A Doll's House

A Doll's House

4/28/05

In reading Ibsen's A Doll's House today, one may find it hard to imagine how daring it seemed at the time it was written one hundred years ago. Things like work, politics, and decisions where left to the males. Women were denied participation in public life, their access to education was limited, their social lives were narrowly circumscribed, and they could not legally transact business or own property. 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 serves as a symbol for women of the time; women who were thought to be content with the luxuries of modern society with no thought or care of the world in which they lived. When Nora finally slams the door and

leaves, she is not only slamming it on Torvald, but also on everything else that has happened in her past which has enabled her to grow into a mature woman. Her desire to go out into the world is not to "prove herself" but to discover and educate herself. She must strive to find her individuality.

By presenting this theme of the relationship between women and their surroundings at the beginning, Ibsen indicates that this is the most basic and important idea at work in the play. The setting is in the home of Torvald and Nora. Everything that involves Nora takes place in the home. Her role and place is seen to be in the home and nowhere else. Ibsen points this out in the beginning and sets the "mood" for the play. She has the attitude that money is the key to happiness. However, it is also clear that Nora's simplistic approach to the world is not entirely her fault. Torvald's treatment of Nora as a small helpless child only contributes to Nora's separation from reality. She has to ask permission in order to spend any money. "Oh yes, Torvald, surely we can afford to be just a little bit extravagant now, can't we? Just a teeny-weeny bit. (pg 1811). She is whining like a daughter might whine to her father to get what she wants. In the opening of the play he refers to her as his little squirrel. "When did my little squirrel get home?" (pg. 1811) This implies a suggestion that Nora is merely a pet of his and there for his amusement. He also refers to her as a sky-lark, but never does he say anything about his wife.

It seems that Nora is a doll controlled by Torvald. She relies on him for everything, from movements to thoughts, much like a puppet who is dependent on its puppet master for all of its actions. The most obvious example of Torvald's physical control over Nora is his reteaching her the tarantella. Nora pretends that she needs Torvald to teach her every move in order to relearn the dance. The reader knows this is an act, and it shows her submissiveness to Torvald. After he teaches her the dance, he proclaims "As I watched you darting and swaying in the tarantella, my blood was on fire" (pg 1855), showing how he is more interested in Nora physically than emotionally. When Nora responds by saying "Go away, Torvald! Please leave me alone. I won't have it." (pg. 1855), Torvald asks "Am I not your husband?" (pg. 1855). By saying this, he is implying that one of Nora's duties as his wife is to physically pleasure him at his command. Nora's duties, in general, are restricted to caring for the children, doing housework, and working on her needlepoint. "You are betraying your most sacred duty." "First and foremost, you are a wife and mother." (pg. 1863). A problem with her responsibilities is that her most important obligation is to please Torvald, making her role similar to that of a slave.

Females were confined in every way imaginable. When Torvald does not immediately offer to help Nora after Krogstad threatens to expose her, Nora realizes that there is a problem. "Can you also account for how I forfeited your love?" "Yes, very easily. It was tonight, when the miracle didn't happen. It was then I realized you weren't the man I thought you were." (pg. 1864). By waiting until after he discovers that his social status will suffer no harm, Torvald reveals his true feelings which put appearance, both social and physical, ahead of the wife whom he says he loves. This revelation is what prompts Nora to walk out on Torvald. When Torvald tries to reconcile with Nora, she explains to him how she had been treated like a child all her life; her father had treated her much the same way Torvald does. Both male superiority figures not only denied her the right to think and act the way she wished, but limited her happiness. "I passed out of Daddy's hands into yours. You arranged everything to your tastes, and I acquired the same tastes." (pg. 1861). Nora is starting to realize at this moment that she is not an individual to Torvald. "You and Daddy did me a great wrong. It's your fault that I've never made anything of my life."(pg. 1862). It is also ironic how there are ideas throughout the play that suggest that Nora knew deep down that her love for Torvald was not very genuine. Definite characteristics of the women's subordinate role in a relationship are emphasized through Nora's contradicting actions. Her infatuation with luxuries such as expensive Christmas gifts contradicts her resourcefulness in scrounging and buying cheap clothing; her defiance of Torvald by eating forbidden Macaroons contradicts the submission of her opinions, including the decision of which dance outfit to wear, to her husband; and Nora's flirtatious nature contradicts her devotion to her husband. These occurrences emphasize the facets of a relationship in which women play a dependent role: finance, power, and love. Ibsen attracts our attention to these examples to highlight the overall subordinate role that a woman plays compared to that of her husband. The two sides of Nora contrast each other greatly and accentuate the fact that she is lacking in independence of will. Nora seems to know what she wants and what to do in order to achieve her position, but on the other hand has never had the knowledge of being independent in order to pursue them without a male role in her life actually laying the ground work for her.

This play also has a comical side to it in the way Nora does not at first realize that the rules outside the household apply to her. This is evident in Nora's meeting with Krogstad regarding her borrowed money. "I don't believe it. Isn't a daughter entitled to try and save her father from worry and anxiety on his deathbed? Isn't a wife entitled to save her husband's