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A Doll's House analysis
Roles of women in literature
Analysis of the Doll's House
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A Doll House: Act I Test 2016
1. Torvald Helmer, patriarch and bread winner, want his wife, Nora, to be his pretty little lark, not disturbing the culture of the household. The names that Helmer calls his dear wife are demeaning and aim to make her feel like a child. However, a wife is not a small child but rather a homemaker in this time period. He wants exactly this, a wife to be waiting with the house cozy for him to come home to after a long day’s work. Furthermore, the use of names asserts his superiority. Terms like “squirrel”, “lark” and “spendthrift” are all playful aside from being degrading. Such actions serve to make Nora below him as she isn’t allowed this “privilege”. Also, the closely guarded study of Torvald Helmer serves as
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Both Krogstad and Nora have proven themselves double-dealing, disregarding morality in some cases and the culture of their households. Krogstad reveals that he has malicious intentions threatening the image of the Helmer family. No one is so far gone as to being unable to find their morality. The only time that one is incapable of being able to be morally upright is when they simply disregard the wrong of their actions. Krogstad shows that he is “dangerous” when he threatens to blackmail Nora. He displays his character and its flaws with his bad intent. He shows himself to be a self-serving individual be simply caring for himself and not the lively hood of Nora and her husband. Nora in her own right has shown us, the reader, her double dealing and secretive nature. Her reputation and appearance in her home to her husband are endangered by the constant fact that she disregarded Torvald’s disdain for debt. She therefore, must struggle to keep her head above water in upholding her unique relationships to the other …show more content…
Nora keeps close relations with her children that are playful but not as nurturing. The nursemaid is present in interactions with the children. In a scene with the children, Nora removes the children’s things throws them around the room, much like a child. Her immature nature is evident, especially since its inferred that she might be leaving it for someone else. Her interactions with her children her children are brief but gleeful. She interacts enough to be healthy and plays games acting childlike. She shuts them out visibly with doors, removing them from one world as she opens another. Nora gives them things very gender based but nonetheless of the intention to make them happy. She appears to be grooming them for their societal role dictated by 19th century patriarchy. This hints that’s maybe she was also raised this way, priming her for the role as housewife. Nora loves her children no doubt but is unable to have a more mature relationship separating their role as parent and child and moves no further than
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...
When Krogstad confronts Nora about her forgery, he tells her, “Now listen to me, Mrs. Helmer. If necessary, I’ll fight for my job in the bank as if it were for life itself” (Ibsen 2200). Krogstad understands the noble reason behind Nora’s crime,exploiting Nora’s secret trying to fix his reputation and get a well-paying job. This demonstrates the power that money and reputation have in society and how predatory people in society act to gain money and status. When Krogstad is laying out exactly what he wants in return for keeping Nora’s secret he asks her, “Are you forgetting that I’ll be in control then of your final reputation?” (Ibsen 2216). Krogstad, especially living with a tarnished reputation, knows the value of status within society. He is willing to threaten Nora’s reputation, and therefore the well-being of her entire family, to ensure the restoration of his status and employment , an act which asserts how predatory a member of society will act keep their honorable standing and keep out others that are not so highly
Nora Helmer was a delicate character and she relied on Torvald for her identity. This dependence that she had kept her from having her own personality. Yet when it is discovered that Nora only plays the part of the good typical housewife who stays at home to please her husband, it is then understandable that she is living not for herself but to please others. From early childhood Nora has always held the opinions of either her father or Torvald, hoping to please them. This mentality makes her act infantile, showing that she has no ambitions of her own. Because she had been pampered all of her life, first by her father and now by Torvald, Nora would only have to make a cute animal sound to get what she wanted from Torvald, “If your little squirrel were to ask you for something very, very, prettily” (Ibsen 34) she said.
...d children. The final mask of Krogstad that is seen is that of love and caring. In the end Kristine goes back to Krogstad stating that she always loved him and only left him because “I had a helpless mother and two small brothers. We couldn’t wait for you” (Ibsen, 1225). In the end it is Krogstad who has changed for the better, not Nora or Helmer. It is the very man that Torvald so easily condemned for his past mistakes.
Nora's nurse, and the nurse of her children as well, Anne-Marie, shows her attitude of Nora as well. In the beginning of the second act, we find Nora in a conversation with Anne-Marie in which Anne-Marie refers to Nora as "Miss Nora," "little Nora," and "poor little Nora." It seems to everyone that Nora not only acts as a child, but is seen as one as well. It is here we realize it is not only the man being overbearing and keeping the woman in what he sees as her rightful position, but the maid also contributes to the indoctrination.
Nora hides the fact that she has done something illegal from Torvald. She is given the opportunity to tell Torvald and maybe get his support or advise on the situation, and she lies to him to hide the truth. She claims that the reason that she does not want Torvald to fire Krogstad is that "this fellow writes in the most scurrilous newspapers...he can do [Torvald] an unspeakable amount of harm"(Ibsen 519). Nora hides the truth and replaces it with lies. Torvald does not know that if he fires Krogstad that the consequences will affect his whole family. Nora could have told him, but instead she decided to hide the truth from her husband.
Nora is the pampered wife of an aspiring bank manager Torvald Halmer. In a desperate attempt to saves her husband's life Nora once asked for a loan so she and her family could move somewhere where her husband could recover from his sickness. Giving the circumstances she, as a woman of that period, by herself and behind her husband forged her dad signature to receive the loan. Now, Nora's lender (Mr. Krogstad), despite her paying punctually, uses that fault as a fraud to pressure her so she could help him to keep his job in the Bank where her husband is going to be the manager. Nora finds out that Torvald would fire Mr. Krogstad at any cost. At learning this, Nora trembles for she knows Mr. Krogstad will tell everything to Torvald. She remains confident; however that Torvald will stand by her no matter what outcome. His reaction though is not what she expected and therefore here is when she realizes that she "must stand quite alone" and leaves her husband.
Although Krostad’s blackmail does not change Nora’s whimsical nature, it opens her eyes to her underappreciated potential. “I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald,” (Find a different quote perhaps?) she exclaims in her confrontation with Torvald. She realizes that she has been putting on a facade for him throughout their marriage. Acting like someone she is not in order to fill the role that her father, Torvald, and society expected her to have.
Nora is a dynamic character. When the play begins Nora is viewed and presented as a playful and carefree person. She seems to be more intent on shopping for frivolous things. But, as time goes on it becomes apparent that Nora actually has a certain amount of seriousness in her decisions and actions in dealing with the debt she incurred to save Torvald’s life. Nora’s openness in her friendship with Dr. Rank changes after he professes his affections toward her. Her restraint in dealing with him shows that Nora is a mature and intelligent woman. Nora shows courage, not seen previously, by manipulating her way around Krogstad and his threats to reveal her secret. After feeling betrayed by Torvald, Nora reveals that she is leaving him. Having
Nora was wife of Helmer and a mother of 3 children. They lived in a house where their nurse Anne-Marie took care of the children and Helene which was their maid took care of the house work. Nora was a stay at home mother and would occasionally take on little jobs in order to make ends meet. Nora has lived her whole life as a puppet. Her life has always been controlled by someone else; first by her father and then by her husband Helmer. “Her whole life is a construct of societal norms and the expectations of others” (Wiseman). “Nora’s father would force his beliefs on her and she would comply with them lest she upset him; she would bury her personal belief under Papa’s. According to Nora, Torvald was guilty of the same things” (Wiseman). Nora has always lived her life according to the beliefs of someone else. She didn 't know how to live life any other way because this is how she was raised. She felts trapped in the life she lived because she knew no other way of living besides her current lifestyle. Due to Nora being controlled her whole life she seemed childish and lacked knowledge of the world outside her house. At the end of the story Helmer decides to show his true colors once his future was threatened. This made Nora realize that she does not love her husband nor does he love her, and decides that is not the life she wants to live. “Helmer: You talk like a child. You don 't know anything of the world you live
Torvald Helmer starts off the story with a new job as a bank manager. He has a wife Nora who does not have a job in the workforce since that was the man's role. Torvald even calls Nora pet names like "my sweet little lark" and "my squirrel”. These nicknames may seem to be harmless and cute, but in reality the names actually show how little he thinks of her and how he’s the one harnessing the power in the relationship. When Torvald says "my little squirrel" he is suggesting that he in fact owns Nora and that she is second-rate to him, since she is seen as little and as a squirrel which are usually frightened, non-threatening creatures. Torvald sees women as both child-like, helpless creatures detached from reality and who are responsible for taking care of the chores and children while staying inside the house.
Torvald is extremely cautious about how he is perceived by other people. He would do anything to keep his honourable image, even if it involves him doing something dishonourable. Another way the relationship between Nora and Torvald will end is from Nora’s desire for her own identity. Even though it might seem that without Krogstad’s extortion plan, Nora would have never developed her need for an identity, but she has shown signs of a new identity well before Krogstad tried to extort Nora from his job.
It was when his job was at risk because of his own crime of forgery that he blackmailed Nora with the crime of forgery she had committed herself. He was conniving and cruel to Nora in his desperation to keep his job secure to continue to be able to provide for his family. In the nineteenth century men played the roles of the provider and Krogstad would stop at nothing to do just that. However, it was when he was reunited with his beloved Mrs. Linde that he sees that he truly doesn’t need to be the breadwinner because he has his love back and her support. “I have never had such an amazing piece of good fortune in my life (Ibsen
Through characters such as Nils Krogstad and Torvald Helmer, one sees how those living in this society worried primarily over their social standing and reputation, while through the character of Mrs. Lindie the reader sees how even women fell into the trap of behaving as “dolls”: doing everything that is expected of them while remaining obedient. Though some of these characters may seem cruel, they have a huge impact on Nora’s character and help push her towards the realization that she is not living as she wants to live. Brunnemer says, “There is an evolutionary process whereby the mini-Nora of the opening scenes becomes the super-Nora of the close” (1). In the beginning of the play, Nora is portrayed as an obedient wife who would never stray from her husband’s wishes, and subsequently society’s expectations. By the end of the play, we see her blossom into an individual who wishes to make her own decisions and follow her own path. Brunnemer also says that, “Nora in having her worst fears materialize, is freed from them” (1). This statement summarizes the ultimate push for Nora’s transformation, by mentioning that she does not fully realize her lack of freedom until her husband discovers the forgery. After the situation passes, and her worst fears are brought to light, she realizes that she does not enjoy the life that she
As the play goes on, Nora seems to transform from her delicate little character into something much more. At the end of act one, Krogstad goes to Nora for the recollection of the money she had borrowed from him. "You don?t mean that you will tell my husband that I owe you money?" (21). Since Nora was wrong in doing so socially, she could not tell Torvald or anyone else about her problem. Not only would that affect their social standard but also Torvald's ego, which inevitably would happen anyway. After Krogstad threatens to expose Nora for forging her father's signature, she realizes that no matter what she does Torvald was going to know the truth. The flaw with...