A Doll’s House Questions and answers 1. relationship/interactions 2. Macaroons as Symbols 3. Who is Mrs. Linde? 4. What´s Nora´s secret? 54. Who is Krogstad? 6. Who is Dr. Rank? Act One 1. Describe the relationship/interactions between Nora and Helmer as a married couple. What is NOT as it appears? Nora and Helmer seemed to be a happy couple with their small problems. The way they would interact with one another constantly changed. They would have sudden arguments from small issues. Helmer had different nicknames for Nora, at times he would call her “my squirrel” or “little prodigal” and other times he would be kinder and call her “my dear little Nora”. Helmer yelled at Nora for being wasteful with money and then quickly said that he loves her the way she is calling her his “sweet little nark”. In their household Nora didn’t have a large role, she didn’t work and she took care of the children and her husband. 2. Look at the attention paid to the macaroons. What do you think they symbolize? I think the macaroons symbolize Nora’s unwillingness to always obey her husband. The issue between Helmer not wanting Nora to give in to her sweet tooth and waste money on her guilty pleasures is a smaller issue that parallels to Nora and Helmer’s larger problems. Nora is disobedient to Helmer and the macaroons represent the larger secrets Nora hides from Helmer. 3. What is supposed to happen for Helmer at the beginning of the New Year, and what will it mean for him and his family? What problems could be fixed? Helmer is supposed to receive a higher position and a pay raise at his job at the bank. Helmer receiving this job will mean wealth for his family. This would solve the problem of Nora’s constant spending and wast... ... middle of paper ... ...Act Two, Nora has come to a decision. What is it, and what is she hoping for? Nora decides to commit suicide by the end of Act Two. Nora is hoping that she will at least have thirty-one hours of time left to live before her husband finds out the truth of her lies. 6. Look closely at the conversation between Nora and Anne-Marie. Who is Anne-Marie, and what is her relationship to Nora? Anne-Marie is the Helmer family’s nanny. Ann-Marie’s and Nora are friendly with one another and share common experiences. Both Ann-Marie and Nora had to make sacrifices and it creates a small bond between the two. Ann-Marie was forced to give her daughter up in order to take her job as the Helmer’s nanny. Nora asks Ann-Marie if she thinks her children would miss her if she left them. Ann-Marie was forced to give up her daughter while Nora would willingly give up her children.
Significance – The setting is important since it is a private environment and away from the general public. The Helmer’s living room is a place of safety for Nora where she feels comfortable telling Mrs. Linde about borrowing money.
Throughout her life Nora had spent her time pleasing the men around her, first her father and then Torvald. As the reality erupted that her marriage to Torvald was loveless and not salvageable, she ignored Torvald's demand that she not leave him. He even made attempts to sway her decision by insinuating they could go on in the house as brother and sister. Her need to be a valued human in society had prevailed over the dependent, frail, creature that once belonged to Torvald. She set out to find her independence in spite of the limitations that society had placed on women. Her displeasure had burned a path beyond her little, secure world and the burden of being a plaything was lifted.
Nora Helmer was a delicate character and she relied on Torvald for her identity. This dependence that she had kept her from having her own personality. Yet when it is discovered that Nora only plays the part of the good typical housewife who stays at home to please her husband, it is then understandable that she is living not for herself but to please others. From early childhood Nora has always held the opinions of either her father or Torvald, hoping to please them. This mentality makes her act infantile, showing that she has no ambitions of her own. Because she had been pampered all of her life, first by her father and now by Torvald, Nora would only have to make a cute animal sound to get what she wanted from Torvald, “If your little squirrel were to ask you for something very, very, prettily” (Ibsen 34) she said.
... of equality in marriage. When Nora began to understand Helmer didn’t love her, he loved the idea of her as a pretty woman he was married to, Nora realizes how degrading her role as a woman in the household was. She saw the freedom of Mrs. Linde to be able to obtain a job in her husband’s bank, and the freedom of being a single woman to think, act, and do what she wanted to do, not what her Father wanted her to do, or her husband. Nora realized her identity was solely in her Father, and in Helmer, and the unhealthiness of this reality. Nora wanted to be treated as a human being and not as an object. To be accepted as such would be the struggle of women in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. Nora thought in leaving Helmer she was leaving the problem of feeling like an object all together. Little did she realize she was going to have to face the other Helmers in society.
Nora is a doll who has a “passive character with little personality of her own” (Wiseman). Her life is structured according to the whims of her husband. Torvald expects his wife to abide by his rules. Nora loves macaroons; however, Torvald forbids Nora to have macaroons. Although Nora disobeys the rule, she has to lie and blame Mrs. Linde for the macaroons just to appease her husband. The Helmers have been invited to a costume party. Instead of picking her own costume for the party, Nora says “[Torvald] couldn't you take me in hand and decide what I shall go as, and what sort of a dress I shall wear?” Nora’s freedom is so restrained that she cannot even choose a costume for herself. Torvald decides that she should dress up in a fish girl costume and perform the tarantella. “The costume and dance are part of T...
...who keeps it attached together but she is nothing without her husband. Nora is not of the family; she is more modern and independent, moreover her family is totally broken apart.
Reading Henrik Ibsen’s “ A doll’s house” it proves that the writer puts importance on the characters and the roles they play in the stories. The main characters in this story pretend more to be someone else than who reader would prefer them instead of being their true selves. The one person whose character highly stood out throughout the whole story and who’s role couldn’t do more justice than said in the story to point where to seems like she leads two different lives is none other than Nora.
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
Nora’s life struggle began at a young age. Her father treated her like an inhuman object, and now her husband has done the same thing. After many years of maintaining her “perfect” life, Nora could no longer live like this. She finally stands up for herself and makes a choice to leave her family. This decision is completely reasonable. It is unimaginable to think anyone could treat another person so crudely. No person should be molded into being someone they are not. It is unfair to treat a loved one like an object instead of an equal human being. Unfortunately there are many women today who find themselves in the same position in Nora. Many of which do not have the strength to confront, and to pry themselves from grips of their abusers. It is possible that the greatest miracle will be Nora, out on her own, finding her true self.
Furthermore, if we go to see a production of this play (at least among English-speaking theatre companies), the chances are we will see something based more or less on this interpretative line: heroic Nora fighting for her freedom against oppressive males and winning out in the end by her courageous final departure. The sympathies will almost certainly be distributed so that our hearts are with Nora, however much we might carry some reservations about her leaving her children.
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
Nora Helmer was a delicate character that had been pampered all of her life, by her father, and by Torvald. She really didn't have a care in the world. She didn't even have to care for the children; the maid would usually take care of that. In every sense of the word, she was your typical housewife. Nora never left the house, mostly because her husband was afraid of the way people would talk. It really wasn't her fault she was the way she was; it was mostly Torvald's for spoiling her. Nora relies on Torvald for everything, from movements to thoughts, much like a puppet that is dependent on its puppet master for all of its actions. Her carefree spirit and somewhat childish manners are shown throughout the play with statements such as, "Is that my little lark twittering out there?" (1). "Is it my little squirrel bustling about?" (2). A lark is a happy, carefree bird, and a squirrel is quite the opposite. If you are to squirrel away something, you were hiding or storing it, kind of like what Nora was doing with her bag of macaroons. It seems childish that Nora must hide things such as macaroons from her husband, but if she didn't and he found out, she would be deceiving him and going against his wishes which would be socially wrong.
...dlike mentality and needs to grow before she can raise her own children. Her defiance of Torvald, when he refuses to let her leave, reflects her epiphany that she isn't obligated to let Torvald dictate her actions. The height of Nora's realization comes when she tells Torvald that her duty to herself is as strong as her duty as a wife and mother. She now sees that she is a human being before she is a wife and mother and she owes herself to explore her personality, ambitions, and beliefs.
...nt period in both their lives and their personalities. Nora left her husband and kids behind to start a new life on her own.
On the other hand, towards the end of the story, Nora exhibits the independence and