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Essays on symbolism in literature
Importance of symbolism in literature
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Symbolism of Nicknames in A Doll's House and Major Barbara
The use of nicknames in literature is an important tool in which the author can provide insight into the attitudes of the characters toward each other and to provide illumination as to the nature of specific characters. Two such pieces of literature in which these attitudes and illumination can be evidenced are A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen and Major Barbara by Bernard Shaw. The attitudes of the characters in A Doll's House, more specifically Torvald Helmer and the maid Anne-Marie, toward Nora can be evidenced with the names by which she is referred. In Major Barbara, the names by which the characters call each other not only show their personal attitudes toward each other, but also provide classical reference by which we can better understand the characters.
In A Doll's House, Torvald Helmer's attitude toward his wife Nora can be seen in the ways in which he refers to her. In line 11 of the first act, we come across the first instance of Torvald's bird references to Nora with "Is that my little lark twittering out there?" This reference is the first of many in which Torvald refers to Nora as a lark. Often this referencing is preceded by diminutive terms such as "little" and "sweet, little." Torvald also refers to Nora as a squirrel, a spendthrift, a songbird, and a goose, these terms also preceded with a diminutive. The significance of this nicknaming is to show Torvald's attitude toward Nora. Torvald sees Nora as small, sweet, unobtrusive and therefore easily controlled. This position is one he would like Nora to continue to occupy. In line 257, Torvald refers to Nora as "my richest treasure" denoting his attitude toward her as his possession.
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.
A two-party system is a political system in which only two parties have a realistic opportunity to compete effectively for control. As a result, all, or nearly all, elected officials end up being a member in one of the two major parties. In a two-party system, one of the parties usually holds a majority in the legislature hence, being referred to as the majority party while the other party is the minority party. The United States of America is considered to be a two-party system. A two-party system emerged early in the history of the new Republic. Beginning with the Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans in the late 1780s, two major parties have dominated national politics, although which particular two parties has changed with the times and issues. During the nineteenth century, the Democrats and Republicans emerged as the two dominant parties in American politics. As the American party system evolved, many third parties emerged, but few of them remained in existence for very long. Today the Democrats and Republican still remain as the dominant parties. These two parties hav...
Nora clearly represents the doll of the house and Torvald's dehumanization of her is flagrant throughout the story. He relentlessly refers to his wife through the use of pet names such as "my little skylark" and "my helpless little squirrel." In addition Torvald uses the possessive "my" often to reflect the notion that she belongs solely to him. She is his plaything, his toy, and his possession. Torvald even states to Nora that it was "quite expensive for him to keep such a pet." Once Torvald becomes aware of his wife's transgressions he reduces even her further calling her a miserable creature and a heedless child.
In A Doll’s House, Ibsen portrays his lead character, Nora, who is a housewife in the Helmer’s family. She has undergone a transformation throughout the play that she reacts differently to her husband. Her husband, Torvald, is an example of men who are only interested in their appearance and the amount of control they have over a person. In particular, he has a very clear and narrow definition of a woman's role. At the beginning of the story, as from the title of the play, Nora symbolizes the “doll” in the house, which means that she has been treated as treats Nora like a child or doll. For example, husband called Nora ‘bird’ and it implies that husband treats her like his pet and she is his doll as the title is a doll house. In other words, her husband wanted her to be a ‘lark' or ‘songbird' so he can enjoy h...
In the play The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, Petrucio recognizes, respects and desires Katherine’s strength of character. Petrucio is a clever man who sees beyond facades because he uses them himself. (II, i 46) (II, I 283 - 89) He is stimulated by Katherine’s sharp tongue and harsh actions. He proves this many times throughout the play.
go in the mud during lunch time. They go out to the road and dig a
Every week more than 60 million Americans turn their television sets to tune to the popular crime investigation drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation or one of its countless spin offs, which have become increasingly popular among the American public (Shelton, n.d.). The show has been a top rated drama since it was first aired in 2001, it has received several Emmy nominations, and many even claimed it has lead to the considerable increase in college students studying forensic science. Recently however, despite its many achievements several newspapers and magazine articles began warning about the impact the shows influence is having on our criminal justice system; they referred to the phenomenon as the CSI Effect. Max Houck, Director of the Forensic Science Initiative at West Virginia University, explains the CSI effect as “basically the perception of the near-infallibility of forensic science in response to the TV show” ( Podlas, 2010, p. 99). The concern among criminal justice experts and prosecutors is that the so called CSI effect creates unrealistic expectations that every case must be solved with high tech forensic tests, which they believe, has a significant impact on juror decision making. Exposure to the dramatized and fictional depiction of crime solving portrayed by these television shows has had a significant impact on viewer’s conception of reality, which has negatively altered the expectation of jurors and influenced jury verdicts.
When the character of Nora is first introduced one of the first things we see her doing is eating macaroons, then hiding them when her husband Torvald. Her behavior in this scene possibly demonstrates a few things. First this demonstrates a lack of obedience towards her husband, Torvald, and a willingness to not do everything he tells her, which is the root of the main dilemma in this work. It also reaffirms her position as a child in this relationship. This scene is a classic example of a parent/child relationship that is often seen in real life, such as when a child steals a cookie from a cookie jar, then denies it. Nora even openly says in act two, that Torvald is almost a parental figure in her life, when she is talking to Dr. Rank. "Surely you can understand that
Ibsen uses Nora and Torvald to illustrate the internal struggle individuals face when in an unhealthy relationship. Specifically to A Doll’s House plot, suppressing one’s desires and happiness in order to uphold social standing is disastrous for both individuals. By appointing one person to a specific role in a relationship, it offers no creativity or space for freedom of expression. The gender roles Nora faced stopped her from reaching her full level of happiness and her revelation was destined to happen eventually, even eight years into a
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.
The first thing that the reader will notice regarding gender is the title of the play “A Doll’s House”. This reveals to the reader, Nora’s and possible Torvald’s status within the play. Nora is unable to be herself as she is not seen as an equal in her marriage. Instead, she is something to be admired and flaunted. This need for her to be something that Torvald can show off. Both Nora and Torvald are living lives based on illusion. Torvald has made Nora his perfect little doll so that he can look good. She thinks that he is a person with incredible strength, she becomes disillusioned with him at the end of the play when he exposes himself as just a man. This paper will look at the way that society’s expectations of gender roles are perceived
An examination of the ways that Nora, the protagonist of A Doll’s House, and Laura, the protagonist of The Father, struggle for personal liberty, shows the progressive viewpoints of each author on gender roles in a marriage. The protagonists of both plays are oppressed by their husband and stripped of personal liberties in their oppressive, male dominated society. Nora, in A Doll’s House, is often referred to possessively, like an object, by Torvald her husband, with names like “my little lark”, and “my squirrel” (145). The use of names for Nora emphasizes that he does not see her as an equal. Furthermore, the costume and dance for the New Year’s party further objectivizes Nora, emphasizing the delusion in Torvald that Nora’s identity is for him to mold for his fantasies.
Nora and Torvald's relationship, on the outside appears to be a happy. Nora is treated like a child in this relationship, but as the play progresses she begins to realize how phony her marriage is. Torvald sees Nora's only role as being the subservient and loving wife. He refers to Nora as "my little squirrel" (p.1565), "my little lark" (p.1565), or "spendthrift"(1565). To him, she is only a possession. Torvald calls Nora by pet-names and speaks down to her because he thinks that she is not intelligent and that she can not think on her own.
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She is a heroic character for her positive development and maturation over the course of the play. Vocalizing for all the women that enjoy independence, her character describes the feeling of being trapped as the primed and proper doll of the household that wishes to break free of her societal responsibilities. In the beginning, Nora is an easily manipulated wife who is made to never dabble in her husband’s affairs. This is due to the belief that women aren’t made to interfere with male dominated business matters. She also endures his seemingly harmless pet names that are actually used as an intimidation technique to make her feel more submissive. Torvald states, “Is that my squirrel rummaging around?” (1728). His subtle technique of using unconventional animals such as squirrels to make her feel inferior, reveals his dominating nature. Torvald’s actions are not only controlling but they are also selfish. Nora, on the other hand, secretly helped save her husband’s life by borrowing money to fund a trip in order to improve his ill health. She did so without seeking recognition and to simply help her husband, which is what a true hero does. The play also outlines the fact that women tend to sacrifice more when they dedicate their whole
Early on in “A Doll’s House” we are introduced to Nora. She is portrayed as the stereotypical nineteenth century married woman. The audience’s