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Comparison Of Macbeth And A Doll's House

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In the contemporary discourse of famous literary tragic figures, two pieces of work are often used as a reference points: William Shakespeare’s MacBeth protagonist of Macbeth and Henrik Ibsen’s Nora protagonist of A Doll’s House. A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen is a modern tragedy that is centred around the life of a Norwegian household, focusing on the strife that Nora Helmer faces in this patriarchal society when her secret is threatening to come out. In comparison to the very dramatic Macbeth that follows Macbeth and his bloody path to follow his destiny to gain and keep power. At first glance it might seem that MacBeth is the more of a tragic figure that Nora is. Yet, when analyzing Aristotle's definition of tragic hero, due to her hamartia (tragic flaw), catharsis and anagnorisis, Nora is by definition not only a tragic character but more tragic than MacBeth. Ibsen is sedulous in the decision of the characterization of Nora, within the first scene it is delineated by Torvald that she is a “squirrel”, “scatterbrained” and a “spendthrift” all of these words allude to the idea that Nora is naive (Ibsen,44). As defined by Aristotle, a tragic figure must have a hamartia or a tragic flaw that will likely lead to their demise and in this care Nora’s hamartia is clearly her naive nature. Nora herself throughout the play as justifying her actions of launder money as the ultimate …show more content…

Her struggle against social norms and her ability to leave it behind classifies this as a modern feminist text. Yet, as a tragic hero, Nora’s tale is as old as time. As Aristotle defines it a tragic figure is one who has a tragic flaw, evokes pity from the audience and throughout the piece make a important discovery of realization that leads to their downfall. By Aristotle's definition Nora is a tragic figure in the most simplest of ways while Macbeth and his story is purely just a

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The reader becomes very aware of the situation Nora is faced with as Ibsen challenges us to think about the societal times women were a part of during the late 1800’s. As Unni Langas states in her article describing gender within the play, “..this drama is not so much about Nora’s struggle to find herself as a human being, as it is about her shocking experience of being treated as a woman..” (Langas, 2005). This gives the reader an insight into Nora Helmer’s character. She is evidently perceived as the Doll trapped in the Doll house, as she is viewed as an entertainer rather than her own person in the eyes of her husband and children.

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