“Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.” (TED) This is the definition that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, an African author and feminist, discovered when she looked up the term “feminist” in the dictionary at age fourteen. This is also the definition that she based her speech, “We Should All Be Feminists”, off of. Nora Helmer, the creation of Henrik Ibsen for his play A Doll’s House, is a feminist by this definition. One can be a feminist without knowing it, such as Adichie was at a young age. Nora is one of these people. Nora transitioned from being an obedient, subordinate housewife to a role model for women everywhere. Despite rapid criticisms and controversy about her behavior as a woman of the 1860’s, the character of Nora Helmer grows to be a powerful, independent, clear-headed woman who serves as a feminine archetype for future generations to follow.
While Nora can be received well in modern times, in the 1860’s Nora was highly criticized. “In fact, Nora’s declaration of independence in the play prompted such heated discussions among the public that the topic had to be declared off-limits at social gatherings.” (Moss, 116) Nora’s actions were so controversial that it prompted people to talk about her as if she were a real person, rather than a character in a play. Others criticized Nora for her naiveté. “Nora has always been a child; her father, a man devoted of easy conscience, has brought her up entirely unsophisticated. She knows nothing of the serious side of life—of its privileges, its real opportunities—nothing of the duties of the individual in a world of action.” (W.E. Simmons 119) This was a common criticism of Nora, that she had no right to leave her husband and c...
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...a is a winner of this race. She proves not only to be the epitome of a powerful, independent, clear-headed woman, but also that society’s mores need not dictate the way a girl live. Nora grows to be the true archetype of feminism. “Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.” (TED)
Works Cited
Galens, David, and Lynn Spampinato. “A Doll’s House.” Drama for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Dramas. Vol. 1. Detroid: Gale Research, 1998. 106-122. Print.
Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll House." Four Major Plays: Volume 1. New York: New American Library, 1992. N. pag. Print.
Moss, Joyce, and George Wilson. Literature and Its Times. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Print.
"TED | We Should All Be Feminists – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at TEDxEuston (transcript)." Vialogue. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House. The Bedford Introduction to Drama. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston: Bedford/ST. Martin’s, 2001. 659 – 688.
Unwilling to accept her supposed role in society, Nora wanted to figure out whether women should live under the guidance of men or if they should make decisions based on their own knowledge. Nora could not tolerate abiding by the rules of her male-dominated society. It took much fortitude for Nora to rebel against the views of the majority of people, and to reflect on the information she got herself instead of letting it be determined by another.
...y the social convention, gives Nora the strength to abandon her’s. As Pythagorous once said, “Decisions are the hinges of destiny,” and with the help from her husband and society, Nora opened her door.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on A Doll’s House”. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. SparkNotes.com. 20 Mar 2011. http://Sparknotes.com/lit/dollhouse/themes.html.
After she reveals the "dastardly deed" to her husband, he becomes understandably agitated; in his frustration he shares the outside world with her, the ignorance of the serious business world, and destroys her innocence and self-esteem. This disillusion marks the final destructive blow to her doll's house. Their ideal home including their marriage and parenting has been a fabrication for the sake of society. Nora's decision to leave this false life behind and discover for herself what is real is directly symbolic of woman's ultimate realization. Although she becomes aware of her supposed subordinateness, it is not because of this that she has the desire to take action. Nora is utterly confused, as suggested by Harold Clurman, "She is groping sadly in a maze of confused feeling toward a way of life and a destiny of which she is most uncertain (256)." The one thing she is aware of is her ignorance, and her desire to go out into the world is not to "prove herself" but
Scott, Clement. "Review of 'A Doll's House." The Theatre 14.79 (July 1889): 19-22. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Paula Kepos. Vol. 37. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Mar. 2011.
...ome from different worlds, yet they still share the same type of sadness and pain in their everyday lives. What Nora does is considered courageous in that time in history, where women were not treated as equals and were always looked down on and ignored. Women speaking out and taking matters into their own hands was unheard of and often risky. They want to be independent so they do what they believe is necessary to accomplish and reach their goals, so that they can once again be happy for eternity.
Nora 's character is a little bit complicated. she is a representative of women in her time and shows how women were thought to be a content with the luxuries of modern society without worrying about men 's outside world. However, Nora proves that this idea is entirely wrong. Nora is not a spendthrift as all people think specially her husband. on the contrary, she has a business awareness and she is mature
“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.
Davies, H. Neville. 1982. "Not just a bang and a whimper: the inconclusiveness of Ibsen's A Doll's House." Critical Quarterly 24:33-34.
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.
Those of you who have just read A Doll's House for the first time will, I suspect, have little trouble forming an initial sense of what it is about, and, if past experience is any guide, many of you will quickly reach a consensus that the major thrust of this play has something to do with gender relations in modern society and offers us, in the actions of the heroine, a vision of the need for a new-found freedom for women (or a woman) amid a suffocating society governed wholly by unsympathetic and insensitive men.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. In Four Major Plays. Trans. James McFarlane and Jens Arup. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.
Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll House." Ibsen : Four Major Plays - Volume 1. Trans. Rolf Fjelde. New York: Signet Classics, 1992. 43-114. Print.
Isben, Henrik. "A Doll's House and Other Plays." Google Books. N.p., 1 Jan. 2010. Web. 06 May 2014.