Gender Roles In A Doll's House By Ibsen

1). In the play, A Doll’s House, two types of conscience are displayed in the gender role of the marriage between Nora and Torvald. The wife, Nora, is dependent upon her husband, Torvald who is a proud independent man. He controls money as a form of power in their marriage and rewards her behaviors for submissiveness and domesticity. She plays the role that is expected from Torvald, like a doll to be flaunted in order to impress others. However, when Torvald becomes ill, Nora borrows money from Krogstad, she forges her fathers name on an IOU for a trip to Italy to save Torvald’s life. She earns money behind his back to pay back the debt. A role not tolerable by a women in Victorian society, but accepted by a man. Thus, displaying the gender biases in the society. Nonetheless, Nora’s lying and deceit about the money becomes the dilemma, she feels morally justified in her actions, but the law judges famine conduct from a masculine view,

Supporting the theme that woman have a right to individual self-fulfillment during a time when women were oppressed and not allowed to conduct business without the authority of a father or husband. Consequently, Nora hides the loan and the forgery of her father to help save her husband’s life. Secretly, she pays off her loan because it is illegal for a woman to obtain it. However, the immoral act of lying and deceit leads Nora, Torvald and Dr. Rank to believe that the immorality would be passed onto her children like a disease. Therefore, Nora wants to leave her marriage to find her identity and leave her children to be raised by the nanny. This act provoked an outrage since women were considered a possession and could not divorce without the consent of the husband. Ibsen’s views differed from those of his time, he felt that marriage should be an equal partnership, each being free to become their own