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A Doll's House Gender Roles

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Women in Norway during the nineteenth century were expected to fulfill a certain role-the domestic housewife. These domestic duties placed on women brought along a powerful feminist movement that produced the independent woman. In A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen he compares two different types of women placed in nineteenth century Norway with allusions to typical economic situations and cultural roles in order to compare and contrast the domestic housewife and the independent woman. In order to understand the women in A Doll’s House it is vital to understand the typical Norwegian woman. The typical Norwegian woman had many duties to fulfill as a mother, wife, and caretaker. As industrialization progressed in Norway, “the powers and responsibilities …show more content…

Linde as foil characters to compare and contrast the domestic housewife and independent woman. Isben shows us the type of woman they are immediately however, as the story continues he begins to show the negative sides of both women. Mrs. Linde shows signs of anger towards Nora with small remarks about the support Nora has which can also be perceived as jealousy. “I have no father to give me money for my journey, Nora” (Isben 9). Mrs. Linde believes that Nora lives the high life of a typical housewife. Nora calls Mrs. Linde out on her attitude towards her, but then she tries to change her mind by revealing her secret. “…I have something too to be proud of and glad of. It was I who saved Torvald's life.” (10). The dialogue between them shows that Nora is childish. As the climax rises, Nora starts to realize her childishness which is why she compared to her life as a doll’s life. She expresses to Torvald how she feels. “I have been your doll wife, just as I was Papa’s doll child” (67). Torvald subtly dismisses her statement by telling her that “playtime is over”(67). His dismissiveness shows the control that he had over her. He wants her to be the “proper wife” for him, which Nora realizes is something she does not want to tolerate any longer (67). The control he had over her was typical for a husband and wife in Norway. Nora is beginning to want a sense of independency-- the same independency Mrs. Linde …show more content…

Isben’s goal for A Doll’s House was make people want to criticize society and challenge the social norms. He wanted to expose the everyday experiences and struggles of the different types of women in the play. Realism drama is realistic in the portrayal of everyday life however, it still features some unrealistic aspects. He includes these unrealistic things such as outside noises at convenient times to enhance the drama in the play. For example, the doorbell conveniently rings when Torvald is in the middle of an angry rant with Nora (63). The drama filled climax is also another feature of Isben’s realism drama. He builds the plot with drama in order to have an emotional climax and ending. These writing techniques are what define Isben’s style of writing in order to deliver the message of his story to the

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However both woman had endured abuse and are victims of a male dominated society. Nora the wife of a banker and a mother of three children seem to have it all. Her family lives in a fancy well-furnished home and they seems to well of financially, and her husband loved her very much. However the reader soon find out that he is an egotistical controlling man that sees Nora as an absent minds child.

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Nora is a married woman and has children to take care of. She really has little freedom because of the way Torvald treats her. She is not even I feel as if deep down she knows she is not free and wants something more in her life then to be a entertaining puppet for Torvald. She realizes at the end of the story that Torvald is not good to her because of the way he acted when she told him about forging the signature. When Torvald called her a criminal and other harsh words she realized that she had no true love from Torvald and wanted to be free from him.

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Nora continuously finds herself at odds between disrupting the norm to pursue her independence or remain in the role of a traditional wife and mother. Even though, initially Nora convinces herself that her happiness lies in between her husband and children, the harsh realization of her role encourages her to discard tradition. There are numerous instances where she places others needs instead of hers. For instance, when Nora confides to Mrs. Linde about how she raised the money for her husband’s surgery, she immediately responds with hesitancy; “Torvald, with all of his masculine pride- how painfully humiliating for him if he ever found out he was in that to me. That would just ruin our relationship.”

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This brings in to question whether or not it is acceptable for a woman to simply walk away from a marriage, involving three children, and not attempt to work things out. Nora realizes she and the life she has been living has been a complete construct of the way society expects her to be. Nora is Torvald’s doll and her life has not amounted to anything more than making sure he and the world around her is happy. The result of the inequalities she is faced with results in Nora being completely unhappy. Torvald fails to recognize everything that Nora does to ensure his happiness.

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Torvald tells her that Nora has a duty as a mother and a wife but Nora tells him that “she is an individual”, showing that she is finally putting herself on par with Torvald, and no longer allowing Torvald to control her, but instead she is trying to gain independence and liberation from social norms in order to break free from the “Doll’s House.” She tells him that she must leave him, because “for eight years [she’d] been living with a stranger”, emphasising how there was never any proper communication and mutual understanding between them, and hence no proper marriage, as she didn’t actually know what his true character was like up until that night, as she was convinced all along that Torvald would be the man to take everything upon

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He rather expects her to be more compliant, loyal and wants her to follow the social and moral rules strictly, like he does. Torvald’s assertion that Nora’s lack of understanding of money matters is the result of her gender (“Nora, my Nora, that is just like a woman”) reveals his prejudiced viewpoint on gender roles. Torvald believes a wife’s role is to beautify the home, not only through proper management of domestic life but also through proper behavior and appearance. He quickly makes it known that appearances are very important to him, and that Nora is like an ornament or trophy that serves to beautify his home and his reputation. He tells Nora that he loves her so much that he has wished in the past that Nora’s life were threatened so that he could risk everything to save her.

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However, we now see Nora showing a more adult attitude by stating “I’m a human being” in order to get across the fact that she wants to be treated as an equal and that she is done being an object and in particular a doll. Towards the end of the play we see another sense of irony which is the fact that once Nora brings out her true self and sits Torvald down to tell him the truth, he is completely new to this side of Nora and as a result is shocked. However, with Torvald still wearing his costume from the party, this is a reprsentation of the artificial world he lives in whereby `Nora is his doll, but by confronting him, he realizes that she is not the Nora he thought she was, making him realise that his world is a facade, and that just like Nora, he too, is nothing more than a doll in a pretend

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1355 Words | 6 Pages

Torvald has rules set in place for Nora and doesn 't allow her to do certain things like eat sweets. He also speaks to Nora in a belittling and patronizing way that makes their relationship seem more like a father and daughter than a husband and wife. Torvald and Nora have completely opposite roles in the house and seem to live in two different worlds. Torvald dominates Nora for power which exposes the difference in power between the sexes in 19th century Norway. The power struggle between men and women shows a disconnect between Nora and Torvald about their true feelings.

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820 Words | 4 Pages

Nora takes pride in thinking of herself as the perfect housewife and mother. She, just as every other wife, plays often with her children and attends formal parties on her husband’s arm. She is told

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As the play comes to a close, Nora exits the room by slamming the door on Torvald, showing her standing up to the patriarchy that exists in the family and in nineteenth-century Denmark. Male dominance is the key attribute to nineteenth-century marriages because women were never thought to have ways of power through the eyes of the man. When Nora slammed the door on Torvald, she was not making a stand for herself; she was making a stand for feminist equalization in

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Nora takes pride in thinking of herself as the perfect housewife and mother. She, just as every other wife, plays often with her children and attends formal parties on her husband’s arm. She is told

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Ibsen, in his working notes, observed that “...a woman cannot be herself in today’s society”, since society in the 19th century, particularly in Norway, was exclusively male.

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Torvald and Nora’s relationship and home can be compared to as a “doll house” because of its perfect characteristics, however it is quite the opposite, with its foundation based on lies and pretend happiness. The stage directions read “A room furnished comfortably and tastefully, but not extravagantly. At the back, a door to the right leads to the entrance-hall, another to the left leads to Helmer’s study. Near the window is a round table, arm-chairs and a small sofa. Engravings on the walls; a cabinet with china and other small objects; a small bookcase with well-bound books” (Ibsen 4).

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When he receives the second letter and says that he is saved and that he has forgiven her calling her his "little lark", his "little squirrel", and a child. Although his response was deplorable, it must be noted that Torvald’s whole identity is grounded in his role to society with no sense of self outside it, Nora’s lie has in effect put everything he cares about in danger and once he knows that that Krogstad won’t tell, the life he saw slipping away from him is brought back and he can then resume his place in his reality. Telling her that he forgives her is in his eyes a sincere concession, one that Nora cannot accept. She says, "I have to try to educate myself. You can 't help me with that.

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Nora tends to be money hungry and always wants to spend money, so if she wants to get money or get Torvald agree with her, she will refer to herself with the dehumanizing and belittling nicknames that Torvald gives her like “squirrel”, “lark, or “Little Nora”. This shows that despite the fact that Nora does try and pretend to be the role as the perfect housewife, she pretends while she undermines her own husband. Nora, also gets Torvald to hire her friend Mrs. Linde and although Torvald hires her, he has to fire one of his employees named Krogstad. By the cause of this, it is revealed that Nora’s big secret is that she borrowed money from Krogstad and he has evidence and information that Nora forged her dad’s signature after he died to get the loan. This shows that even though Nora seems to pretend to be the role of a perfect housewife to her husband, she is not a perfect

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