The Choices of Nora Helmer The one thing that every person is granted in life is having the option to choose. Choosing whether to stand or to sit; to go or to stay; to speak up or to stay quiet and fictional characters should be no different. In Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, the protagonist Nora Helmer is always making decisions that she feels are beneficial. Nora is like a typical housewife: devoted to her husband, children, and home. Just in the beginning of the play, she is seen coming back home after a day spent shopping for Christmas presents for her family. The reader grasps that she is a loving individual, but it also seems as if she is naïve. This all changes as the play continues. Just from how she handles situations and knowledge from her past, the reader understands that there is more to Nora Helmer than what her husband perceives. From vast choices like illegally stealing money and leaving her husband to minor ones like not wanting to see her children, it is revealed in the story that Nora is an intelligent and strong young woman. The biggest decision that the reader learns that Nora makes is the decision to illegally get money to send her husband to Italy. The topic comes up when her friend, Mrs. Linde, is telling her about her hardships. Mrs. Linde believes that Nora would not understand what it means to struggle, for she looks at her as a child. Nora scolds this notion by saying, “Now I’ll show you that I too have something to be proud and happy about. I’m the one who saved Torvald’s life” (Isben 890). Nora is trying to prove that she has accomplished great things too. She might not have struggled as someone like Mrs. Linde but her life has not been a walk in the park. Still, Nora saving her husband’s li... ... middle of paper ... ...p her husband, children, and life just shows her humility. Nora is humble enough to say that she cannot raise her children if she is still child-like herself. That exemplifies how intelligent and strong Nora really is. Nora Helmer’s progression as a person is definitely noticeable throughout the play. Her development ties into one of Ibsen’s theme for the play, which is how appearances can be unreliable. At the beginning, the reader gets the impression that she is very childish, mindless woman but towards the end, she is seen as more of an intelligent and independent woman. She is seeing herself as a human being for the first time and has a right to explore her aspirations. Works Cited Ibsen, Henrik. “A&P.” Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Eds. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Los Angeles: Pearson, 2012. 880-939. Print.
In Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll House, Ibsen tells a story of a wife and mother who not only has been wronged by society, but by her beloved father and husband because of her gender. Nora left her father’s house as a naïve daughter only to be passed to the hands of her husband forcing her to be naïve wife and mother, or so her husband thinks. When Nora’s husband, Torvald becomes deathly ill, she takes matters into her own hands and illegally is granted a loan that will give her the means to save her husband’s life. Her well guarded secret is later is used against her, to exort Torvald, who was clueless that his wife was or could be anything more than he made her. However, Nora has many unrecognized dimensions “Besides being lovable, Nora is selfish, frivolous, seductive, unprincipled, and deceitful” (Rosenberg and Templeton 894). Nora is a dynamic character because her father and her husband treat her as a child and do not allow her to have her own thoughts and opinions, as the play progresses she breaks free from the chains of her gender expectation to explore the world around her.
In Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House we encounter the young and beautiful Nora on Christmas Eve. Nora Helmer seems to be a playful and affectionate young woman full of life and zeal. As the play progresses, we learn that Nora is not just a “silly girl” (Ibsen) as Torvald refers to her. She learns of the business world related to debt that she acquired by taking out a loan in order to save her beloved Torvalds life. Although Krostad’s blackmail does not change Nora’s whimsical nature it opens her eyes to her underappreciated potential. “I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald,” (Find diff quote perhaps?) she exclaims in her confrontation with Torvald. She realizes that she has been putting on a facade for
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.
After she reveals the "dastardly deed" to her husband, he becomes understandably agitated; in his frustration he shares the outside world with her, the ignorance of the serious business world, and destroys her innocence and self-esteem. This disillusion marks the final destructive blow to her doll's house. Their ideal home including their marriage and parenting has been a fabrication for the sake of society. Nora's decision to leave this false life behind and discover for herself what is real is directly symbolic of woman's ultimate realization. Although she becomes aware of her supposed subordinateness, it is not because of this that she has the desire to take action. Nora is utterly confused, as suggested by Harold Clurman, "She is groping sadly in a maze of confused feeling toward a way of life and a destiny of which she is most uncertain (256)." The one thing she is aware of is her ignorance, and her desire to go out into the world is not to "prove herself" but
...The play demonstrates this in the following lines: Helmer: Before anything else, you’re a wife and mother. Nora: I don’t believe that any more. I believe that before anything else, I’m a human being, just as much a one as you are … or at least I’m going to turn myself into one … I want to think everything out for myself and make my own decisions. Nora must be true to herself in order to participate in society in a meaningful manner. Her relationship with her children has been marred by her relationships with her father and husband; she treats her children as dolls, and they are apt to grow up in the same manner, with the same inability to be true to themselves. By the end of the play, Nora realizes that she cannot properly fulfill her duties as a mother until she learns how to become a person first. In this sense, her abandonment of her children is an act of mercy.
During this time period, there was the stereotypical opinion that women should only be homemakers because they do not have the intellectual capacity to do anything more. The struggle for dominance between Torvald and Krogstad also brings to light Nora’s venture to have purpose. Ibsen uses her to comment on society’s gender roles. For the majority of the play, Nora plays her part as the ideal wife well. However, at times she portrays herself as being more than just a trophy wife. Her conflict with Krogstad reveals how innovative and unselfish she actually is. For instance, she does not spend all the allowance money Torvald gives her. In addition to saving a little of her allowance, she also does odd jobs to earn money. She does all of this in secret to pay off the loan to Krogstad. At first, Nora gives off the impression that she is a “spendthrift” and an airhead, but she proves herself to be a woman of perseverance and determination. The men’s struggle for dominance also reveals her marriage’s flaw. Torvald treats her like a doll he needs to take care of and show off to others. He underestimates her ability, similar to how society doubts that women can do more than just sit still and look pretty. His condescending demeanor towards her ultimately allows her to realize that she needs to leave him in order to be truly independent and live up to her potential. Like all women in society eventually realize,
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. Backpack Literature an Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Nora was wife of Helmer and a mother of 3 children. They lived in a house where their nurse Anne-Marie took care of the children and Helene which was their maid took care of the house work. Nora was a stay at home mother and would occasionally take on little jobs in order to make ends meet. Nora has lived her whole life as a puppet. Her life has always been controlled by someone else; first by her father and then by her husband Helmer. “Her whole life is a construct of societal norms and the expectations of others” (Wiseman). “Nora’s father would force his beliefs on her and she would comply with them lest she upset him; she would bury her personal belief under Papa’s. According to Nora, Torvald was guilty of the same things” (Wiseman). Nora has always lived her life according to the beliefs of someone else. She didn 't know how to live life any other way because this is how she was raised. She felts trapped in the life she lived because she knew no other way of living besides her current lifestyle. Due to Nora being controlled her whole life she seemed childish and lacked knowledge of the world outside her house. At the end of the story Helmer decides to show his true colors once his future was threatened. This made Nora realize that she does not love her husband nor does he love her, and decides that is not the life she wants to live. “Helmer: You talk like a child. You don 't know anything of the world you live
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
In Henry Ibsen’s play the Doll House, Torvald restraints Nora Helmer’s freedom. Torvald sees Nora as a doll and a child instead of an equal partner or wife. When Torvald does not sacrifice his reputation to save her, Nora realizes that “[she] had been living all these years with a strange man, and [she] had born him three children.” After years of having to live as a doll, Nora has an awakening that kindles her passion for freedom.
The Growth of Nora in A Doll's House & nbsp; In the play, "A Doll's House", written by Henrik Ibsen, Nora, the main character of the play, decides to abandon her husband, her home and her children in order to find herself. She finally realizes she has to leave when confronted with a problem in her relationship with her husband, who keeps treating her like a doll, reflecting the childish treatment she always received from her father before. She finds the strength to leave with her childhood friend Kristine, who has led a hard life, and has the wisdom to guide and support her. Nora leaves the role of the doll child and doll wife she played her whole life, and becomes an independent self-thinking adult, when she realizes that the world is different than she always thought it was, and that she herself is not who she thinks she is. & nbsp; Nora lives in a dream world, a child fantasy, where everything is perfect, and everything makes sense. She thinks that the world would never condemn a woman who tries to save her husband's life or protect a dying father.
Nora Helmer is the character in A Doll House who plays the 19th woman and is portrayed as a victim. Michael Meyers said of Henrik Ibsen's plays: "The common denominator in many of Ibsen's dramas is his interest in individuals struggling for and authentic identity in the face of tyrannical social conventions. This conflict often results in his characters being divided between a sense of duty to themselves and their responsibility to others. " (1563) All of the aspects of this quote can be applied to the play A Doll House, in Nora Helmer's character, who throughout much of the play is oppressed, presents an inauthentic identity to the audience and throughout the play attempts to discover her authentic identity.
Nora was raised and socialized by her father. He kept her as a doll and never required or expected much from her. The same treatment continued from her husband Torvald. In a world where nothing is expected from Nora, it is easy to think she is spoiled. But, as many women of that time, she wanted to be seen for the smart and intellectual woman that she was. She basically saved her husband’s life but had to continue to act as Torvald’s fool. Sympathy for Nora is not only possible, it’s practically required.
Both are willing to sacrifice themselves for values dear to their lives. This act of aiding significant loved ones gives us a better understanding of Nora. It gives us an image of who the character Nora really is.
...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.