Ibsen Gender Roles

Every form of literature contains a change in relationships between characters whether it’s through family members, spouses or neighbors. In “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen, we are introduced to Nora and her husband Helmer Torvald and the bond they have. Ibsen portrays the gender issues of a wife being controlled by her son and the issue of of a woman’s questionable independence. Over the course of the story in response to various revelations, Nora’s affection for Torvald modified. After reading the novella, readers can conclude Nora’s feelings on Torvald changed from love to discontent as a result of discovering their differing values, which allows the story to become more relatable.

In light of her conversation with Torvald, Nora’s tenderness

Both Helmer and Nora didn’t squelch their true thoughts in the first serious conversation of their marriage. Helmer felt that Nora’s most sacred duties were “to [her] husband and [her] children” and they were irrevocable (Ibsen 780) . To him she was a wife and a mother “before all else” (Ibsen 78). Nora did not possess the same ideas as his and argued “before all else I am a reasonable human being” (Ibsen 78). From this argument, Nora was able to conclude that Torvald wasn’t who she thought he was and they were too different. In addition to the previous discovery, Nora uncovers the notion that her love is not reciprocated and it’s not true. She wanted Helmer to man up, “take everything upon [himself] and say: I am the guilty one” (Ibsen 79). Helmer did not agree with Nora and believed that it was illogical for a man to take his wife’s guilt. Nora waited eight years to see him perform that task and he never did. These detrimental confessions precipitated the change in Nora’s feelings and she relinquished being his

Near the end of the story, Ibsen uses the metaphor of Nora being used as a doll. He writes “You arranged everything to your own taste, and so I got the same tastes as you-or else I pretended to...and sometimes the other” (Ibsen 76). Despite this classic being written years ago, it still applies to modern times. Today we still have examples of Torvalds, in most households the man has the final word. Men are still controlling and making them do their bidding and women are starting to stand up for themselves. Nora’s change in feelings allows more women to think about what they would do in her situation. Nora voiced “I cannot spend the night in a strange man’s room” (Ibsen 80). She no longer wanted to be around Torvald as she was unaware of who he was anymore. Most women when they realize the man isn’t right for them will distance themselves from him. On the same note, this same idea can be seen when Nora informs Torvald she’s leaving. Torvald says “I have it in me to be a better man”, Nora responds with “Perhaps-if your doll is taken away from you” (Ibsen 80). Men truly only change when the woman leaves because that's when they truly realize how much she meant to them. All of these hidden concepts and Nora’s change in feelings allow the story to be more