The Awakening of Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House
The status of women in the 1800's, when A Doll's House was written, was that of a second-class citizen. Women did not have the right to vote, own property, or make legal transactions. The role of women was restricted to that of a housewife. In A Doll's House, Ibsen does a wonderful job of presenting the character of Nora as person who goes though an awakening about her life. In the beginning, she concerns herself only with being a perfect wife and mother according to the social norms of the time. Later, she realizes that she cannot continue just being her husband's shadow. Eventually, she decides that she has duties to herself that are above of those of being a wife. She confronts the fact that she's not complete being the way that her husband, society and the church want for her to be.
Ibsen exposes the fact that Nora's self image has been molded by the men of her life. First, she is a doll-child ... then a doll-bride. She's a little play toy for the men - a beautiful possession to show off to their friends. This presents the reality of women in the 1800's. Women were often treated as objects by men.
Little girls were raised to be good mothers and wives. They were taught their role was to make their families happy even if they were not happy themselves. In the play, Nora mentions the way she was treated when she was living at home in her father's house. She is raised no to have her own identity.
Nora: Yes, it's true now, Torvald. When I lived at home with Papa, he told me all his opinions, so I had the same ones too; or if they were different I hid them, since he wouldn't have care for that. He used to call...
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... is representative of the awakening of society to the changing view of the role of woman. A Doll's House magnificently illustrates the need for and a prediction of this change.
Works Cited and Consulted:
Clurman, Harold. 1977. Ibsen. New York: Macmillan.
Heiberg, Hans. 1967. Ibsen. A Portrait of the Artist. Coral Gables, Florida: University of Miami.
Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll's House." Perrine's Literature. Forth Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998. pp. 967-1023
Northam, John. 1965. "Ibsen's Search for the Hero." Ibsen. A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
Shaw, Bernard. "A Doll's House Again." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1979.
Sturman, Marianne Isben's Plays I, A Doll's House Cliffs Notes, 1965.
Thomas, David. Henrik Ibsen. New York: Grove, 1984
(2011, October 17). Research Examines Approaches to Treating Substance Abuse Among African-Americans. Retrieved October 20, 2014, from http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.aspx?id=14425
A Doll House, a play written by Henrik Ibsen, published in the year 1879, stirred up much controversy within its time period because it questioned the views of society's social rules and norms. "Throughout most of history... Wifehood and motherhood were regarded as women's most significant professions... The resulting stereotype that 'a woman's place is in the home' has largely determined the ways in which women have expressed themselves" ("Women's History in America"). Ibsen places many hints throughout his play about the roles of women and how they were treated in his time. Nora is perceived as a typical housewife; maintaining the house and raising her children. However, Nora had actually hired a maid to do all of those typical housewife duties for her. Nora was naive, and ambitious. She hid many secrets from her husband. The way women were viewed in this time period formed a kind of barrier that Nora could not overcome. Women should not be discriminated against just because of their gender and within reason they should be able to do what their heart entails.
To begin, a child does not have a choice whether it would like to be born or not. It was the person’s decision to have unprotected intercourse with his or her partner. Abortion may seem to be the only option people have when they become pregnant. When having intercourse, it should not be something that is taken lightly. The couples, who are sexually active, should know all the pre...
This is where a tube attached to a vacuum is inserted into the uterus and sucks out the embryo and all other material. The second type takes place after the 15th week and is called saline infusion. Here, the doctors replace a little fluid with a salt solution. This causes the uterus to contract. The fetus is then expelled. The third type is a hysterotomy.
Nora is portrayed to be representative of women of this time. The social distinction between men and women were very well-marked in the home. As W. E. Simonds said in his review of Henrik Ibsen’s work, “She is happy in her “doll-house,” and apparently knows nothing outside her home, her husband, and her children.” Women were expected to handle the household affairs and staff. Men were expected to work outside the home as the primary breadwinner, but the home was his castle run by his wife. Nora's responsibilities include the management of the household staff, and household expenses but as expected of the time, Nora’s husband gives her a household expense budget as well as in...
Abortion is one of the most controversial topics for centuries. In medical terms abortion means terminating the human pregnancy buy expulsion from the uterus before birth. Abortion is just another name of killing an unborn child who still has a life ahead. For several years a mother has to take the decision of killing her own unborn baby for many said and unsaid reasons. The unborn child is not even safe in the safest place of the world its mother’s womb. Although today in many countries abortion is legalized but according to me it should be illegalized.
The abortion debate seems like an unresolable conflict of rights. The right of women to control their own bodies, and the right of children to be born. In the United States abortion became legal in 1973. Recently, courts have upheld the right of a woman to have an abortion, and as a result, has caused many heated debates. The opposing abortion groups are refered to as “pro-life” and “pro-choise.”
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.
What does it mean to be a hero? According to Webster, a hero is someone "of great strength [and] courage" who is "admired" for his or her "courage and nobility."1 Stretching this definition a bit further, I would argue that a hero is someone who uses this strength, courage, and nobility to help or save others. Nora Helmer, in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, leaves her husband and family at the end of the play-a move that can be viewed as either very selfish or very heroic. Because Nora uses her strength and courage in effort to save others and herself from the false "doll's house" life they are living in, her final act of leaving home is truly heroic. Nora saves her children from being raised by a mother who doesn't know the first thing about being a mother and she saves Torvald by no longer enabling him to live the false life he has built for himself. Finally, she saves herself by taking herself out of the "doll's house" and into the real world to discover who she is and what she believes.
Abortion must remain an option for women because there many women in the United states not financially, emotionally, or physically ready to have a baby. Why should the government force women to bring children into the world? Millions of unintended pregnancies in the United States each year end in abortion. It is a way of taking responsibility for unwanted pregnancies, as pregnancy takes a toll on women. If a woman is not financially, emotionally or physically ready for a child, she should have the option to abort. Giving women an option to abort is a freedom that women should continue to have.
Abortion is one of the most controversial issues in America today. Abortion is the ending of pregnancy before birth. There are approximately 1.5 million abortions every year in this country. Abortion was made legal in the 1970s. However, pro-life activists argue that it is murder. Should the government have the legal power to take away a woman's right to make decisions regarding her own body?
During the time in which Henrik Isben's play, A Doll?s House, took place society frowned upon women asserting themselves. Women were supposed to play a role in which they supported their husbands, took care of their children, and made sure everything was perfect around the house. Nora is portrayed as a doll throughout the play until she realizes the truth about the world she lives in, and cuts herself free.
Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll House." Ibsen : Four Major Plays - Volume 1. Trans. Rolf Fjelde. New York: Signet Classics, 1992. 43-114. Print.