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Characterization of ibsen's a doll's house
Conflict between family and individual aspirations in ibsen's doll house
Characterization of ibsen's a doll's house
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In Henrik Ibsen’s dramatic play A Doll’s House there are many characters that have grown to be adults that they either do not wish to be or that they are expected to be. The character breakdown as the play goes from act to act is apparent. From a woman struggling to be the perfect wife and mother to a husband trying to be perfect and surround himself with people that are likewise we see that it is much harder to put on a mask to be something you are not.
Nora Helmer is a simple woman. She is the mother to young children as well as an adoring wife to her husband Torvald. Nora is described by her husband as a spendthrift, a little featherhead, and a skylark. (Delbanco & Cheuse) These terms are used in a fashion to say that she is flighty, a dainty woman who shops and flits about with no care in the world. Even her friend Christine Linde tells her that she is immature and childish to the realities of the world. This is actually not a fair statement of Nora. She has already put forth a strong attitude when Torvald was ill. She found a way to get the monies needed to ensure that he got well. She may not have gone about it the legal way but she went to whatever lengths needed to ensure that the man she loved could get well. This was a step outside of the expectations of her. She has always been there to do whatever a man expected of her. Her father expected her to be there to take care of him and the household. Her husband took her in his home and expected the same of her. She was never able to form her own person as someone else was always there telling her who to be and how to be it. Nora wants to be taken seriously and to learn how to be strong for herself. She realizes that she has been able to get this loan and has been paying i...
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...ectations they are not happy but just being. By the end of the play there is some hope for all of them.
Works Cited
Brunnemer, K. (2009). Sexuality in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. Retrieved 11 23, 2013, from Bloom's Literary Reference Online: http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&WID=97972&SID=5&iPin=BLTHS004&SingleRecord=True.
Delbanco, N., & Cheuse, A. (n.d.). Literature Craft and Voice. In H. Ibsen, A Doll's House (pp. 1346-48).
Haller, E. (n.d.). Bloom's Literature. Retrieved 11 23, 2013, from Facts on File: http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&WID=97972&SID=5&iPin=ETL0595&SingleRecord=True.
Metzger, S. (n.d.). An overview of A Doll's House. Retrieved 11 23, 2013, from Gale Literature Resource Center: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1420002305&v=2.1&u=txshracd2560&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w&asid=2a621898dc6a06a303d9c6015c7e4bd0
Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll House." The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, and Writing. By Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 2011. 1709-757. Print.
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.
Templeton, Joan. "The Doll House Backlash: Criticism, Feminism, and Ibsen." PMLA 104.1 (1989): 28-40. JSTOR. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. .
Weintraub, Stanley. ""Doll's House" Metaphor Foreshadowed in Victorian Fiction." Nineteenth-Century Fiction 13: 67-69. Web. 6 Jan. 2011.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House (1879). Trans. Rolf Fjelde. Rpt. in Michael Meyer, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 5th edition. Boston & New York: Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 1999. 1564-1612.
In A Doll’s House Nora expressed the desire to experience life outside of her husband’s shadow. Henrik Ibsen characterized her as a selfless and kindhearted woman, as she constantly put her family’s needs before her own. There is no doubt that Nora was a victim of subjugation, as her husband’s misogynistic views lead him to believe that she was not as knowledgeable as him when it came to economical decisions, which was a motivation for Nora to express her phylogenic ways. For example, Nora found enjoyment decorating for Christmas; however Torvald found it to be a financial burden and insisted that she no longer continue. Ibsen used symbolism as he employed the Christmas tree as a direct representation of the women during his time period, saying they were “stripped of [their] ornaments” (Ibsen 109)...
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on A Doll’s House”. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. SparkNotes.com. 20 Mar 2011. http://Sparknotes.com/lit/dollhouse/themes.html.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth Mahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 2002. 916-966.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. Literature and Ourselves. 2nd Ed. Ed. by Gloria Henderson, Bill Day, and Sandra Waller. New York: Longman, 1997
In Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll House Ibsen describes the perfect family and the conflicts within. Ibsen examines the normal lives of the Helmer family through the eyes of the wife, Nora Helmer. She goes through a series of trials as she progresses through the play and with each trial she realizes something is missing in her life. Ibsen examines the struggles within the house.
Henrik Ibsen paints a sad picture of the sacrificial role of women throughout all social economical classes in his play “A Doll House”. The story is set in the late 19th century and all minor female characters had to overcome adversity to the expense of love, family and self-realization, in order to lead a comfortable life. While the main female protagonist Nora struggles with her increasingly troubled marriage, she soon realizes, she needs to change her life to be happy as the play climaxes. Her journey to self-discovery is achieved by the threat of her past crime and her oppressing husband, Torvald and the society he represents. The minor female characters exemplifying Nora’s ultimate sacrifice.
Baruch, Elaine Hoffman. "Ibsen's Doll House: A Myth for Our Time." The Yale Review 69 (1980): 374-387.
“A Doll’s House” is unique in a way that it seems to explore aspects of feminism, such as the independent woman, although critics and Ibsen himself would have argued otherwise considering it to be more of a social commentary centred upon role playing in society. For this very reason, “A Doll’s House” can be seen as being relevant to twenty-first century society, since society will always attempt to group people together, whether categorised by gender, morality or wealth. The very fact that the themes presented were controversial during the Ibsen’s time, and are yet of concern in modern society, makes it one of the most influential plays ever written.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. In Four Major Plays. Trans. James McFarlane and Jens Arup. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.
Ibsen desires to challenge assumptions as well as rules of Norwegian life, and most importantly wants to depict society accurately, as he meticulously incorporates everyday life. Therefore, A Doll House represents a realistic drama due to the issues involving women, illnesses, and laws within the play, while conveying Ibsen’s desire for controversy and change in Norway’s society. A common woman in Norway, such as Nora, experiences a daily life of oppression, fear, and unjust authority, which exposes societal mistreatment. Society and Torvald Helmer force Nora to look pretty and happy, although “she laughs softly at herself while taking off her street things. Drawing a bag of macaroons from her pocket, she eats a couple, then steals over and listens at her husband’s door” (Ibsen I. 43), which portrays oppression.