This shows just how controlling he really is. Nora just plays along, keeping secrets from Torvald in order to please him at any expense. This was a very common situation during the era whom this play was produced. Nora is smart and capable of a lot more but she lets herself be held back in order to be the perfect wife for Torvald. The title "A Doll House" would not fit the play because this states that everyone in the house is a doll.
This subordinate role from which Nora progresses emphasizes the need for change in society's view of women. For Nora, her inferior, doll-like nature is a facade for a deeper passion for individuality that begins to surface during the play and eventually fully emerges in the ending. An example of this deep yearning for independence is shown when Nora tells her friend, Kristina Linde about earning her own money by doing copying. Nora explains, "it was tremendous fun sitting [in her room] working and earning money. It was almost like being a man" (A Doll's House, 162).
David Thomas describes the initial image of Nora as "that of a doll wife who revels in the thought of luxuries that can now be afforded, who is become with flirtation, and engages in childlike acts of disobedience" (Thomas 259). This inferior role from which Nora progressed is extremely important. Ibsen's A Doll's House depicts the role of women as subordinate in order to emphasize the need to reform their role in society. Definite characteristics of the women's subordinate role in a relationship are emphasized through Nora's contradicting actions. Her infatuation with luxuries such as expensive Christmas gifts contradicts her resourcefulness in scrounging and buying cheap clothing; her defiance of Torvald by eating forbidden Macaroons contradicts the submission of her opinions, including the decision of which dance outfit to wear, to her husband; and Nora's flirtatious nature contradicts her devotion to her husband.
Naturally Mothers “It seems most commonly to be the mother's influence, though naturally a bad father's would have the same result.” (A Doll House, 70) In this quotation, Torvald from Henrik Ibsen's, A Doll House talks about Krogstad being a liar and mentions that almost all criminals have had lying mothers. The protagonist, Nora, feels very guilty because she is hiding a secret from her family. In life, women are naturally determine whether if they are good or bad mother. In two different pieces of work these two women chose either one. In A Doll House, by Henrik Ibsen, Nora is naturally a good mother.
Her true devotion to herself is discovered because of the false devotion she felt towards her husband and her role in her family. In "A Doll House," Henrik Ibsen uses the character of Nora to show that the way in which a woman is treated and her assumed role in society can actually lead to her discovery of her own true humanity. Though it seems contradictory, it is actually Torvald Helmer, Nora's husband, who cause Nora to refuse to submit to him. Torvald holds a very low opinion of Nora's ability to handle things for herself, and allows her almost no responsibility relating to the family outside of the trivial things in the home. His incessant use of his pet names, "songbird" and "squirrel" for example, trivialize her place in their home.
The Doll's House A contributing factor to the story "The Doll's House" by Katherine Mansfield is the characterization of Kezia as she travels in her innocence through the symbolic world of experience. Kezia is essential to the plot because she represents a taboo, offering opposition to common ways of thinking. Through the portrayal of Kezia, as she interacts as the symbolic eccentric, Mansfield emphasizes the powers and blind justification of conformity within a society. The story commences with the arrival of the doll's house sent to the Burnell children. The Burnells take a great liking to this new acquisition.
In "Cinderella" by Charles Perrault, the story depicts an imaginative fairytale through the hardships of a mistreated daughter and the magic of a fairy; in essence, Cinderella demonstrates that focusing on materialism is more important and more effective other than working up the path to majesty. Cinderella is a character who is often mistreated by her stepmother and god sisters. Bearing unsuitable personalities, they treat her harshly, leaving all of the chores to her. However, she admits that her tattered clothes are not worthy of a formal event, and continues to be belittled by her stepsisters. Portrayed with low self-esteem and insecurity, she does not respond harshly to their cruel insults.
Both characters are victims of role-play. Tita has the role of housewife and Nora is a mother, wife, and dependent. Nora finds freedom in her debt, which gives her a sense of authority and control. The importance of role-play to Torvald (Helmer) challenges the strength of his marriage to Nora. Torvald’s façade of a relationship with Nora disguises the lack of depth of his love for her and Nora’s recognition of this liberates her.
Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, presents the main character, Nora Helmer, as a complex individual that goes on a bumpy journey to self-realization and complete transformation. Nora is a woman that is confused about her sense of self and worth that is caused by society’s sexist standards, although she willingly abides to them anyway. Society and the people within Nora 's life essentially influence her submissive character role, but the only thing that is truly stopping Nora’s road to personal freedom, is Nora herself. At the start of the play, Nora is represented as a toy doll possession, belonging to her husband, Torvald Helmer, before she finally reveals her transformation into an independently thinking, self-realized woman towards the end.
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.