Complex Relationships Between Characters in A Dollhouse by Henrik Ibsen A Dollhouse by Henrik Ibsen is the story of one woman’s struggle to free herself from a world of guilt and false livelihood. The story is based on the author’s own account of a fellow friend and journalist named Laura Peterson Kieler who was burdened with a hidden crime just as Nora, the main character, is(Ibsen, 1785). According to Ibsen, Kieler illegally borrowed money with the help of a bank associate by forging the signature of her wealthy father. The money was used to pay for her ailing husband’s medical needs. Ibsen’s storyline in A Dollhouse is an exact replica of the events of Kieler’s conflicts, but the character of Nora is based on another figure, Ibsen’s wife Suzanna(Ibsen, 1787). Nora’s doll-like demeaner and appearence is how Ibsen supposedly viewed his wife. This doll/independent woman identity crisis harbored by Nora becomes the other main conflict in the story. This false personality is based on the dependence she has on her husband and her fear of being alone. This doll appearance becomes more prevalent after her crime is committed because she feels she has to keep everything in perfect, “dollhouse” order or her secret will be revealed. Because her true self, strong and independent, is held back and baracaded with with lies and fear, she almost loses her mind as the story unfolds. Although her main conflicts are held within her trapped and confused mind, other main struggles are created through her numerous and overbearing relationships with the other characters in the play. These relationships along with the relationships between other characters evolve into continuous strains on the already puzzled mind of No... ... middle of paper ... ...ships give the play its overall appeal and significance. Each character has at least two different relationships with other characters in the play that help the reader identity the character’s true personality and feelings toward events in the story. The main character, Nora, has conflicts with every character in the story including the ones that she seems to be the closest too. Ibsen uses this diversity in character traits to explain the theme and moral of the story. Also, these complex relationships give each characters reasons for reacting and analizing the main events of the story including Rank’s confession of love and the letter being found in the mailbox. In essence, the relationships the characters endure give them not only roundness and dynamic qualities but a true sense of the severity and complexity of the dollhouse and all thing therein.
The Romantic movement of the nineteenth century in Europe involved those who wished to express their disapproval of industrialism. Romantics focus on individualism as well as images and ideas created by the imagination. Romantics are very centered around a certain beauty and power of nature as opposed to material objects. Romantics stay away from the more realistic part of life, this is greatly expressed in Romantic literature and art. Specifically, in Arthur Rimbaud’s “Ophelia” it is evident to see the fascination with nature as well as the individual. He states, “On the calm black wave where the stars sleep/ Floats white Ophelia like a great lily,/ Floats very slowly, lying in her long veils . . .”(891). Here there is evidence of a Romantic’s
Investigation of Power in Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’. Nora Helmer is introduced in Act I as a character subjugated to the wills and desires of her husband; she is merely an object. Torvald, he possesses a. At the conclusion of Act III however, she has. become sufficiently independent to arrive at her decision to leave.
It sometimes takes a lifetime to change yourself, but changing in response to what other people want, without considering your own needs could be much more challenging. In a world without any flaws all people would be treated equally and with the same kind of respect. On the other hand, in the world we live in, almost all situations we find ourselves in have the potential to become a conflict. A Doll's House, a play by Henrik Ibsen, is an exceptional example of a conflict that exists as women are seen as possessions and not individuals by men. Ibsen uses the Christmas tree, macaroons, tarantella, and the doll’s house as symbols in A Doll’s House to express the flaws in a society that requires women to be the subservient and docile servants of men.
influence all her life and struggles to accept her true identity. Through the story you can
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on A Doll’s House”. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. SparkNotes.com. 20 Mar 2011. http://Sparknotes.com/lit/dollhouse/themes.html.
“A Doll’s House.” Drama for Students. 1985. Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House. The Bedford Introduction to Literature.
Simonds, W. E. "Henrik Ibsen." Dial 10.119 (Mar. 1890): 301-303. Rpt. in Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2011. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Mar. 2011.
One of the main causes for her insanity is the treatment she is receiving by her husband. Right when the story begins the narrator moves into a home with her husband and new born child to stay for a few
The Narrator’s family treats her like a monster by resenting and neglecting her, faking her death, and locking her in her room all day. The Narrator’s family resents her, proof of this is found when the Narrator states “[My mother] came and went as quickly as she could.
Deception is the driving force of the play, the key theme that causes the character’s action that shapes the story. In Act I, Nora deceives her husband, Helmer, in several different ways. The reader gets their first glimpse of deceit when Nora snacks on some macaroons and then hides them from her husband.
Henrik Ibsen uses the technique of realism throughout A Doll's House as a means of explaining the oppression set on women during the Victorian era. Nora and Torvald's marriage, like many other marriages of the Victorian era, is presented realistically in the sense that their marriage is primarily built from romanticized illusions. Throughout the ...
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.
From Henrik Ibsen’s play, “A Doll’s House”, The lives of Nora, Torvald, and their three children seem to be normal in the beginning until Torvald begins to talk to Nora. Since Torvald believes that as the man in his own home, he has the advantage of doing whatever he wants such as teasing and ordering his wife around as if she was a useless toy (perhaps a doll?). I began to feel sympathetic towards Nora for her character is vulnerable to Torvald. He would call her strange pet names such as “squirrel” or “songbird”, and even order her around to do ridiculous things such as practicing the “tarantella” so she can perform for guests. One part that came to my attention was the scene where Torvald blames Nora’s actions on her own father. He tells Nora, “Ah well, one takes you as you are. It runs in the blood. It’s
...r debts were based on deception, and she is too scared to tell her husband anything, adding another lie to the web she has entangled herself into. A tragic character to the end, she even has to lie to get the arsenic, saying she has to kill rats but in all reality she wanted to kill herself.
Societal problems prevail throughout the history of the world and exist within all countries, regions, and cultures. The controversial aspects in societies are based on a large variety of subjects, and have to be identified in order to cause societal change. Therefore, Realism is the portrayal of difficulties in societies that are depicted in everyday life, which includes common situations and actions. Realism allows authors to describe and emphasize the incompetence of some aspects within communities, while enabling writers to call for societal reform. Henrik Ibsen portrays and addresses the concepts of Norway’s society in the 19th century in A Doll House, which is a tragic play translated by Rolf Fjelde. 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 of controversy and change in Norway’s society.