The Lie in Ibsen's A Doll's House
An action or statement that may be considered a lie to some may, in fact, not be considered, a lie to others: it might simply be considered, omitted information. The lie might seem to have an evil intent when first heard, but the true intention behind it may have been for helpful purposes or for protection. In Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, a lie was created to help and protect a loved one - yet it resulted in a catastrophic act.
The character Nora lives her life, in one sense, as a complete lie. She never thought for herself or had her own opinions. Nora's father would tell her "what he thought about everything" leaving her no "opinion but his" (Ibsen 428). If she did have an opinion of her own, she keep quiet, knowing he would not have agreed. She played his "little doll" until she moved in with Torvald, her husband. She felt as though she "was passed from Papa's hands into...[Torvald's]" ( Ibsen 428). Now she played the role of Torvald's "little doll," pretending to take on his views of everything. By going from her father's views, to Torvald's views, she has been lying to herself. The same form of lying or omitting the truth can be found in Kate Chopin's fictional story, "The Story of an Hour." Mrs. Mallard had been lying to herself for years. She was married to her husband for years thinking "she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not" (Chopin 297). If she would have been truthful to herself, and fessed up when she realized she did not love him, the rest of her life would not have been lived as a lie. The truth could have set her free from her unwanted marriage and she could have done what she really wanted to do in her life. Mrs. Mallard's feelings can be co...
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Newton was educated at the King’s School, Grantham from the age of twelve to seventeen where he learned only Latin and no mathematics. His mother re...
Sir Isaac Newton was born into a European society which had been grappling with the problem of growing scientific knowledge in relation to religion. Newton was no exception to this. He remained an extremely religious man while making his vast scientific discoveries. The exaltation of God and his hope to prove God's universe is perfect inspired a great deal of his writings. Newton was most certainly a genius.
Newton was born in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, United Kingdom on January fourth, 1643. He was the only son of a prosperous local farmer, also named Isaac Newton, who died three months before he was born. A premature baby born tiny and weak, Newton was not expected to survive. When he was 3 years old, his mother, Hannah Ayscough Newton, remarried a minister, Barnabas Smith, and went to live with him, leaving Newton behind. The experience left an imprint on Newton, later manifesting itself as an acute sense of insecurity. He anxiously obsessed over his published work, defending its ideas with irrational behavior. Newt...
With the Scientific Revolution in full swing, Sir Isaac Newton became very interested in advanced science and philosophy. In fact, he...
Perkins, Geroge, and Barbara Perkins. The American Tradition in Literature. 12th ed. Vol. 2. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009. Print
Ibsen, Henrik. “A Doll’s House.” Literature for Composition. Ed. Sylvan Barnet, William Burto, and William E. Cain. 9th Ed. New York: Longman, 2010. 792-841. Print.
his home in Woolsthorpe over the next two years. During this time he worked on
Sir Isaac Newton, a space expert, mathematician, and a scientist is depicted to be one of the best names in the history of human thought. Newton, born on December 25, 1642, in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, was interested in making mechanical toys as a young man. He even designed an amazing, little windmill, which would grind wheat and corn, at a youthful age. Newton explored beyond the secret facts of light and color, discovered gravity, and even found another type of mathematics, called calculus. It was Newton that had clarified why a rock is heavier than a pebble, and how earth 's gravity could hold the moon in its orbit.
Perkins George, Barbara. The American Tradition in Literature, 12th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009. Print
Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll's House." Literature the Human Experience. Shorter 8th Ed. Eds. Richard Abcarian and Marvin Klotz. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins. 2004. 437-495.
[This is the text of a lecture delivered, in part, in Liberal Studies 310 at Malaspina University-College, Nanaimo, BC, Canada. References to Ibsen's text are to the translation by James McFarlane and Jens Arup (Oxford: OUP, 1981). This text is in the public domain, released July 2000]
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. Trans. William Archer. Boston: Walter H. Baker & Co., 1890. Gleeditions. Web. 12 April 2014
As the play goes on, Nora seems to transform from her delicate little character into something much more. At the end of act one, Krogstad goes to Nora for the recollection of the money she had borrowed from him. "You don?t mean that you will tell my husband that I owe you money?" (21). Since Nora was wrong in doing so socially, she could not tell Torvald or anyone else about her problem. Not only would that affect their social standard but also Torvald's ego, which inevitably would happen anyway. After Krogstad threatens to expose Nora for forging her father's signature, she realizes that no matter what she does Torvald was going to know the truth. The flaw with...
Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll House." Ibsen : Four Major Plays - Volume 1. Trans. Rolf Fjelde. New York: Signet Classics, 1992. 43-114. Print.