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Comparing Reputation In A Doll's House And Cyrano De Bergerac

735 Words3 Pages

The most that characters can hope for are two things: their reputations stay intact and the reader has a higher respect for said reputation by the end of the story. Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House revolves a housewife’s secret in nineteenth century Norway and Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano De Bergerac tells a tale about the love of a man with a physical flaw. In the two stories, reputation is either given up for love or put first. But in what order the characters rank honor is when the fates of each character will truly be decided. The similarities of upholding honor in A Doll’s House and Cyrano De Bergerac are there so that the seriousness of reputation in life itself is emphasized. The emphasis is justified when characters in both stories are forced to choose between keeping and losing their reputation. Reputation sometimes is all …show more content…

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. But there’s no one who gives up honor for love” (1077) Torvald’s words describe how he truly believes reputation trumps the love he has for Nora. The importance of honor is a running theme in A Doll’s House and placing it first is the most important to each

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