Relationships In A Doll's House

The word ‘relationship’ is often expressed, as a strong bond that signifies great understanding and trust among people. It acts as a very vital component in one’s life, as it makes an individual more emotionally, socially and economically stable. However, if characteristics such as: deceit, secrecy, and hypocrisy exist between relationships, it can adversely affect one’s life, leading to wretchedness.

These characteristics have been depicted, by Henrik Ibsen within the major characters and their relationships, in ‘A Doll’s House’. In ‘A Doll’s House’, Ibsen doesn’t follow the conventional plot structure of a play, instead he uses a three act play, which splits into, an “exposition” in first act, a “situation” in second act, and then a “discussion”

Nora is portrayed as a middle-class house-wife, who is dependent on Torvald for financial support. Nora’s reliance on Torvald makes her a ‘doll like figure’ to him. Ibsen shows this through Torvald’s mocking tone, whenever he calls Nora: “My little skylark”, “My little spendthrift”. The animal imagery, ‘skylark’ is a metaphor for Nora, signifying that just like the ‘skylark’ which is trapped in cage, Nora is trapped and admired but not respected. Torvald expresses his emotional and intellectual superiority and dominance over Nora, by calling her ‘little’ always. For him, she was always ‘a doll, a decorated piece of property’, which is also evident when Torvald trains and dresses Nora for ‘tarantella’. Ibsen metaphorically compares Nora’s life with the ‘Christmas Tree’, the tree and Nora have almost the same place in the house, and that is for decoration purpose, also in reality both are dying in the house. Though Nora projects unconditional love, Torvald takes refuge in pretences and hypocrisy for survival in society and at home. Nora, who appears as a child-like, silly woman, in reality, is much more, matured and intelligent, whereas Torvald, who appears to be strong and benign, in reality, is an egotistical man, who cares only about himself. Nora initially interprets her marriage as holy, but in the end, realizes the hypocrisy that existed within her marriage. Ibsen uses symbols to portray how Nora in the end liberates herself from her hypocritical relationship. When Nora responded to