The Aftermath

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Recommended: a doll house analysis

The play, A Doll House by Henrik Isben is a perfect example of women’s problems in the nineteenth century. Women were thought to be the homemaker’s in the house, to do all the cooking, cleaning and taking care of their children while the husband went to work to support his family. However, women during this time period wanted to discover who they were and what they could do in the world. In, A Doll House, Nora Helmer helps her maid and nanny take care of her children, do the cooking and cleaning, and also took care of her sick husband. Nora committed fraud by signing her dead father’s name to get money to take her husband on a trip to Italy. Once her husband found out Nora was forced to decide if she wanted to stay with her family and follow her husband’s rules or go out in the world and be “free”.
Henrik Isben doesn’t continue on with the play after Nora walk’s out on her family. However, there is historical evidence of what happened to women who followed Nora’s footsteps. A single woman would attract attention of the community and they would look at her with disapproval and pity (CITE). There was also no way she would be able to have children or be able to be with a man because everyone would know that she walked out on her family; she also wouldn’t be able to get a job anywhere because they weren’t available to women (CITE). Men could do almost anything to his wife if she ran away. It would be almost impossible to go on and have a better life without her husband. In a letter written in 1844 from a husband to his wife who walked out similarly to Nora, the husband wrote that the wife has sinned but he is willing to have her back if she follows all the conditions he states (A Nineteenth). This was a common way husband’s and wiv...

... middle of paper ...

... she is going to do because while living with her family and dealing with the blackmail and debt, Nora was contemplating suicide. Before she would ever go back to her husband and follow his rules I think Nora would kill herself. It seems violent but from how she acted in the play I believe it is what would happen.

Works Cited

“A Nineteenth-Century Husband’s Letter to His Wife.” Meyer 1765-67. Print.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House. Trans. Rolf Fjelde. Meyer 1709-57. Print. Letters and
Speeches. Ed. And trans. Evert Sprinchorn. New York: Hill, 1964. 337. Print.
Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 9th ed. Boston:
Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2011. Print.
"Women’s Status In MIid19th-Century England A Brief Overview by
Helena Wojtczak." English Women's History. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
.

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