Nora and Kristine have lived contrasting lives and are very different women. Nora living the life of a richer woman and always have been taken care of whereas Kristine has always had to be the caretaker. Even from the beginning of the play it was apparent that the two have had different lives when Kristine makes a remark towards Nora arguing, “I have no father to give me travel money, Nora.” (Ibsen 1734). Stating this it is clear that the two women grew up with separate lives. Nora has always had anything she’s ever wanted. “ No, only lighthearted. And you’ve always been so kind to me. But our home’s been nothing but a playpen. I’ve been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa’s doll-child. And in return the children have been my dolls, I thought it was fun when I played with them. That’s been our marriage, Torvald.” (Ibsen 1772). “ Don’t forget I had a helpless mother and two small brothers. We couldn’t wait for you, Nils; you had such a long road ahead of you …show more content…
Nora who has always lived in her doll house being a puppet is now setting herself free and going off and forming her own opinions and learning about the world, Kristine who has never had her doll house is creating her own with Krogstad and his family. While both of the woman’s doll house look completely different they both will have lived in one. “I need to have someone to care for; and your children need a mother. We both need each other. Nils, I have faith that you’re good at heart – I’ll risk everything together with you.” (Ibsen 1763). “No, that’s exactly it. You don’t understand me. And I’ve never understood you either – until tonight. No, don’t interrupt. You can just listen to what I say. We’re closing out accounts, Torvald.” (Ibsen 1771). “I have to stand completely alone, if I’m ever going to discover myself and the world out there. So I can’t go on living with you.” (Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House, which was written during the Victorian era, introduced a woman as having her own purposes and goals, making the play unique and contemporary. Nora, the main character, is first depicted as a doll or a puppet because she relies on her husband, Torvald Helmer, for everything, from movements to thoughts, much like a puppet who is dependent on its puppet master for all of its actions. Nora’s duties, in general, are restricted to playing with the children, doing housework, and working on her needlepoint. A problem with her responsibilities is that her most important obligation is to please Helmer. Helmer thinks of Nora as being as small, fragile, helpless animal and as childlike, unable to make rational decisions by herself. This is a problem because she has to hide the fact that she has made a decision by herself, and it was an illegal one.
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.
Throughout Act one, Nora’s most noticeable characteristic is her child like personality and her inability to understand the importance of honesty. As the play opens on Christmas Eve Nora comes home with an abundance of extravagant gifts for her family. She also eats some macaroons that she secretly bought that her husband doesn’t allow her to eat. When questioned about the purchase of the dessert by her husband Torvald Helmer, she denies it. Through this act of deception we are able to see that Nora, in denying buying and eating the macaroons is more like a child to her husband. In a normal husband-wife relationship, the wife would have admitted that she did in fact eat them due to the fact that they are on an equal playing field. In this case, Nora was scared to tell him in fear that she will be punished and get in trouble. The deception allows us into Nora’s mind to see that she hasn’t yet understood that if she stand up for herself and says that she did, that with time Torvald will stop treating her like one of his children but instead like the mother and wife that she is. Throughout the first scene yo...
In Henry Ibsen’s play the Doll House, Torvald restraints Nora Helmer’s freedom. Torvald sees Nora as a doll and a child instead of an equal partner or wife. When Torvald does not sacrifice his reputation to save her, Nora realizes that “[she] had been living all these years with a strange man, and [she] had born him three children.” After years of having to live as a doll, Nora has an awakening that kindles her passion for freedom.
This becomes one of the main driving forces of Ibsen’s play. (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. 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
Henrik Ibsen’s screenplay A Doll’s House is a tantalizing story between a married couple and their lives during the 19th century; an era which for woman was highly oppressed, period in time where men ruled the household as business, whereas their wife played the docile obedient lady of the home. Therefor they followed their husbands and fathers implicitly until Nora. Nora sets the stage of her life, starting in her father’s home; she is a stage onto herself. According to Ibsen; little secrets told not only to ourselves but to those around us, find a way to resurface. The ability to understand changes as life’s little secret unfold their true meaning is found in A Doll’s House being played out with Nora learning the art of manipulation of lies.
His appearance in the story proves to be the catalyst forcing Nora to examine how happy she is hiding secrets from her husband for fear that he would not love her if he finds out. Because both are the lone ones in A Doll’s House who see every case about morality situationally, they starkly see how those who do not conform to society’s conventions are greatly ostracized. Krogstad has even experienced this isolation when he is shunned from his work place despite being fairly competent at his tasks. This unfair treatment lingers in Nora’s mind as she struggles with her own worries. To aid her toward the direction of self-honesty, Krogstad and Christine decide that the truth of Nora’s actions must be revealed since they have just finished their talk about their feelings and pasts. Ultimately, Nora realizes that no matter her efforts, she is fake for constantly trying to be someone she is not without finding who she really is. She sees that Torvald treats her horribly like how he treats Krogstad because both committed a similar crime, and she decides that if Torvald acts the same way to her as to a coworker for the sake of appearances, she is like a stranger to him. The two must separate to reflect in order to live a life without deceit, even if it means breaking this perfect doll-house life Nora has meticulously crafted for the past eight
The nineteenth-century play ‘A Doll’s House’ by Henrik Ibsen focuses on the family and friends of Nora Helmer, a Norwegian housewife under control of her husband, who wishes for her to be a status symbol. Nora’s initial behaviour of childishness and naivety reflects the way in which her husband and father have been treating her. However as the play develops, Nora’s independence grows and her persona shifts into an independent individual, with a realisation that she deserves better treatment from those around her.
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.
Lastly, the amount of deception and dishonesty between Nora and Torvald would have broken the marriage even without Krogstad’s extortion plot. Both Nora and Torvald are living in a world of lies, and both of them are not honest with each other and themselves. In the beginning of the play, Torvald and Nora are portrayed to be a perfect couple with a perfect life. Nora is seen returning home after a day of shopping and is greeted lovingly by her husband. Even though they seemed to have had some financial troubles in the past, Torvald just received a new job as a bank manager and everything seemed to be alright, but behind the scenes nothing was alright.
Women belonged at home and were expected to cook, clean, raise children, and keep her husband happy. Women had no freedom and were controlled by their husbands. Women needed to keep up with their appearances to get married off in order to fulfill her “womanly duties.” All women during this time period were taught to desire and work towards this goal. In addition, men have to live up to image of being a strong and a good provider. Men were taught at a very young age that emotion was only for women and not men. The ideal of being perfect and keeping up with appearances is prevalent in Ibsen’s, A Doll’s House. In the play, Torvald told Nora that he did not want her to ruin her “pretty little hands” meaning Torvald believed that it is not good for Nora to do any job that could potentially ruin her best quality, which is her appearance. This further illustrates that society wants women to have no purpose other than to look good. In the beginning of the play, Nora does what society says she should do and be. Nora wants to be appear to be the perfect wife and keep Tovald happy by listening to him and keeping up with her appearences. She wants to appear to have the perfect household and her children are necessary for the perfect family image. Yet, she does not raise her children, the maid does. She only greets and plays with her children. Nora was masking her duty as a mother. Ibsen, titled the
Henrik Ibsen paints a sad picture of the sacrificial role of women throughout all social economical classes in his play “A Doll House”. The story is set in the late 19th century and all minor female characters had to overcome adversity to the expense of love, family and self-realization, in order to lead a comfortable life. While the main female protagonist Nora struggles with her increasingly troubled marriage, she soon realizes, she needs to change her life to be happy as the play climaxes. Her journey to self-discovery is achieved by the threat of her past crime and her oppressing husband, Torvald and the society he represents. The minor female characters exemplifying Nora’s ultimate sacrifice.
The literary work, A Doll’s House, was written by Henrik Ibsen and has been a historical work of literature since the late 1800’s. There are many themes through out the story that impose the different ideals of the 1870’s. Many of the characters reflect the time period through the positions they hold, the activities they do, as well as how they behave and act. Torvald Helmer and his wife Nora traditionally represent the upper-middle class in the way they present themselves, what types of activities they engage in, as well as what they do as an everyday task.
As “A Doll’s House” is a realistic drama each of Ibsen’s character encapsulate a role in his society. Nora as the main protagonist is branded by others as “an extravagant little thing”, and represents what was typical of a housewife. The social construct of a mother’s role restricts her behaviour and actions as a woman and individual. Not only is Nora the subservient woman but her relationship with her husband, Torvald, is reminiscent to that of a father and his “little girl”, reflecting the idea that ownership of a woman is acquired by her husband from her father.
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.