Life of the 19th century differs little to life as we have accustomed to in the 21st century. Edith Wharton and Henrik Ibsen both capture how, when love and rivalry intertwines with friendship, it breeds deception. When one is trapped in a loveless marriage, production of appearances that are not reality is inevitable. The themes of appearance and reality, deception, and women in the 19th century all present themselves in a highly relatable manner in the play A Doll’s House and the story “Roman Fever.”
Henrik Ibsen portrays appearance versus reality within every character in the play. We ascertain initial perceptions of the individuals only to be whirl winded to the truth in the end. Ibsen presents Nora as a submissive, materialistic, and childish woman. She appears to be a “spendthrift” (Ibsen 609), squandering money on her selfish material wants. Her husband, Torvald treats her like a child, never referring to her by anything but a sweet pet name, “Is that my little lark twittering out there?...When did my squirrel get in?” (Ibsen 609). He is often busy, and does not give Nora an equal part in the marriage, again belittling her potential. This perception of Nora is held by not only her husband in the way he talks to her in a condescending manner, but Nora’s friend Mrs. Linde also sees her as a inexperienced woman. Evidence of this is when Mrs. Linde says to Nora, “[C]onsidering you really know so little of life’s burden yourself” (Ibsen 616). Nora is viewed as a trophy wife, having little problems to face while she enjoys indulging in shopping.
Despite the evidence of Nora perhaps being indeed a ‘doll’, as the play progresses we are faced with a Nora that is much the opposite of the first Nora. Instead of the image of Nora co...
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... left to think that she may have convinced her late husband that he was the father, as we learnt that she married very soon after the return from Rome and recovery from her sickness.
The themes of Appearance and Reality and Deception are connected, because when one is pretending to be what he is not there is a need for lies. Both of these works captivate the 21st century reader because it is universal, and it is very interesting to know that the scandalous lives of people do not much differ from century to century.
Works Cited
Ibsen, Henrik.A Doll’s House. Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Fifth ed. Judith A. Stanford. New York: McGraw Hill, 2006. 608-664. Print.
Wharton, Edith. "Roman Fever." Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Fifth ed. Judith A. Stanford. New York: McGraw Hill, 2006. 547-557. 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.
Throughout Act one, Nora’s most noticeable characteristic is her child like personality and her inability to understand the importance of honesty. As the play opens on Christmas Eve Nora comes home with an abundance of extravagant gifts for her family. She also eats some macaroons that she secretly bought that her husband doesn’t allow her to eat. When questioned about the purchase of the dessert by her husband Torvald Helmer, she denies it. Through this act of deception we are able to see that Nora, in denying buying and eating the macaroons is more like a child to her husband. In a normal husband-wife relationship, the wife would have admitted that she did in fact eat them due to the fact that they are on an equal playing field. In this case, Nora was scared to tell him in fear that she will be punished and get in trouble. The deception allows us into Nora’s mind to see that she hasn’t yet understood that if she stand up for herself and says that she did, that with time Torvald will stop treating her like one of his children but instead like the mother and wife that she is. Throughout the first scene yo...
Women in most cultures have been designated as second to men and in some instances, considered below male children as well. With the passage of time women gained respect and the right for equality. Although gender discrimination remains, a lot of progress has been achieved. Literature is a one of the facets of the human race that reflects the culture change of people. William Shakespeare’s King Lear portrays the patriarchal system of the Renaissance era, which leaves women completely dependent on the male head of household. In Henrik Ibsen’s Doll House, set in the modern era, there is still a patriarchal system but women have just a little more freedom. The article, The Doll House Backlash: Criticism, Feminism, and Ibsen by Joan Templeton, analyzes the gender subordination in A Doll House. Comparing and contrasting the themes of the two plays followed by consideration of the article’s research on the theme in A Doll House, assists in developing an understanding of the gradual progression of women’s freedom to be their “true selves” through equality with men. The “true self” is a person's character that is masked by a false portrayal designed to appeal to others.
Nora is perceived as a helpless women, who goes out and wastes money that was earned by her husband. To Torvald, Nora is merely a plaything, which could be what the title of the play, "A Doll House", was hinting at. He found her helplessness to be attractive, because he was the one that was in control. For instance, when they received the Bond from Krogstad, Torvolld said, "I wouldn't be a man if this feminine helplessness didn't make you twice as attractive to me" followed by "It's as if she belongs to him in two ways now: in a sense he's given her fresh ...
A Doll House, by Henrik Ibsen, and A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, both have central themes of search of self-identity within a social system. This is demonstrated by women characters from both plays breaking away from the social standards of their times and acting on their own terms. In most situations women are to be less dominant than men in society. These two plays are surprisingly different from the views of women in society and of the times and settings that they take place in.
Ibsen reveals many things about the bourgeoisie roles of men and women of society through the play A Doll’s House. These ideals are crucial to ones overall social status. The reader can see the characters and their roles in a figurative and literal dollhouse from the title to the end of the story. The main character Nora is the focus of performing these gender roles as she takes on the role of a doll and eventually seeks self-realization and a striving purpose. She leaves behind her family to fulfill an independent journey. Ibsen helps to point out the flaws of society’s stereotypical gender roles and gives new possibilities to men and women.
A grandiose sense of importance and uniqueness can be argued for Nora in the beginning of the play when she reunites with a friend she hasn’t seen in many years. Instead of allowing the friend to talk Nora rhapsodizes about her ideal life with her husband and children all while knowing about the hardship her friend has faced in recent years (Ibsen, 1731). Although this is a selfish thing to do to a friend; Nora is a secretive person afraid of allowing people to get close enough to see under the mask she wears every
This becomes one of the main driving forces of Ibsen’s play. (Quote from Torvald and the money). It immediately distinguishes the differences in gender roles and morals in Norway during the late 1800’s. While Nora is willing to give the porter twice what is owed, we assume she is full of holiday spirit; Torvald has a much more sensible outlook on financial concerns. While he jokingly calls her his little spendthrift, he asserts that her lack of understanding is a result of her gender “Nora, my Nora, that is just like a woman” (Ibsen). Torvald believes that her place in the home is simply ornamental, a trophy that serves as decoration for his home. Torvald is constantly referring to her through the use of pet names such as (quote pet names from book) and only ever refers to her by name when he is scolding her. Not only does Torvald see her as his doll, but also as her child (quote near end of story). By keeping Nora dependent and obedient to him, he plays the role of Nora’s second father. Nora eventually sees that her daughter is being treated in the same manner that she was her entire life, as a
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll House (1879). Trans. Rolf Fjelde. Rpt. in Michael Meyer, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 5th edition. Boston & New York: Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 1999. 1564-1612.
Henrik Ibsen’s screenplay A Doll’s House is a tantalizing story between a married couple and their lives during the 19th century; an era which for woman was highly oppressed, period in time where men ruled the household as business, whereas their wife played the docile obedient lady of the home. Therefor they followed their husbands and fathers implicitly until Nora. Nora sets the stage of her life, starting in her father’s home; she is a stage onto herself. According to Ibsen; little secrets told not only to ourselves but to those around us, find a way to resurface. The ability to understand changes as life’s little secret unfold their true meaning is found in A Doll’s House being played out with Nora learning the art of manipulation of lies.
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...
The nineteenth-century play ‘A Doll’s House’ by Henrik Ibsen focuses on the family and friends of Nora Helmer, a Norwegian housewife under control of her husband, who wishes for her to be a status symbol. Nora’s initial behaviour of childishness and naivety reflects the way in which her husband and father have been treating her. However as the play develops, Nora’s independence grows and her persona shifts into an independent individual, with a realisation that she deserves better treatment from those around her.
Whereas one can see Mrs. Linde as mature and world-weary, one can easily read the character Nora as immature and childlike; one of the first examples of this immaturity and childishness can be found in the first few pages. Nora has come in from a day of shopping and in these excerpts we can see her child-like manner while interacting with her husband, Torvald:
In his play, A Doll 's House, Henrik Ibsen develops the character of Torvald’s wife, named Nora. Nora struggles to define her individuality as she seems to play two different characters. Partly living as Torvald 's perfect wife, while also living day by day to attempting to conceal a big secret from her husband that could potentially destroy his business. While trapped within Nora 's degrading marriage that consists of many animal names, secretly, her character develops into determined and intelligent women. It is in this secret, that Nora recognizes she must break away from her marriage and follow her dreams of being a strong independent woman.
In the play A Doll House, by Henrik Ibsen, the convention of marriage is examined and questioned for its lack of honesty. The play is set in the late 1800s, which provides the backdrop for the debate about roles of people in society. Ibsen uses the minor character, Dr. Rank, to help develop the theme of conflicts within society. This, in turn, creates connections with the plot. Dr. Rank's function in the play is to foreshadow, symbolize, and reflect upon the truth of life and society and to break down the barrier between appearance and reality.