The Controversial Theme of A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

At first, Nora may seem as if she is just a mindless, care free woman who is content with her life. Nevertheless, Nora Helmer is truly a strong willed individual who becomes aware of her underappreciated and overlooked potential. The limitations that society brought upon women of her time, as well as her need to have a real relationship with her husband and children, are the elements that shaped Nora’s motivation to leave her family and doll- like way of life in the end. In A Doll House, Nora and Torvald Helmer are an upper class, married couple who go about their lives in a way that their society would see as completely normal. Torvald works at a bank in which he recently received a large promotion that created a more than comfortable lifestyle for their family.

For example, in the play “ The Doll's House” by Henrik Ibsen, the marriage of Torvald and Nora Helmer was unstable because of the gender inequality. Being controlled by her father and handle over to her husband's authority , Nora was not able to purse her own desires , and identity . Similarly in the short story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the marriage between scientist Aylmer and his wife Georgiana falls apart because he's in love with the idea of perfection and not his wife. Geogiana jeopardizes her life to satisfy Aylmer’s passion of perfection. Another literature that reflects on the same idea is the novel, “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Sonya pursues the cruel life of a prostitute because her father is incapable of supporting her family.

Ultimately, she decides to break away from her husband and children to leave behind the society that has oppressed her. She feels compelled to learn more about herself and what she wants in life. In the play, A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen highlights the negative treatment that women received during the late 1800s and uses Nora to rebel against society’s expectations for the role of women. In the Helmer household, Torvald as the male, is superior, and is in charge of making money and running the household. While his role is considered “important” to the family, Torvald expects Norato take the submissive role and raise their three children, dance the tarantella, and do as he asks.

Women were to be a representation of love, purity and family; abandoning this stereotype would be seen as churlish living and a depredation of family status. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Henry Isben’s play A Doll's House depict women in the Victorian Era who were very much menial to their husbands. Nora Helmer, the protagonist in A Doll’s House and the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” both prove that living in complete inferiority to others is unhealthy as one must live for them self. However, attempts to obtain such desired freedom during the Victorian Era only end in complications. The central characters in both “The Yellow Wallpaper” and A Doll’s House are fully aware of their niche in society.

Translation Trouble In the play "A Doll House" the main character, Nora, is in a situation where she is caused to act, emotionally and physically, as a doll to please her husband. Nora has to be very sneaky and conniving in order to be perfect and talked down to by her husband. The translation of this play from Norwegian was a little difficult. The title can either be translated as "A Doll House" or as "A Doll's House". Many people believe either title fits the theme of the play.

Role representation seems to be evident in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. The main characters in the play make themselves to be someone who others would want them to be, instead of actually being their natural selves. The character that stands out the most, whose role is actually so impeccable to where the character appears to be living two different lives would be Nora. Nora would be the, loving and childish wife to Torvald, however, unknowingly, perhaps to herself too, she is also a strong, and independent woman. With the progression of the play, Nora’s persona also shifts from that of a wife who is the everyday playful, trophy wife that is seen by her husband and friends, to that of a woman who is self-empowering and willing.

Ibsen’s deliberate use of minor characters in A Doll’s House was to create and develop Nora’s personality; and as the play finishes, Nora is a real and complex character, a woman who is contradictory to society’s expectations and ideal for a realistic world. Word Count: 1419

Nora’s Struggle For Freedom in A Doll's House In many cultures, a woman is expected to assume the role of the submissive, attentive wife. Often, a woman's role is limited by society to that of wife and mother. Henrik Ibsen, in his play A Doll's House examines the consequences of the stereotypical roles of women in marriage. Isben allows the reader to follow Nora, the main character, “along her difficult journey to regain her self-esteem and self worth”(Durbach 153). From the very first lines of the play, we notice the status quo between Torvald and Nora.

It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffer... ... middle of paper ... ...Barbie Doll” by Marge Pierce are both important because they portray what is expected out of women in society in the twentieth century. Both of them show that women are expected to be physically attractive and good mothers and housewives, even if women want something entirely different. These poems are important because even though there are still some of these social expectations of women, in modern times, much of it has been changed or done away with. It shows the progress that has been made regarding what society expects of women. Works Cited Dove, Rita.

She does not argue with them, but only obey, which causes her to appear weak. With a position as the housemaid in the family, she inspires young girls to behave like a lady by treating others equally in kindness and in virtues, hopefully achieving such beauty of character. This could reassure that someday, girls would be able to obtain a Prince strongly enough to marry her. As stated by Kuykendal, “Fractured fairy tales challenge gender stereotypes and patriarchal ideologies only at the story level of the text”. The stepsisters referred to her as ‘Cinderwench’ since she’s sporadically tasked with household chores such as scrubbing the floors, cleaning the bedrooms, and more.