A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen is a wonderful portrayal of a married women who lacked self-confidence and was in a male dominated world. A Doll’s house was premiered in 1879 in Copenhagen, Denmark. A Doll’s house is a feminist manifesto that portrays a woman named Nora Helmer who is a mother of three living the ideal life of a 19th century wife. At first, the reader gets the impression that she is quite vain, and money driven. As we continue on learning about the characters we see that there is much more to Nora than what meets the eye. We then get introduced to Torvald Helmer which is Nora’s husband. He is a newly promoted bank manager and controls almost everything that Nora does. Finally, we meet Kristine Linde who is Nora’s old school friend …show more content…
One very telling remark that Nora makes regarding Kristine is “You’re tired enough to begin with, you’d be better off if you could get away to a spa for a while.”(Norton, 207) Not even thinking that Kristine has been begging for a job because she did not have enough money to support herself. This is just one of the very many instances Nora is completely out of touch with the real world. In this scene Nora is very likely in a manic episode. She is prancing around, talking fast, jumping from subject to subject and having a hard time grounding herself. Nora says that she borrowed the money from her father but in reality, we learn that she has borrowed it from a banker who works with Torvald named Nils Krogstad. She illegally borrowed the money by signing her father’s name on the check. We also realize that Nora has gotten herself in a little bit of trouble as Krogsford is going to start blackmailing her because Torvald gave Krogsford job to Kristine. There are many ways to psychoanalyze this situation but in my opinion, this is another instance of Nora’s instability and bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is characterized by many highs and lows in terms of mood, but the major tell sign is suicidal tendencies. I bring this up because Nora did contemplate suicide at one moment. She only considers it when her actions regarding the borrowed money starts catching up to her. She felt so hopeless and alone that her only way of getting out of it would be to kill herself. Nora and Kristine devise up a plan to remedy this situation as Krogsford has sent a letter to Torvald explaining all the details of what happened. Nora is at a party with Torvald and must perform a tarantella in front of her husband and his friends. This dance must be electrifying as they need to distract Torvald so that they can retrieve this letter. One very telling
Nora has a hard time finding who she really is deep down. She is a mother and wife but, deals with her husband’s verbal abuse on a daily basis. Nora struggles with the need to be a useful individual as she desires to be wanted and respected. She feels like she lives her life day by day trying to please everyone. Then she has to deal with Krogstead bullying her while her life is in jeopardy when her intentions were to help her family
So Nora throughout the story her personality and how she handles certain things through the story changes a lot. From being a happy person and having a very loving family with her husband Torvald, but as the story escalates the small lies during the story starts the beginning of a very tough road. From the lies from Torvald and doing things behind his back like breaking the law, and the blackmail threats. All the drama escalates to her ending up wanting to kill herself, but in the end she needed to be on her
In the beginning of the play, the readers witness Nora as a happy wife who has absolutely no fear of her future. Her husband has a high post job at the bank, income is high, and her family is “perfect” in every way. Nora is living the life every girl dreams of, and she is very well aware of it. However, as you continue with the play, the reader is able to indicate that Nora has been putting up a front, not only for her husband, but also for the sake of her societal status. In all actuality, Nora has proficiently hidden her anxiety for the deprivation of money to pay off her debts to Krogstad. Torvald Helmer, Nora’s husband, is wealthy and does not have to struggle with the burden of debt. However, Nora was financially poor before her marriage, and she is currently emotionally and financially poor because of her marriage. With the burden of the debt, and with Torvald being such a stickler with money, Nora has found herself in a conflict in which she will desperately do anything to get out of. As the play
Nora is the pampered wife of an aspiring bank manager Torvald Halmer. In a desperate attempt to saves her husband's life Nora once asked for a loan so she and her family could move somewhere where her husband could recover from his sickness. Giving the circumstances she, as a woman of that period, by herself and behind her husband forged her dad signature to receive the loan. Now, Nora's lender (Mr. Krogstad), despite her paying punctually, uses that fault as a fraud to pressure her so she could help him to keep his job in the Bank where her husband is going to be the manager. Nora finds out that Torvald would fire Mr. Krogstad at any cost. At learning this, Nora trembles for she knows Mr. Krogstad will tell everything to Torvald. She remains confident; however that Torvald will stand by her no matter what outcome. His reaction though is not what she expected and therefore here is when she realizes that she "must stand quite alone" and leaves her husband.
She committed forgery, by signing in place of her deceased father, which of course is taken as leverage by Krogstad, the owner of the note she signed, in order for him to conserve his job. The last day she seems hopeless and willing to assume the consequences, she has a final opportunity at getting away with it by finding out Mrs Linde and Krogstad have unsolved romantic affairs and that he is deeply in love with her. This new development convinces Krogstad to be with Mrs Linde, but unfortunately the previous letter telling everything about the debt and forgery was already in Helmer’s mail. When the night comes for Helmer to read his mail, he finds out about the note and Nora’s mistakes, he is quick to think of a way to come up clean, while at the same time dishonoring Nora for her actions.
Nora was wife of Helmer and a mother of 3 children. They lived in a house where their nurse Anne-Marie took care of the children and Helene which was their maid took care of the house work. Nora was a stay at home mother and would occasionally take on little jobs in order to make ends meet. Nora has lived her whole life as a puppet. Her life has always been controlled by someone else; first by her father and then by her husband Helmer. “Her whole life is a construct of societal norms and the expectations of others” (Wiseman). “Nora’s father would force his beliefs on her and she would comply with them lest she upset him; she would bury her personal belief under Papa’s. According to Nora, Torvald was guilty of the same things” (Wiseman). Nora has always lived her life according to the beliefs of someone else. She didn 't know how to live life any other way because this is how she was raised. She felts trapped in the life she lived because she knew no other way of living besides her current lifestyle. Due to Nora being controlled her whole life she seemed childish and lacked knowledge of the world outside her house. At the end of the story Helmer decides to show his true colors once his future was threatened. This made Nora realize that she does not love her husband nor does he love her, and decides that is not the life she wants to live. “Helmer: You talk like a child. You don 't know anything of the world you live
Even though it might seem that without Krogstad’s extortion plan, Nora would have never developed her need for an identity but she has shown signs for a new identity well before Krogstad tried to extort Nora for his job back. In the beginning of the play, Nora is already seen to be defying Torvald’s wishes by eating some macaroons. Not only that but when Torvald reminds Nora about last Christmas and how Nora “locked [herself] up every evening, till way past midnight, making flowers for the Christmas tree” (1.125-127). Nora told Torvald that she “wasn’t bored at all” (1.129). This small act of defiance towards Torvald might seem like nothing special but it is a subtle hint that Nora no longer wants to be Torvald’s plaything. Another instance of defiance happens right after, when Nora discuss her loan with Mrs. Linde. 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. Krogstad’s extortion plot probably sped
“A Doll House” is no more about women’s rights than Shakespeare’s Richard II is about the divine right of kings, or Ghosts about syphilis. . . . Its theme is the need of every individual to find out the kind of person he or she is and to strive to become that person.” (Bloom 28) Ibsen portays this behavior in A Doll House through one of the main characters, Nora Helmer, by setting the scene in Norway in 1872. In the late 1800s, women did not play an important role in society at all. Their job was mainly to cook, clean, sew, take care of the children, and keep the house in order. They were treated as a material possession rather than a human being that could think and act for themselves and looked upon as a decorative member of the household. Women were robbed of their true identity and at the end of the play, Nora leaves everything behind to go out into the world to seek her identity.
From the start of the play, we see that Nora’s entire focus is on money. “Won’t it be lovely to have stacks of money and not a care in the world” (703), Nora asks Mrs. Linde. Almost every conversation she has in the play is related to money in some way or another. When Torvald, her husband, asks her what she wants for Christmas, she tells him, “You could give me money, Torvald. . . . Then I could hang the bills in pretty glit paper on the Christmas tree. Wouldn’t that be fun” (699)? Her carefree way of handling money exasperates her husband. He wants to make her happy, but he isn’t able to give her what he doesn’t have. He doesn’t know about the loan, at first, and, to him and the audience, it appears that she is just throwing her money away hopelessly.
...r had a serious conversation. Nora explains her own pains as she has never been understood by any man. Nora leaves as she explains her own life. She shuts the door and there is no certainty that she will return as Torvald realizes. Torvald gains hope as he realizes that if he transforms into a better man he may have a hope of getting Nora back.
When confronted by Krogstad, who tells her it is against the law to sign someone else's signature, she responds, "This I refuse to believe. " A daughter hasn't a right to protect her dying father from anxiety and care? A wife hasn't a right to save her husband's life. I don't know much about laws, but I'm sure that somewhere in the books these things are allowed. " Nora simply does not understand the ways of the world, and the final realization that she is in real danger of risking hers and her husband's reputation, and worse, makes her snap out of the childish dream she had been living. & nbsp; Kristine, Nora's childhood friend, is the wisdom and support Nora needs to grow up.
After asking his wife if she understands what she has done Nora answers “[Looking squarely at him, her face hardening] Yes. I am beginning to understand everything” (835). This statement might be the key phrase of Nora’s realization. The double- meaning implies Nora’s understanding of the actual situation as well as her awareness that her marriage, even though it conforms with social expectations, is far from perfect. She now doubts the depth of her love for Torvald and becomes calm with comprehension as she begins to recognize the truth about her marriage. While she expects compassion for her sacrifice, she is none given. Instead of sacrificing anything to help Nora out of her predicament, Torvald is only worried about himself and appearances. It becomes very clear, after the second letter from Krogstad arrives, that her well-being always comes second “I’m saved. Nora, I’m saved! You too, of course” (836). Throughout the conversation with Torvald, Nora finally realizes, she needs to rearrange her life and priorities to be happy. This implies independence and self-awareness. While Nora finally understands the situation, she is in and what she needs to do but Torvald defines her new attitudes as madness “You’re ill, Nora; you’re feverish; I almost think you’re out of your mind” (840). “However, the characterization has been tied to the fact that she is breaking taboos or challenging conventions” (Langås 160). Torvald is still stuck in his fantasy world of how a wife should talk and act per his standard and the society he stands for. “Nora still has no way of knowing that she is not endangering her children with her presence and in the end, she feels impelled to leave, and her decision is less an act of defiance against her husband and society than an attempt to save the lives of her children” (Brooks
Nora is a dynamic character. When the play begins Nora is viewed and presented as a playful and carefree person. She seems to be more intent on shopping for frivolous things. But, as time goes on it becomes apparent that Nora actually has a certain amount of seriousness in her decisions and actions in dealing with the debt she incurred to save Torvald’s life. Nora’s openness in her friendship with Dr. Rank changes after he professes his affections toward her. Her restraint in dealing with him shows that Nora is a mature and intelligent woman. Nora shows courage, not seen previously, by manipulating her way around Krogstad and his threats to reveal her secret. After feeling betrayed by Torvald, Nora reveals that she is leaving him. Having
(Mrs. Linde and Nora) express their feelings of pride and fulfillment in helping their significant others by sacrificing themselves. Nora’s character is made more obvious to us by Mrs. Linde’s actions. Not only did Nora open her mouth about saving her husband‘s life, but she did it with the utmost pride. Claiming to have raised all the money herself she soaks in her self-importance. In Act 1, Nora seems to thrive on the pride she gets from borrowing the money. I suppose that she is feeling useful for a change.
As the play goes on, Nora seems to transform from her delicate little character into something much more. At the end of act one, Krogstad goes to Nora for the recollection of the money she had borrowed from him. "You don?t mean that you will tell my husband that I owe you money?" (21). Since Nora was wrong in doing so socially, she could not tell Torvald or anyone else about her problem. Not only would that affect their social standard but also Torvald's ego, which inevitably would happen anyway. After Krogstad threatens to expose Nora for forging her father's signature, she realizes that no matter what she does Torvald was going to know the truth. The flaw with...