Is the judgment that Mrs. Linde makes towards Nora of ‘being a child’ an accurate appraisal of her attitude and behavior with Torvald at the beginning of the play?
The play “A doll’s house”, written by Henrik Ibsen in 1879, is based on women’s struggle against the boundaries of gender social conformity. At the beginning of the play, Nora’s character portrays the predetermined role by society of a mother and wife, although she adopts different poses with different people. With Helmer, she is a childish wife that utilizes her own looks and sexuality to obtain comfort and protection. However, with Mrs. Linde she pretends to be an independent and supportive wife; since their first conversation, Mrs. Linde proved to be a wiser and more experienced
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‘Do you think so? Do you think they’d forget their mother if she went away from them – for ever?’ Nora has no concept of a healthy parental relationship because she was motherless her whole life. The children are Nora’s ‘dolls’; she enjoys playing with them like a little child instead of parenting them. Ibsen provides no dialogue for the children to allow the audience to focus on Nora’s characterization; covertly suggests that Nora hasn’t grown up yet. Torvald’s influence is intense when he says that, ‘lies fog a household and that juvenile delinquents come from a home where mother is dishonest’, and Nora feels guilt and scared that her actions will impact on her children’s future. However, Nora’s leaving is largely seeking a new understanding of herself; implying that as her children, she is in the process of growing up. Nora uses the third person ‘her mother’ when referring to herself, conveying that she does not feel close to her children. Ibsen draws two questions into Nora’s phrase to express her desperation towards knowing the answer. She asks the following questions specially to Anne-Mary because she knows that as she is from a lower social class, she is going to tell her exactly what Nora wants to hear; implying that she is insecure of her own