Society In A Doll's House

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In A Doll 's House by Henrik Ibsen, the title itself implies just about anything. It is a place where ordinary people become manipulated by society. Society has always strongly influenced the way people act, think, dress and structure their lives. The Doll’s House just emphasizes how many families try to live up to the society’s standards and end up living false lives—like a plastic family. Some of the characters like Torvald and Nora represent both a doll and a manipulator while others act as either. They are the heads of the household and both seem to have set up a pleasing image for each other. Both Nora and Torvald live in a place they believed to be their home but turned out to be “a doll’s house”. They unknowingly tried to keep up the …show more content…

It unveiled that anyone could be blinded by wanting to fit in and not becoming the outcast. “You are just like the others. They all think that I am incapable of anything really serious,” (Ibsen 235). Nora frequently tries to fit into her own age group, but seems to be rejected as they underestimate her and her capabilities. The characters as a whole seemed to lack intelligence when it came to pleasing the world around them. They mindlessly acted because that was the only way they knew how, but they did know how to control their families and people around them. For instance with the children, employees, their companion or themselves they spoke a certain way and did certain things. Nora for example was sweet, innocent and childish which was her strategy to tie people around her finger “(Playing with his coat buttons, and without raising her eyes to his) If you really want to give me something…” (Ibsen 230). Although she didn’t like to be referred as a child it got her many chances to escape unwanted issues and get her the favors she needed. Torvald on the other side was authoritative and strong which made people automatically obey therefore earning him the respect he desired. Society was the general, the need of the people to please it and fulfill their already structured …show more content…

They hadn’t known they were living in a doll’s. They flawlessly kept their image up to a point they had believed all they had was true. The doll’s house highlights the control that is held over them. By them displaying their picture perfect home they naïvely submitted into society’s desires. They get to the point to where they think they are in love with each other such as it was supposed to happen, but at the end they break and Nora is able to see through the lies of society. “You have never loved me. You have only thought it pleasant to be in love with me” (Ibsen 279), Nora realizes just then what it all really was and is fully aware of what she herself feels. “I cannot help it. I do not love you anymore,” (Ibsen 281), at this point Nora has broken ties with society and is ready to move on even with all her pain. She recognizes that not all was as perfect as she had always thought and then she saw that she had been living married eight years to no one but a mere stranger. Their so called home was just a simple cover to the truth that lay hidden behind closed

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