Misogyny In A Doll's House

While people of the modern day society are aware of previously hidden prejudices and barriers, it is a relatively new concept to have a large amount of people refuse to conform with stereotypes and expectations of them. The play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen presents a story about a nineteenth century woman, Nora, who partakes in the age old rebellion against societal expectations. While her husband, Torvald, is just as much a victim of societal norms of the nineteenth century, that doesn’t mean he isn’t an antagonist and misogynist as well. To begin, Torvald is essentially just as much a victim of nineteenth century societal norms as Nora. For example, society expected men to be the sole breadwinner. They were the ones working, making money,

Finally, Torvald is a misogynist. A misogynist is someone who has prejudice against women, who hates them or doesn’t trust them. Torvald can be both a victim of society’s pressures and a misogynist because usually, misogynistic societies create misogynistic people. Even women can have a sense of internalized misogyny. An example of Torvald’s misogyny is that he treats Nora like a child, or a pet, instead of a wife with equal value and opinions as his. He says to Nora “playtime shall be over, and lesson-time shall begin,” when she presents to him the problems with their marriage (Ibsen 56). He believes that he is the one to teach her to be a proper wife, instead of her figuring it out on her own. This is misogynistic because he doesn’t trust her to do a proper job without him, and he seemed surprised that she even suggested that he wasn’t fit to teach her. Not trusting her to raise the children properly because she lied to him about a debt is misogynistic, as if he could have an opinion on whether or not she was fit to raise the children he never sees. He believes that she cannot “act on your own responsibility,” a product of a society is telling him that women are inferior and therefore less intelligent or able to take care of business and/or work (Ibsen 54). However, this belief is still misogynistic, and blaming it on society does not make him less prejudiced. His belief that “before all else, you are a wife and a mother,” is misogynistic (Ibsen 57). The fact that he

Nora and Torvald are both victims of societal expectations and pressure of the nineteenth century. Despite this, Torvald is still both an antagonist and a misogynist through his treatment and views of Nora. One can be a victim of society and still perpetuate every expectation of it, just like one can overcome the societal norms and be their own person. Torvald conforms into the misogyny of the 1800’s while Nora fights against