Nora, the wife of Torvald Helmer and mother of three children, plays a fundamental role within Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House," published in 1879. Nora's character demonstrates typical characteristics of the `average woman' during the 1870's and 1880's. Women were not regarded as equals according to men; however women did have a large impact on the economy. This was caused by large sums of money spent on several garments, costumes, and accessories. It was customary, not to mention fashionable, for a woman to wear undergarments, a bustle, narrow shoes, and an expensive, lavish dress as well. The appearance of a lady was of utmost importance, so one must recognize that women strove to meet those standards. Nora strives to look and act pretty in order to please Torvald; however she, like many other women during this time period, does not address the manner in which she may have liked to dress or act. This is obvious in "A Doll's House" in Act One. Nora implores Torvald to decide what she will wear to the party. He takes this lightly, and decides moments later. One could conclude at this point in the play that Nora is growing tired of being treated as though she is a child or animal that needs to be tamed or calmed. In spite of her true emotions, Nora plays along with Torvald out of desperation for time, and money. She does not want him to sit down and read his letters, for Krogstad has sent a response to his dismissal that includes Nora's previous actions. It is the mere thought of Torvald gaining consciousness of her faults that creates the initial worry for Nora.
Many women during the 1870's and 1880's began to realize and emphasize their self-worth. Many women yearned for an escape from the confines of the home...
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... considered as an equal to Torvald, and this is quite acceptable. She goes above and beyond, leaving her children to secure their futures. As a wife, as a woman, and a mother, Nora is greater than an equal. She is softhearted, yet hardy enough to escape from the confines of the home; neglecting social and familial pressures in order to secure herself as an individual, not just as a wife and mother.
Work Cited
Ibsen, Henrik. Four Major Plays. "A Doll's House." Oxford University Press. New York: 1998. Translated by James McFarlane: 1961. Page 28.
Bibliography
Santucci, James. "Women in the Theosophical Movement." Originally published in Explorations: Journal for Adventurous Thought
vol. 9, no. 1, (Fall, 1990). http://www.theohistory.org/womenints.html. Visited on April 10, 2005.
In Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll House, Ibsen tells a story of a wife and mother who not only has been wronged by society, but by her beloved father and husband because of her gender. Nora left her father’s house as a naïve daughter only to be passed to the hands of her husband forcing her to be naïve wife and mother, or so her husband thinks. When Nora’s husband, Torvald becomes deathly ill, she takes matters into her own hands and illegally is granted a loan that will give her the means to save her husband’s life. Her well guarded secret is later is used against her, to exort Torvald, who was clueless that his wife was or could be anything more than he made her. However, Nora has many unrecognized dimensions “Besides being lovable, Nora is selfish, frivolous, seductive, unprincipled, and deceitful” (Rosenberg and Templeton 894). Nora is a dynamic character because her father and her husband treat her as a child and do not allow her to have her own thoughts and opinions, as the play progresses she breaks free from the chains of her gender expectation to explore the world around her.
Linde both broke the stereotypical societal binds that constrained most women than. For Mrs. Linde, breaking from those traditional ideals yielded a much more positive result; she gained a family to care for. Nora, however, had to leave hers. And for good reason; even though to most during the time period, Torvald’s attitude towards Nora was common between husband and wife, she saw it as just being an object for him to show off and have for his own enjoyment. We see this clearly all throughout the course of the play, as Torvald attempts to use terms of endearment in an affectionate manner when talking to Nora, he fails. “Frightened little singing-bird”, “squirrel”, and “skylark” are just a few pet names he uses that make it seem that Torvald sees Nora as helpless, fragile, and downright idiotic. He shows no respect for his wife whatsoever but has the audacity to become outraged when Nora announces she is leaving. Torvald felt like Nora was obligated to take his disrespect because that’s what every other woman did, but thankfully (and surprisingly) Nora had an epiphany, one very little females had (and even if they did, few acted upon it). For her to do such a thing, was groundbreaking, even if she is just a fictional character; she probably spurred on women who were in similar predicaments to confront their oppression.
Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860.” Nineteenth Century Literature March 1966: 102-106. Jstor. On-line. 10 Nov. 2002.
Welter, Barbara. "The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860" chap. in Dimity Convictions: The American Woman in the Nineteenth Century. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1976.
At the beginning of A Doll’s House, Nora Helmer seems stable in her marriage and the way that her life has panned out. She doesn’t seem to mind the her husband, Torvald, speaks to her, even if the audience can blatantly see that he is degrading her with the names he chooses to call her. “Hm, if only you knew what expenses we larks and squirrels have, Torvald” (Ibsen, 1192). Nora is notorious throughout Act I to play into the nicknames that Torvald calls her. She portrays that she is this doll-like creature that needs to be taken care of. Furthermore, we see that Nora is excited for her husband’s new job that will increase their income substantially. This is the first mask that the audience is presented with. As the play continues, Nora reveals yet another mask, this is a mask of a woman who so desperately wants to be taken seriously. The audience learns that Nora had previously taken out a loan to save her husband’s life. She proves that ...
In the play, A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, the relationship between Nora Helmer and Torvald Helmer appears to follow normal, conformed to society aspects, relationship. Nora Helmer maintains the roles as a mother and house wife while Torvald continues his role as a father and money maker in the family. Nora has taken care of her children. However, she struggles to conform to social and societal norms as a woman. Torvald continues to work hard as a businessman to support the family as much as he can, also being attracted to Nora. Nora appears as a caring, attractive, and loving woman. She was blackmailed by Krogstad regarding the loan and forging her father's signature who passed away before he would be able to sign the document, which wasn't
The enforcement of specific gender roles by societal standards in 19th century married life proved to be suffocating. Women were objects to perform those duties for which their gender was thought to have been created: to remain complacent, readily accept any chore and complete it “gracefully” (Ibsen 213). Contrarily, men were the absolute monarchs over their respective homes and all that dwelled within. In Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, Nora is subjected to moral degradation through her familial role, the consistent patronization of her husband and her own assumed subordinance. Ibsen belittles the role of the housewife through means of stage direction, diminutive pet names and through Nora’s interaction with her morally ultimate husband, Torvald. Nora parades the façade of being naïve and frivolous, deteriorating her character from being a seemingly ignorant child-wife to a desperate woman in order to preserve her illusion of the security of home and ironically her own sanity. A Doll’s House ‘s depiction of the entrapment of the average 19th century housewife and the societal pressures placed upon her displays a woman’s gradual descent into madness. Ibsen illustrates this descent through Torvald’s progressive infantilization of Nora and the pressure on Nora to adhere to societal norms. Nora is a woman pressured by 19th century societal standards and their oppressive nature result in the gradual degradation of her character that destroys all semblances of family and identity.Nora’s role in her family is initially portrayed as being background, often “laughing quietly and happily to herself” (Ibsen 148) because of her isolation in not only space, but also person. Ibsen’s character rarely ventures from the main set of the drawi...
Ibsen's character development of Nora is represented by animal imagery. From the beginning of the play, we notice Ibsen's use of animals to describe Nora. In the opening lines, Torvald says, "Is that my little lark twittering out there?" (Wilke 1139). Webster's defines "lark" as a songbird and to play or frolic (Guralnik 340). The reader automatically gets an image of Nora as a carefree, happy person. In the following paragraphs, I will show how animal names are used to paint a portrait of the character of "Nora the Lark."
Many women in modern society make life altering decisions on a daily basis. Women today have prestigious and powerful careers unlike in earlier eras. It is more common for women to be full time employees than homemakers. In 1879, when Henrik Ibsen wrote A Doll's House, there was great controversy over the out come of the play. Nora’s walking out on her husband and children was appalling to many audiences centuries ago. Divorce was unspoken, and a very uncommon occurrence. As years go by, society’s opinions on family situations change. No longer do women have a “housewife” reputation to live by and there are all types of family situations. After many years of emotional neglect, and overwhelming control, Nora finds herself leaving her family. Today, it could be said that Nora’s decision is very rational and well overdue.
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.
However, soon it is obvious that the frivolous ‘doll’ like nature that Nora exhibits in front of Torvald is not her real nature and she is not really the play thing that he thinks. Ibsen portrays Nora as submissive to her husband, as she is confined by the societal values of their era. Females during the nineteenth century displayed an inferior gender role when compared to males. Nora fits rightly to this submissive role even sacrificing her own happiness for her husband. For instance, when Nora is in a situation to make a tough decision in life, she sacrifices her own self-worth and respect to serve her husband and family. In this way, she sacrifices her desires and confines to the values of the society purely for the well-being of her
In the play A Dolls House, Nora seems to be quite happy with her life and the people in it as she portrays the perfect wife. Into the play you understand that Nora isn’t as put together as she seems. She is more of a determined and ambitious woman as she tackles her debt that her husband doesn’t know about, even though she is in it for him. She is willing to break the law for her husband which shows a loving wife. Torvald loves Nora, but he continuously treats her as if he is her father. Torvald’s control issues stem from him wanting to maintain an appearance in front of the world; which is why they live in a “doll house.” The play includes many themes and symbolism that give a deeper meaning to Nora living in a Dolls house as she notices her true potential and regaining control over her life.
The Growth of Nora in A Doll's House & nbsp; In the play, "A Doll's House", written by Henrik Ibsen, Nora, the main character of the play, decides to abandon her husband, her home and her children in order to find herself. She finally realizes she has to leave when confronted with a problem in her relationship with her husband, who keeps treating her like a doll, reflecting the childish treatment she always received from her father before. She finds the strength to leave with her childhood friend Kristine, who has led a hard life, and has the wisdom to guide and support her. Nora leaves the role of the doll child and doll wife she played her whole life, and becomes an independent self-thinking adult, when she realizes that the world is different than she always thought it was, and that she herself is not who she thinks she is. & nbsp; Nora lives in a dream world, a child fantasy, where everything is perfect, and everything makes sense. She thinks that the world would never condemn a woman who tries to save her husband's life or protect a dying father.
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.
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.