In the first act of the play, A Doll’s House, Nora, wife of Torvald Helmer is a victim of society. The first example we see this is in act 1 the scene when Nora decides to save Torvald in his deteriorating health condition. Since Nora could not borrow money legally to be able to take him to Italy, she ends up forging her father’s signature to get a loan. She steps out of the societal boundaries drawn for her as a woman. Nora only decides to get the money because it isn’t within her reach and also for the right intention. Mrs. Linde, a close friend to Nora, questions her about her borrowing money without Torvald’s consent. She ends up calling Nora imprudent. “Listen to me, Nora dear. Haven’t you been a little bit imprudent?” Nora replies “It …show more content…
The first example we see this is in act 2 when Torvald focuses more on what society thinks of him, or his reputation. He tries to live up to the societal expectations. He cares about what society thinks and wants to maintain a strong role in the family. In all this, Nora’s opinions are ignored and only Torvald has a say on everything. As the male and husband of the entire family, he feels that it is his duty to be the breadwinner, the provider and the head of the household. He decides to fire Krogstad by sending him a dismissal letter. “Come what will, you may be sure I shall have both courage and strength if they be needed. You will see I am man enough to take everything upon myself” (Ibsen 31). This is a quote Helmer says meaning he believes he can bear both his and Nora’s burdens by whatever comes from firing Krogstad at the bank. This shows that Torvald really doesn’t care about Nora’s opinions and suggests that Nora won’t be able to handle anything and that she is …show more content…
The first example we see this is in act 3 when Nora’s big secret has been let out. Torvald is angry at Nora and blames her for everything including putting him under Krogstad’s power. Nora at least thinks her husband would take the blame himself but he doesn’t. This shows that Nora finally realizes that she isn’t being treated right. “I must stand quite alone, if I am to understand myself and everything about me. It is for that reason that I cannot remain with you any longer” (Ibsen 58). She stands up to herself and breaks out of the gender roles society is instilling on her and decides to go away. Nora tells Torvald that after eight years of marriage this is the first time they actually have a serious talk. She also says that he never loved her he just thought it was fun to love her (Ibsen 57). Right after Nora makes the decision to leave, Torvald immediately shames her by saying that he forbids Nora from leaving implying that he still has control over her. “You blind, foolish woman!” (Ibsen 58). Torvald calls Nora foolish for choosing to not be controlled by him and going out to reclaim her identity and start a new life. Nora finally finds the courage and strength to free herself. She figures out that she was simply transferred from her father’s hands into Torvald’s. Her father called her his doll-child while also Torvald treats her like a puppet and plays tricks on her. She states how
But listen to this, Kristine - I got something to be proud and happy for.” (Ibsen, 1256), This statement by Nora changes the conversation from Kristine’s troubles and accomplishments and turns everything around so that Nora can brag about what she has done. We also see Nora’s selfishness in the last act of the play when Nora leaves her family. It is understandable for Nora to leave Torvald if she no longer feels loved, but Nora decides to leave her kids
In the 19th century Victorian era, Ibsen delves into a society vastly different from the society we know today. He explores a society in which the men are in control, the men run businesses, the men control the money, while the women manage the home and children. Throughout the play, we see Torvald asserting that dominance over Nora, not only in spoken orders but also in how he speaks to her, “No borrowing, no debt. There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt,” (Ibsen,1879). Frequently, Nora is referred to as "little songbird," "little squirrel," "little spendthrift," or "little Nora."
Torvald tells her that Nora has a duty as a mother and a wife but Nora tells him that “she is an individual”, showing that she is finally putting herself on par with Torvald, and no longer allowing Torvald to control her, but instead she is trying to gain independence and liberation from social norms in order to break free from the “Doll’s House.” She tells him that she must leave him, because “for eight years [she’d] been living with a stranger”, emphasising how there was never any proper communication and mutual understanding between them, and hence no proper marriage, as she didn’t actually know what his true character was like up until that night, as she was convinced all along that Torvald would be the man to take everything upon
'Human being', the easiest word to spell until it holds a significance. The human being is typically defined as any individual of the species Homo sapiens, distinguished from the other organisms by their superior abilities to do different tasks. But does this definition really differs from a man and woman. “Man is defined as a human being and a woman as a female - whenever she behaves as a human being she is said to imitate the male.” ―Simone de Beauvoir After reading the play, “A doll’s House”, I came across through many concepts or opinions of being human.
However, we now see Nora showing a more adult attitude by stating “I’m a human being” in order to get across the fact that she wants to be treated as an equal and that she is done being an object and in particular a doll. Towards the end of the play we see another sense of irony which is the fact that once Nora brings out her true self and sits Torvald down to tell him the truth, he is completely new to this side of Nora and as a result is shocked. However, with Torvald still wearing his costume from the party, this is a reprsentation of the artificial world he lives in whereby `Nora is his doll, but by confronting him, he realizes that she is not the Nora he thought she was, making him realise that his world is a facade, and that just like Nora, he too, is nothing more than a doll in a pretend
Nora is a married woman and has children to take care of. She really has little freedom because of the way Torvald treats her. She is not even I feel as if deep down she knows she is not free and wants something more in her life then to be a entertaining puppet for Torvald. She realizes at the end of the story that Torvald is not good to her because of the way he acted when she told him about forging the signature. When Torvald called her a criminal and other harsh words she realized that she had no true love from Torvald and wanted to be free from him.
He rather expects her to be more compliant, loyal and wants her to follow the social and moral rules strictly, like he does. Torvald’s assertion that Nora’s lack of understanding of money matters is the result of her gender (“Nora, my Nora, that is just like a woman”) reveals his prejudiced viewpoint on gender roles. Torvald believes a wife’s role is to beautify the home, not only through proper management of domestic life but also through proper behavior and appearance. He quickly makes it known that appearances are very important to him, and that Nora is like an ornament or trophy that serves to beautify his home and his reputation. He tells Nora that he loves her so much that he has wished in the past that Nora’s life were threatened so that he could risk everything to save her.
This brings in to question whether or not it is acceptable for a woman to simply walk away from a marriage, involving three children, and not attempt to work things out. Nora realizes she and the life she has been living has been a complete construct of the way society expects her to be. Nora is Torvald’s doll and her life has not amounted to anything more than making sure he and the world around her is happy. The result of the inequalities she is faced with results in Nora being completely unhappy. Torvald fails to recognize everything that Nora does to ensure his happiness.
During act III, Nora asked to speak to Torvald after her performance of the tarantella dance. The following conversation demonstrated her quest for autonomy and freedom, as well as Torvald’s inadequate responses to her arguments and demands; it also showed how deeply connected her unhappy situation is with society’s regulation of the relationship between the sexes. She asserts that she is “...first and foremost a human being”, and her strong conviction that her womanhood, and the expectations associated with it, are secondary, strengthens her resolve to make a radical choice: A break with both husband and, with necessity due to her legal position, her children (Ibsen, 184). During her conversation with Torvald, she proclaims, “I have other sacred duties... The duties to myself (Ibsen, 184).”
Nora is depicted as a dependant, childish and unexperienced woman (as said by mrs.Linde p.34). Torvald sees Nora as a dimwitted person as can be seen on p.89 where Torvald finds it impressive when ‘little Nora’ used to word ‘Scientific experiment’. Evidently Torvald
Torvald exhibits patriarchy in his relationship with Nora as he calls her pet names and controls her eating. Nora’s demeanor is ditzy, carefree
First, Nora is treated like a child by her husband Torvald. Torvald had nicknames for Nora like squirrel or skylark that was often accompanied by demenors like sweet or little. At the end of the play, Nora tells her husband that he treated her like a weak, fragile doll just like her father. Nora’s feelings about Torvald’s attitude is evident in the quote from Nora and Torvald’s conversation ”I was your little songbird just as before- your doll whom henceforth you would take particular care to protect from the world because she was so weak and fragile. ”(Pg.
She does not begin to fully develop as a grown woman mentally until she believes she can no longer take pride in being a good mother. Nora, only trying to take care of her husband, borrowed money without Torvald’s knowing. This guilt causes Nora to exemplify Freud’s reaction formation. (Myers). This occurs when a person who feels one way towards a person acts the opposite of how they are feeling.
Gender representation is a theme in which is common when focusing on the form and content of both Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godott. Even though they are represented in different manners they both highlight the gender norms during the time period they were written. Within Beckett’s writings masculinity is prominent, centralizing the powerful and protruding gender focal point. Whereas Ibsen includes the female perspective and allows the readers to become aware of the gender representation as such.
Towards the end of the play, Nora herself comes to the realisation that she has in fact been nothing more than a ‘doll’, made to humour the men in her life. She states ‘I have been your doll wife, just as at home I was daddy’s doll child.’ This statement concluded the fact that Torvald has never truly seen Nora as his equal, whether that’s by objectifying her or infantilising her. Torvald has many nicknames for Nora such as ‘skylark’ or ‘squirrel’, which while on the surface seem like terms of endearment, are actually ways in which Torvald belittles her, as it allows Torvald to further view