Torvald and Nora in in Ibsen's A Doll's House

1045 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: how is the role of women represented in a doll's house by henrik ibsen

The Character of Torvald and Nora in A Doll's House

In Ibsen's "A Doll's House", there are many clues that hint at the kind of marriage Nora and Torvald have. It seems that Nora is a type of doll that is controlled by Torvald. Nora is completely dependent on Torvald. His thoughts and movements are her thoughts and movements. Nora is a puppet who is dependent on its puppet master for all of its actions.

The most obvious example of Torvald's physical control over Nora can be seen in his teaching of the tarantella. Nora pretends that she needs Torvald to teach her every move in order to relearn the dance. The reader knows that this is an act, but it still shows her complete submissiveness to Torvald. After he teaches her the dance, he proclaims:

Torvald. ...When you were dancing the tarantella,

chasing, inviting--my blood was on fire;

I couldn't stand it any longer--thats

why I brought you down so early--

Nora. Leave me now, Torvald. Please! I don't want all this.

Torvald. What do you mean? You're only playing

your little teasing bird game with me;

aren't you, Nora? Don't want to? I'm

your husband, aren't I? (Isben 447)

This shows that Torvald is more interested in Nora physically than emotionally. He feels that it is one of Nora's main duties as his wife to physically pleasure him at his command.

Torvald is not only demanding mentally and physically, but also financially. He does not trust Nora with money. He feels that she is incapable and too immature to handle a matter of such importance. Torvald sees Nora as a child. She is forever his little "sparrow" or "squirrel". On the rare occasion that Torvald does give Nora some money, he worries that she will waste it on candy, pastry or something else of Childish and useless value. Nora's duties, in general, are restricted to caring for the children, doing housework, and working on her needlepoint. But overall, Nora's most important responsibility is to please Torvald. This makes her role similar to that of a slave.

The problem in "A Doll's House" does not lie with Torvald alone. Though he does not help the situation, he is a product of his society. In his society, females were confined in every way imaginable.

Show More
Related

  • The Importance Of Personal Mythology In Robertson Davies Fifth Business

    1601 Words  | 4 Pages

    One’s mythology can cause another’s to change. The main one being Boy’s and Dunstan’s: Since the snowball incident Dunstan and Boy have remained friends on the surface, with Boy helping Dunny financially, and Dunny showing up to Boy’s events as the war hero. But Boy’s personal mythology, unlike Dunstan’s, revolves around money and materialism. Boy believes in having a high social status along with a trophy wife. He tries to “make [Leola] into the perfect wife for a rising young entrepreneur in sugar” (124). While Dunstan is haunted everyday of the guilt of Mary’s condition, Boy doesn’t even acknowledge that the event ever occurred. But, because Dunstan is faced by the guilt his entire life, he can embrace his shadow. However, for Boy, his ego has been covering up and pushing away his shadow for most his life. In the end Boy’s shadow is simply to big to accept or overcome, the guilt of sixty years, to big to swallow, is finally eating away at him his has no other choice but to take his own life. Boy’s mythology influences Dunstan’s personal mythology to not care for money and wealth. Carl Jung, creator of Jungian Psychology said, “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” Dunstan stays away from the things that irritate him about Boy, he learns from Boy what life is not about, and is sure not to let himself become like Boy. By

    Read More

  • The Impact of Marriage in "Like Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel and "The House of Bernarda Alba" by Federico Garcia Lorca

    1243 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the play “A Doll’s House”, marriage is merely a social formality. Torvald and Nora, husband and wife, share merely a few intimate moments throughout the entire novel and their relationship is devoid of any affection at all. The setting of the play “A Doll’s House” is 19th century Norway and the norms and beliefs of this era play a huge role in defining the role of Torvald as a husband, and Nora as a wife. The husband in this era is supposed to be the sole guardian of the house, responsible for taking care of the families financial requirements and ensuring a high standing for the family in society. Torvald believes that Nora is confined to looking after their children and basically taking care of the physical aspects of their household, and Nora feels so oppressed by her husband that she helps him in a time of dire need without even telling him. This incident occurs in the scene where Torvald falls dangerously sick and is too foolish to spend money on foreign treatment that could save his life, Nora sensing the grave danger goes behind Torvald’s back and collects money to save Torvalds life by committing the crime of forgery.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Boston Tea Party

    691 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Boston Tea Party gave ideas to others and afterwards people boarded on the ships in Annapolis and New York to prevent any tea to land. Colonists all over the coast of North America continued to boycott any tea from the East India Company. Unfortunately their actions did lead to consequences from British Parliament. After Parliament closed the ports, all the colonists felt bad and started to support the Bostonians. The colonists called for a Continental Congress from the Committees of Correspondence. They wanted to set up a timetable for no consumption, exportation, or importation of British goods to protest.

    Read More

  • Foxwoods (gambling)

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    Another tactic of casinos is the lack of windows or clocks. The idea is to have gamblers not look at the outside world and concentrate on what is going on inside the casino. Without clocks, and with alcohol, how can someone who doesn’t have a watch know what time it is?

    Read More

  • Boston Tea Party Research Paper

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Boston Tea Party was an important act of civil rebellion in history that provoked Americans around the issue of taxation and helped spark the revolutionary war. The Boston Tea Party had many effects on history not only in America but also throughout the world. It has had both minor and great influences and had many positive consequences for the American colonists. In the following paragraphs the reader will be informed on the events leading up to the Boston Tea Party, the incident itself, and the happenings it triggered.

    Read More

  • Free Essays - Becoming Independent in A Doll's House

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Womens Rights In A Doll's House

    1113 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House there are many themes, but none more important than the main theme of women’s rights. The theme of women’s rights is revolved around the main character Nora, who is subjected to oppression and treated like she is inferior to the men in the play until the end when stands up for herself. Ibsen representation of Nora comes across as the traditional woman during the time period, the Victorian era, in which the play takes place. This projection of Nora’s character is made evident throughout the play, from her actions to the way the other characters act towards her. The way Torvarld and the rest of the characters treat Nora is childlike and stereotypical of how woman were viewed during this time, no one takes

    Read More

  • How Does Music Effect The Brain?

    1365 Words  | 3 Pages

    No matter what you listen to, music has a way to “play with our emotions”. For example, if you listen to Tchaikovsky (classical) you may feel calm, and if you listen to Eminem (rap) you may feel hyper. If the music you listen to makes you feel good, it is good for you, Daniel Levitin, a Neuroscientist who focuses mainly on music, explains in an interview.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Trust In Hamlet

    1576 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the end, Hamlet became isolated from society and those that were closest to him. By himself, Hamlet began to question himself further confusing himself and distracting him from his goal of revenge. Through the death of his father, hamlet lost trust in his people. Through the betrayal and remarrying of his mother, Hamlet lost trust in his mother and women, leading to his distrust in Ophelia. Through the murder of his father by Claudius, Hamlet lost trust in those associated with the King and thereby lost trust in his childhood friends. Medha Chaitanya once said "The pain of losing trust on someone whom you love is equal to the pain of killing yourself." Hamlet lost the trust of all his important people, distracting him from his goal and leading to his death. There must be some merit to Chaitanya 's words after

    Read More

  • Fox Hunting Should NOT Be Banned

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    People also believe that fox hunting is barbaric and that there is no point in killing an innocent animal. Most of the people who believe this are hypocrites! During a fox hunt, a fox suffers little pain as it is usually killed from the first bite. Other sports, such as fishing are far more ‘inhumane’! Fish are pulled out of the water, still alive and are left to die in the open air. This is obviously painful on the animal, but there are no people publicly campaigning about it and trying to ban it! Why should it be any different for foxes? Another argument would be that ‘fox hunting serves no purpose.’ This is a load of rubbish! If the numbers were not controlled, many other species would start to die out! Foxes will eat or attack anything from pheasant eggs to sheep! They kill for fun, and often leave the animal suffering with limbs torn off for a whole night! This proves that fox hunting has a purpose: it protects other animals and it provides for the local economy.

    Read More

  • Fra Lippo Lippi

    1489 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poem begins as Fra Lippo Lippi is being arrested for breaking curfew with prostitutes in his pious company. He declares in his capture that he is guilty of the crime but through no fault of his own.

    Read More

  • Roman Culture Essay

    1072 Words  | 3 Pages

    The world would be a very different place had Rome not existed. Historian R. H. Barrow has stated that Rome never fell because it turned into something even greater—an idea—and achieved immortality. As mighty as the Roman Empire had been, however, it was not the only great civilization of its time. Around the same period that Rome was developing its enduring culture, different but equally complex empires were emerging farther east. In India, the Mauryan and Gupta empires dominated the land, while the Han Empire ruled over

    Read More

  • Don T Blame The Eater By David Zinzenko

    1883 Words  | 4 Pages

    The issue of making choices is important because we need to take care of our health. Nobody going to tell you what to eat or how to live. We have to do it on our own. We have to make decision to eat heathy when we can and change our way of living. Michael Maimaran and Ayelet Fishbach wrote an article online that shows we only about the choice of eating junk food or healthy food. In describing their research, she said, “We propose that preschoolers infer that if food is instrumental to achieve goal, it is less tasty, and therefore they consume less of it. Accordingly, we find that preschoolers (3 – 5.5 years old) rated crackers as less tasty and consumed fewer of them when the crackers were presented as instrumental to achieving a health goal (studies 1-2)” (Michal and Ayelet). In other words, kids will think that if it’s for them to improve in education than they think it is going to taste bad but if you gave them a choice to choose from then they mostly end up getting that same food that we provided them earlier. Their research shows that making choices is important because we have to make decisions to remain healthy. This source highlights the importance of making choices, which David Zinczenko should have addressed in his essay because making

    Read More

  • Stigma Of Mental Health Essay

    1293 Words  | 3 Pages

    Due to the stigma of mental health, the treatment people need get delayed as everyone (sometimes the patient) wants to be socially acceptable and in the world’s current society having a mental illness is not socially acceptable thing to have. The stigma of mental health many times causes people try to hide if they have a problem and find other ways to deal with the problem, examples are self medication with drinking, smoking, and suicide. By people self-medicating instead of getting treatment they need, they cause more problems for the people around them. They can become hazards to society, hurting people or themselves, which could cause people to have more unpleasant stigma towards mental illness as they only see the bad things that happen like school shooting and never see anything on the good side like better treatment options for people so less school shootings

    Read More

  • Natural Food Vs Organic Food Essay

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    Foods that are produced organically are better for the environment, healthier for your body because they do not contain toxic chemicals, and are more cost efficient than commonly known.

    Read More

More about Torvald and Nora in in Ibsen's A Doll's House

Open Document