A Doll's House By Henrik Ibsen Essay

In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, many characters perform actions that end up costing them literal money, morals, and even friendships. One of these characters is Torvald, whose dislike for anything “ugly,” cost him relationships with many other characters in the play. It is hinted throughout the play that Torvald never wants to be around anything ugly, and it is clear that the other characters know about this fetish for beauty. The first place where this impartiality towards ugliness is present is where Krogstad tells Nora that he plans on telling Torvald about their contract if she doesn’t get him his job back, and Nora explains her feelings about this. “To think of his learning my secret, which has been my joy and pride, in such an ugly,

Rank tells Nora about how he is dying of consumption of the spine, he also says to her, “Helmer's refined nature gives him an unconquerable disgust at everything that is ugly; I won't have him in my sick-room.” [38] Dr. Rank does not want Torvald near him as he is on his deathbed, despite Dr. Rank being Torvald’s closest friend. There are a few logical reasons why Dr. Rank might not want people around while he is dying; perhaps because it would be too sad and he wanted his last moments to be pleasant ones. However, the fact that Rank doesn’t want Torvald in his sick-room because he knows of Torvald’s disgust with ugliness, brings back up the friendships that this repulsion towards ugly things costs him. It would be expected for one to want to be with their dearest friend during the last moments of that friend’s life, but because Torvald is so opposed to unattractiveness, Rank thinks it would be best if he stayed away, even though it costed Torvald the time he could have spent with his dying friend.
Finally, Torvald’s opposition towards ugliness is brought up again after Torvald receives the cards from Dr. Rank announcing his death, and he is processing this information.
“NORA: With the thought of your friend's