torvald, could convalesce from a serious illness. She hid this secret from him, and has secretly paid it back in small installments by saving money from her household allowance. Torvald views Nora as a careless and childlike person, and he often calls her his doll. This play also discusses the relationship of Dr. Rank, the family friend of Torvald, and Nora. Devaull states in her article on Nora’s Final Inheritance in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, “Dr. Rank is a rich older gentleman who loves [Nora], and he will die soon” (Devaull 1). When Torvald received his job as the bank director, his first responsibility stood as to remove...
Edvard Beyer quoted in Aderholts translation of the Henrik Ibsen play, “There is hardly a single line that does not have a demonstrable dramatic function…. And all of a sudden single everyday words take on a double meaning of foreboding undertones.” (2) Nora’s “important thing” and Mrs. Linde’s “[y]ou are a child” are just a few exhibits of Ibsen’s double meanings. “Important thing,” the misrepresentation, a secret, laid the foundation of colored building blocks of their eight years of marriage. Is this truly the start of that first lying block Nora so easily laid down? No, it started with the injustices her father played upon her; treating her as his little doll, a doll to play dress-up and present his doting daughter to others. Subsequently, it was not hard for Torvald to continue Nora’s life as a living doll; his own game within as she is a willing subject. “[Quite] right, Christine. You see, Torvald loves me so indescribably, he wants to have me all to himself, as he says.” (Act II 54) Reveals how Torvald wants his toy all to himself; all along Nora knowing this she plays along with the game. While she keeps Torvald from finding out her biggest secret, she knowingly continues to play the role of Nora the doll; helpless without direction from the puppet master. Impressively Ibsen’s suggestions are lines of double meaning and the game of manipulation between Nora and those surrounding
Torvald is judging the way Krogstad goes about life, however, Torvald is in turn following the stereotypes set through Nora’s father and the social demand and therefore providing conflict in Nora’s
This is adequate reason to examine what makes an Ibsen drama unique, or at least similar to his other works, and to expound upon such. Throughout both plays, each main character exhibits a decay from the norm in their social persona. In Dollhouse, Nora who at first seems a silly, childish woman, is revealed to be intelligent and motivated though the play, and, by the play's conclusion, can be seen to be a strong-willed, independent thinker. She develops an awareness for the truth about her life as Torvald's devotion to an image at the expense of the creation of true happiness becomes more and more evident to her. When Nora calls him petty and swears about the house, and when Krogstad calls him by his first name it angers Torvald notably, and this anger at what he sees to be insubordination and improper etiquette heightens her awareness of the falsities being put in place by Mr. Helmer.
Ibsen effectively utilizes this idea in his work, as he displays Nora’s epiphany that she has been treated wrongly. Nora comes to realize that as soon as Torvald’s “fear was over – and it was not fear for what threatened…[Nora,] but for what might happen to [Torvald]” (Pg. 70). In the final scene of the play, Ibsen juxtaposes the responses between Nora and Torvald relating to Nora’s forgery incident. Ibsen establishes that up until her epiphany, Nora had been frightful of the future; Nora’s best interest was to protect her husband and the only thing on her mind was what would happen to Torvald. However, Torvald only worries about himself with fear motivating his actions.
A Doll 's house is one of the modern works that Henrik Ibsen wrote. He was called the father of modern drama .He was famous for writing plays that related to real life. A Doll 's House is a three-act play that discusses the marriage in the 19th century. It is a well-made play that used the first act as an exposition. The extract that will be analyzed in the following paragraphs is a dialogue between Nora and the nurse that takes care of her children. This extract shows how she was afraid not only of Krogstad blackmail, but also of Torvald 's point of view about those who committed any mistake. Torvald says that the mothers who tell lies should not bring up children as they are not honest . Nora is also lying to her family and to Torvald. So she is afraid because she thinks she maybe 'poisoning ' her own children. The analysis of this extract will be about of Nora 's character, the theme, and the language in A Doll 's House.
In the play A Doll House, by Henrik Ibsen, Nora and Torvald’s marriage seems to have been torn apart by Krogstad’s extortion plot, but in reality their marriage would have ended even without the events in the play. Torvald’s obsession with his public appearance will eventually cause him to break the marriage. Nora’s need for an identity will ultimately cause her to leave Torvald even without Krogstad’s plot. Lastly the amount of deception and dishonesty between Torvald and Nora would have resulted in the same conclusion sooner or later. In this essay I will argue that Nora and Torvald’s relationship would have ended even without Krogstad’s extortion plot.
Ibsen writes his play A Doll House to explain the life of a housewife and her struggles with her own actions. Ibsen examines the emptiness in the lives of Nora and Torvald as they lived a dream in a Doll House. Both awaken and realize this emptiness and so now Torvald struggles to make amends as he hopes to get Nora back possibly and then to restore a new happiness in their lives. Ibsen examines this conflict as a rock that breaks the image of this perfect life and reveals all the imperfections in the lives of those around.
In an overview, Ibsen draws out a rather bleak entry of the role of women in all economic classes whom sacrifice their integrity, love, or rather any mortally being in relation to blood. For instance, Nora’s nurse Anne-Marie, had to abandon her daughter to support herself since the father was nonexistent. By being “a poor girl who had been led astray” she found homage in finding a job that was becoming Nora’s caretaker. (Henrik 906) In addition, in act three, at such a loss for principles can be displayed in the heated argument between Torvald and Nora.
...a that an idealistic lifestyle based off of lies and falsehood is in fact, not an idealistic lifestyle at all. At every opportunity Ibsen suggests that behind the façade of marriage, what exists is nothing close to what a marriage should be, and this is exactly what Nora comes to realize nearing the end of the play. The one miracle she had hopped to occur, was that their “Living together could be a true marriage.” It is undeniable that the ideas Ibsen develops that truth plays a crucial role in idealistic living; and when such idealistic lifestyles are built on deceit an individual will eventually undergo an epiphany resulting in a radical understanding of reality. In the case of this play, Nora and Torvald’s relationship disintegrates and she leaves him to find herself and to find a true idealistic lifestyle. As for Nora and Torvald, their marriage is destroyed.
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 from Torvald. Torvald has a very typical relationship with society. He is a smug bank manager. With his job arrive 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.
Ibsen shows just how much these two principals can ruin a person’s life and that society should discontinue the glorification of these ideas. Nora struggles against Torvald for power in their marriage. She uses deceit and manipulation to get what she wants from him since she has no real power of her own. However, Torvald has a great deal of control over Nora’s actions and even her opinions. On page 938, Nora points out that when she lived with her father, “He told [her] all his opinions, so [she] had the same ones… then [she] went from [her father’s] hands to Torvald’s. [He] arranged everything to [his] own taste.” The Helmers struggled for power over each other, and their friend Dr. Rank also experienced a power struggle of his own. Throughout the play, Rank fights against inevitable death. He inherited a disease from his father and has presumably battled the disease his entire life. When he finally deteriorates to his final stage of sickness, he loses the battle and disappears to die. But in addition to power and control, money is also a great motivating factor for the characters in the story. Nora was forced into debt when she borrowed money to cure Torvald of his health condition. She continued making payments on this debt without telling her husband, and the blackmailing from Krogstad as a result of this financial secret almost pushed her to commit suicide. Krogstad had financial
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. In Four Major Plays. Trans. James McFarlane and Jens Arup. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.
Ibsen desires to challenge assumptions as well as rules of Norwegian life, and most importantly wants to depict society accurately, as he meticulously incorporates everyday life. Therefore, A Doll House represents a realistic drama due to the issues involving women, illnesses, and laws within the play, while conveying Ibsen’s desire for controversy and change in Norway’s society. A common woman in Norway, such as Nora, experiences a daily life of oppression, fear, and unjust authority, which exposes societal mistreatment. Society and Torvald Helmer force Nora to look pretty and happy, although “she laughs softly at herself while taking off her street things. Drawing a bag of macaroons from her pocket, she eats a couple, then steals over and listens at her husband’s door” (Ibsen I. 43), which portrays oppression.
“A Doll’s House” is a play written by a Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen. The play was published in 1879, and is a literary piece that triggered almost vigorous reactions from the audience. Moreover, the play was considered Ibsen’s masterpiece and he was determined to provoke a reaction from the public. His intention was to bring awareness to the problem of gender roles in the 19th century society: the role of women who were used as decorations of the household. The title this play, “A Doll’s House”, foreshadows the play’s protagonist, Nora Helmer, and her role in the household. The title of the play suggests that Nora is a doll in her own home.