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Masculinity vs femininity
Roles Of Women In A Doll'S House
The role of women in a doll's House
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The play, A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen was written during the time where society had a major impact and was reflected on the most. During the 19th century, the role of men and women became sharply defined than at any time in history. The role of a woman was staying at home and tending to her children and her husband. Nora Helmer and Torvald Helmer are introduced to be the main characters and the victims of the social pressures that define the perfect man and the perfect woman. Throughout the play, we see the relationship between Nora and Torvald going from childish, to desperation and finally ending with a sense of reality. Torvald and Nora become victims of social pressures that define the perfect man and the perfect women not because of everything that went wrong in their relationship, but because Nora realizes she no longer wants to play “doll” with her husband, the “controller”. Nora Helmer keeps a big secret from her husband, Torvald and she fears what will happen if he ever finds out. She secretly borrows a large amount of …show more content…
Krogstad and Nora are very similar to one another. They both commit the same crime and they commit them for the same reasons. Krogstad commits the crime for his family, just like Nora commits the crime for her husband. Krogstad says “Perhaps. But when it comes to business – the kind of business you and I have engaged in – don’t you think I know about that? All right. Do, as you like. But I tell you this. If I lose my job again, ill bring you down with me” (Act I). Without Krogstad, Nora’s crime would not be reveled and her life would have continued being an illusion marriage. Also, Krogstad’s letter reveling the truth helps the audience see Torvalds’s selfishness. Ironically, Krogstad saves Nora’s life. He helps realize she was in a false marriage living a life that was only right by
In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House, a drama written in the midst of an 1879, middle-class, suburban Europe, he boldly depicts a female protagonist. In a culture with concern for fulfilling, or more so portraying a socially acceptable image, Nora faces the restraints of being a doll in her own house and a little helpless bird. She has been said to be the most complex character of drama, and rightfully so, the pressure of strict Victorian values is the spark that ignites the play's central conflicts. Controversy is soon to arise when any social-norm is challenged, which Nora will eventually do. She evolves throughout the play, from submissive housewife to liberated woman. It seems as though what took women in America almost a century to accomplish, Nora does in a three-day drama. Ibsen challenges the stereotypical roles of men and women in a societally-pleasing marriage. He leads his readers through the journey of a woman with emerging strength and self-respect. Nora plays the typical housewife, but reveals many more dimensions that a typical woman would never portray in such a setting.
Mrs. Linde tells Nora that her husband died, leaving her with no money and no children. She wants Torvald to get her a job. Nora says she will speak to Torvald, and tells her that she illegally borrowed the money to pay for the trip to Italy. For years, she worked and saved in secret to repay the debt. Soon it will be fully repaid.
The story “Doll house” written by Ibsen, is a very interesting play. The story is about a woman trying to find her identity while dealing with the conflict of her life. This play goes into a woman’s life discussing her need for independence and society. All of the characters in the story pretend to be someone else, when they should stay true to themselves. Nora is one of the main characters in this play and is Torvald’s wife. Her actions can be described as loving, childish, and manipulative at times Nora’s childish behavior seen by her husband, and friends begins to change as she starts to make become more Independent for herself. Through Ibsen’s controversial play, the readers can learn how society can alter an individual’s identity, affect
Nora and Torvald were very poor and had to watch what they spent, but after Torvald earned a new position at the bank where he works, they no longer had to worry about how much money they have spent. Mrs. Linde, Nora’s friend, came to speak to Nora about her life and what has gone on since her husband has died. Nora then begins to tell her how Torvald became sick and how they had to travel to Italy so he could recover, but since they didn’t have enough money she illegally borrowed money for the trip and has been trying to repay the debt before he or anyone could notice. Krogstad, an employee at the bank, then black mails Nora and threatens to tell her husband that she stole money if she does not convince him to let him keep his job. Mrs. Linde and Krogstad both reveal that they had fallen for each other and she tries to convince him to not tell Torvald of his wife’s secret, but instead she tells him to leave the note for him to find out. Torvald then finds the letter and is angry. He tells Nora mean things and calls her a liar and then tells her she will not be allowed to raise their kids. Once Helene, their housemaid, brings another letter containing the contract the tries to apologize and ask forgiveness. Nora then begins to express her feelings of how they do not belong together and explains that she feels like a “doll” that is played with and admired. She then decides to leave Torvald. Mrs. Linde and Krogstad both used Nora’s secret to get what they wanted. Although, Mrs. Linde didn’t know her secret at the beginning she still used it against her at the end because she felt that Torvald needed to know what she had
Eventually, Victor becomes ill from keeping this secret and Henry has to take care of him. In the play, A Doll's House, Nora borrowed money without telling Torvald, and forged signatures on the bond. At first Nora was proud that her secret was responsible for saving her husband from death. That all changed after Krogstad's visit, involving him threatening Nora that he will reveal the secret. Nora starts to feel scared, even though Krogstad visit was kept a secret from Torvald. Nora knows that the fraud she committed is a serious crime and will extremely infuriate Torvald if he were to find out that she borrowed money from Krogstad and forged signatures on the bond because does not want to upset the peace between her and her husband. When Torvald first found out that Nora hid such a big thing from him, he spouted with anger. He was alarmed and ashamed over his wife's actions. Instead of thinking what made her do these acts, Torvald starts fuming about his future and talks inappropriately to Nora. It was this reaction of Torvald that made Nora leave him and their
Nora had a secret that whole play that Torvald didn’t know about. Nora saved his life by taking him out on a long vacation away from everything so he could clear his mind at a very bad time. She told Torvald the money really came from her Papa. The money really came from a loan she took out from Kogstad that was forged. Krogstad was a former bank employee and long friend of Torvald’s. Torvald was very angry when he first found out of this because he was scared of his appearance, but when Krogstad met a old girl friend of his he didn’t worry about the loan.
Nora is initially introduced as a macaroon-loving, naïve individual constantly trying to please her husband. However, when the audience discovers that she borrowed the funds that allowed her and her husband to travel to Italy for a year in order to save Torvald from certain harm, Nora demonstrates that she is actually a much stronger character than originally portrayed. However, the real problem lies with the way in which she burrowed the money. In order to get the cash, Nora forged her father's signature. As a result, she is in debt to the man who leant her the money, Nils Krogstad.
As the play progresses, the reader come to know that for Helmer’s sickness in the past, Nora was forced to borrow money from Helmer’s scoundrel college mate and bank colleague Nils Krogstad to save her husband’s life. She got the loan without informing her husband as she knows it would be painful and humiliating for him to know about her favour. She first used diplomacy to convince him for going abroad. She also “hinted that he could borrow the money” (Act I, p.46). He got almost angry and did not want “to yield to her whims and fancies” (ibid) as he was unable to suspect how ill he was. As a result, she was compelled to save his life by taking money from Krogstad secretly. In the legal process of obtaining the money, she was forced to forge
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...
Nora was extremely ecstatic when she brought up her loan of four thousand, eight hundred kroner. She even describes the loan as something she is “proud and happy about” (1.316). Not only was Torvald’s wish of having no debt defied by Nora’s own action, but she has a sense of pride and believes that her actions were justified without any input from Torvald. Nora taking out the loan was her first step in approaching maturity and independence, and it instilled in Nora’s mind a need for an identity different from Torvald’s.
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.
He wishes to rebuild his reputation and work his way back up to the top. He tries to achieve this through blackmail with Nora, and says he has “the power to force her” to help him. Mr. Krogstad’s reputation and rank in society is more important to him that stooping down to the level of blackmailing
Nora faced negative consequences even though her purpose behind it was a good one. Nora believed that it was her duty to save Torvald's life when he was deathly illness upon him. Nora claims that “I am the sole reason why Torvald is alive on this day” another quote Nora made was “I was most responsible for his survival”. Nora believes that forging her father's signature and receiving money was alright, because it was for the good purpose of secretly saving her husband's life. Nora later in the play suffered the consequences of her actions when Krogstad threatened to take her secret public, and
“A Doll’s House” gives the reader a firsthand view at how gender roles affected the characters actions and interactions throughout the play. The play helps to portray the different struggles women faced during the 19th century with gender roles, and how the roles affected their relationships with men as well as society. It also helps to show the luxury of being a male during this time and how their higher status socially over women affected their relationships with women and others during this time period. 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.
“A Doll’s House” is a play written by a Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen. The play was published in 1879, and is a literary piece that triggered almost vigorous reactions from the audience. Moreover, the play was considered Ibsen’s masterpiece and he was determined to provoke a reaction from the public. His intention was to bring awareness to the problem of gender roles in the 19th century society: the role of women who were used as decorations of the household. The title this play, “A Doll’s House”, foreshadows the play’s protagonist, Nora Helmer, and her role in the household. The title of the play suggests that Nora is a doll in her own home.