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Betrayal In A Doll's House

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Women had no rights until March 1920.In the 19th century women had no control of things like money and jobs. Many plays and books were used to reveal that women wanted control of things like money and jobs. In the play A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen uses Nora’s relationship with her husband and their family friend to portray that betrayal comes with lies, deceitfulness and manipulation. Henrik Ibsen was born in 1828 and was raised by his father and mother and had been around literature his whole life. Ibsen’s mother enjoyed going to the theater, art and music.(“Henrik Ibsen Biography” Biography.com) .He had been surrounded by the theater influence. Everyone can assume that Ibsen’s mother had a major impact on his life.Thanks to Ibsen’s parents, …show more content…

Ibsen’s play contradicts the normal social roles of society.(“Theater and Individualism” gresham.ac.uk.com) The play made people think about their lives and society. The character Nora betrays her husband, making people think about their own lives. Throughout the entire play Nora struggles to keep a secret from her husband. She lies and deceives to keep her secret. While Nora is talking to Mrs.Linden she realizes that Nora never told Torvald “ And you have never confessed to your husband?” (Ibsen 8).Nora did not want to tell her husband about taking the loan. She knew he would be mad because she forged a signature. Nora was taking secret jobs to earn the money to pay back the loan so her husband would not know. Nora was lying to her husband by not telling him she took the loan. To borrow the loan, that was needed to save her husband, Nora needed a man’s signature. Nora needed to borrow money without her husband’s knowledge “ Why, a wife can't borrow without her husband's consent.”( Ibsen 8). Nora had to tell her husband so that she could borrow the loan. She did not tell Torvald about the loan. Nora forged her father’s signature to be able to receive the loan. Deception was needed for Nora to get the money to help Torvald get

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Krogstad also feels the same way and comes to the decision to ask Torvald to return his letter. However, Christine changes her mind, deciding that Torvald should find out the truth in order for Nora and Torvald to realize a true marriage.

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Nora is not concern about keeping her honor but selflessly more concerned with her husband’s honor. While taking into consideration Torvald’s reputation, Nora informs Kristine the negative effect sharing her secret would have on Torvald when she remarks, “besides Torvald, with all his masculine pride-how painfully humiliating for him if he ever found out he was in debt to me” (Ibsen 1030). Nora’s genuine care and prior knowledge to how important reputation is to her husband displays how important protecting honor is. Nora is not the only one concerned with protecting her husband’s honor so is Torvald himself. Torvald answer contradicts what Nora believes to be important in maintaining honor in their relationship: “I’d gladly work for you day and night - and take on pain and deprivation.

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Arguments for The play is considered by as a feminist work as it illustrates the erroneous treatment of women. Ibsen believes that women had a right to

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Nora expected Torvald to take the blame for her mistakes “When he’d done that, I was so utterly sure that you’d step forward, take the blame on yourself and say: I am the guilty one” (592). While Nora does say that she would defend her husband if he were to do so, Nora wanted Torvald to attempt to take the blame for her illegally borrowing money. She was so used to Torvald consistently taking care of her, Nora expected him to swoop in and take save her in her time of need. A husband and wife should be able to defend each other and ensure the other’s safety but even more importantly, Nora should have been able to be honest with Torvald from the

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1418 Words | 6 Pages

In act one, the audience learns about the secret which Nora has been hiding from Torvald: that Nora has obtained a loan from Krogstad due to their financial situation and inability to pay for their trip to Italy to save Torvald’s life. When Krogstad

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Nora’s defiance may have resulted in criticism from society, but Ibsen importantly commented on the terrible treatment of woman in relationships and the world. Ibsen created A Doll’s House in a time where women were treated unjustly and poorly. While the play might seem slightly irrelevant now, it still has a place in the world today. Women can borrow money and leave their husbands; however, society still puts tremendous pressure on women to fulfill sacred vows. The expectation to assure her husband’s happiness and to prioritize everyone else before herself is still an issue that many woman face today.

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The roles of men and women are habitually pondered by those in a society; however, to what degree are we to differentiate the roles in which a man and a woman can provide for not only their families, but rather his or her individual selves as well? During the time of the 1800s, women were seen as second-class citizens compared to the “superior” men. In opposition, women began to protest for their rights to break away from social norms. In 1879, a Norwegian playwright named Henrik Ibsen published his most controversial play A Doll's House to display such opposition in the society. Moreover, this play is primarily contentious in the way Ibsen perceives his characters in inhabiting what a man or woman is to be expected to be in their prejudice

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For instance, it is quite clear that Ibsen's decision to talk about the topic of money in this play is influenced by the societal norms or cultural expectations at the time where the society in Norway at around the nineteenth century had changed significantly in terms of its socio-economic ideologies and people had become obsessed with money where they would always take care of their financial health by trying to avoid debt by all means. This explains why the opening discussion in this play is about the topic of money and the story ends up with a divorce which has been occasioned by borrowed money by a wife in order to save her husband’s life. However, the most important aspect of the play is how Ibsen has demonstrated that women are willing to reject social conventions in order to safeguard their interest as was witnessed with Nora and Ms. Linde who are two women who have gone against social expectations in order to care for their families. For this reasons, Ibsen play is influenced by the social and cultural norms of the time where he seeks to show that a time had come to reject some of the conservative social conventions that

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In Nora’s case, she subconsciously feels guilt for lying to Torvald so she works hard to be the perfect wife towards him. Her guilt does not affect her conscious until Torvald mentions hypocritical mothers. He states, “Nearly all young criminals have had mothers who lied.” [Ibsen 1136]. This guilt causes doubt in Nora’s mind as she begins to believe that she is no longer a perfect mother.

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Did you know that there is injustice in the play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen? The men in A Doll’s House treat women differently than how they treat other men. To society at the time men were above women. This idea is supported by the way that Nora is treated like a child by her husband Torvald, the way Nora has to follow all her husband’s decisions, during that time period women didn 't typically have a job or education. When all of the evidence is presented the reader can, therefore, decided whether or not they agree that women are treated very unjustly compared to men.

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In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, the three-act play, set in 19th century Norway, explores the progress of Nora’s marriage as she attempts to hide her debt and forgery from her husband. Ibsen conveyed social commentary on gender roles and societal expectations, a topic still in controversy, through the use of symbolism, irony, and dramatic elements. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen presents the problems associated with the position of women in a man’s world of business as his central focus, even if other social or individual problems become more prominent as the play progresses.

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1384 Words | 6 Pages

Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is a play set in 19th century Norway, when women’s rights were restricted and social appearance was more important than equality and true identity. In A Doll’s House, Nora represents 19th century women entrapped by society to fulfill wifely and motherly obligations, unable to articulate or express their own feelings and desires. Ibsen uses Nora’s characterization, developed through her interactions with others as well as her personal deliberations and independent actions, language and structure in order to portray Nora’s movement from dependence to independence, gaining sovereignty from the control of her selfish husband, deceitful marriage and the strict social guidelines of morality in 19th century Norway. Initially, Nora appears to be a dependent, naïve, and childlike character; yet, as the play unfolds, she appears to be a strong, independent woman who is willing to make sacrifices for those she cares about as well as herself.

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This unhappy secret must be disclosed; they must have a couple understanding between them, which is impossible with all this concealment and falsehood going on,” (Ibsen 52). Mrs. Linde is well aware of Nora’s secret and the consequences that would follow if Torvald found out. When Torvald finds out about the letter, he is only worried about his reputation and his appearance. Torvald says, “From this moment happiness is not the question; all that concerns us it to save the remains, the

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Introduction This paper focuses on the role and rights of women in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (1879). It will focus on the position of women under the control of the invisible and visible hands and the pressures of patriarchal system in Norwegian society. To show the condition of women in society, the paper will critically assess on several issues such as economic dependence of women, Nora’s living in illusion and her concept of miracle, women’s living in fool’s paradise and their firm belief upon their husband, patriarchal power and domination, ideology used by men and society as a tool of domination, necessity of social reform and women’s awareness as Nora slams the door in front of Helmer.

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In a sense, the play is a tragedy of the traditional society. It is a tragedy for the society represented by Torvald because that society had been confidently dealing with women in that manner which it regarded as correct and just. Now that a woman has suddenly given it a blow at almost its bases — the religion, traditional values, education, the institution of marriage, and so on — the society is facing a crisis, or a tragedy. If all the women, who are of course treated no better than this, do the same, the whole of the social system would collapse. And the impact would be basically the tragic destruction of the man's basis of happiness.

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