A Doll's House Feminist

A Doll’s House is a play written by Henrik Ibsen in 1879. It is one of the first dramas which portrays realistic people, human relationships, and situations. It is a feministic play about the development and eventual breaking off of the marital relationship between Nora and her husband Torvald Helmer. Nora, the play’s protagonist, escapes the traditional gender roles, i.e. that the society was male dominated and men were considered superior than women, in order to learn about her true identity and to achieve her true freedom. A Doll’s House stands up against the chauvinistic, male dominated world of Ibsen’s time by shedding light on the traditional, although thankless and sacrificial role that the women held in the society during the nineteenth

This is supported by the names he uses to refer to his wife, Nora. Torvald being a bank manager has many responsibilities. And he treats Nora as one of his responsibilities. Nora is treated like a child in this relationship and Torvald refers to her as “my little squirrel”, “my little lark”, and “spendthrift”. This points out the chauvinistic character of Torvald Helmer. He calls her with pet names and thinks that she is not intelligent and that she cannot think on her own. We can see Torvald’s dominance when he makes statements like; “worries that you couldn’t possibly help me with” and “Nora, Nora just like a woman.” We can also say that Torvald, here, is acting like a typical husband in his times. He doesn 't allow Nora to act however she wants and even to the extent that he doesn 't let her think on her own and suppresses her

The only reason why he bans Nora from having macaroons is because he thought sweets would damage her teeth. He was only concerned about Nora’s outer appearance and sweets damaging her teeth would mean ruining her outer appearance. This shows Torvald’s invidious nature and clearly showing that he had an upper hand in their marital relationship. This claim can be furthermore supported by the fact that Torvald always keeps the doors to his study locked insuring Nora never enters. Even while Nora performs the Tarantella dance, he gives her frequent instructions, mocks at her mistakes and then takes control of her by acting like her