Women Of Women And Women In A Doll's House

Women in the nineteenth and twentieth century were not treated equally to men; Henrik Ibsen demonstrated this in his play A Doll's House. Throughout the play the protagonist, Nora Helmer, faces disrespect and mistreatment by her husband, Torvald. Nora Helmer is shown as a woman who has manipulated people and lied on countless occasions, but she is a woman who behaves in such a way because she is trapped in her marriage, until she finally escapes and stands as a hero to women of the century.

In the first moments of the play Nora is introduced as child-like women who is a seen as a manipulator and liar, but this is only the surface of her character. In deeper look into Nora’s character her manipulative and lying ways were for better outcomes

Nora is belittled and disrespected by Torvald throughout the play and often placed on a high pedestal. In Act I Nora returns from her day of shopping for the Christmas season and Torvald calls for Nora asking about her about her shopping trip. Torvald states: “Is it my little squirrel bustling about?” and “Has my little spendthrift been wasting money again?” (Ibsen). By giving her these pet names it magnifies that there is definitely a sense of ownership within their marriage, which was very common during this time period. Moving forward into Act III, in the final scenes of the play, the loan that Nora was hiding from Torvald was revealed to him. Nora was finally convinced it was time to tell Torvald to go and read his letters, in she would leave her home, her children and her life behind to avoid the the punishment Torvald would most likely inflict upon her once he discovered the truth. Torvald stops her before she can leave not letting her pass the doorway. As there argument grows Torvald states:“What a horrible awakening! All these eight years-she who was my joy and pride- a hypocrite, a liar- worse, worse- a criminal!” (Ibsen). Although Torvald is right about Nora lying, he seems to have forgotten what Nora has done to try and protect his reputation and his pride. That indeed her behavior is quite twisted, she still acted in somewhat of a selfless way to protect her pompous husband. Torvald goes further and tells Nora: “You will still remain in my house, that is a matter of course. But I shall not allow you to bring up the children; I dare not trust them to you” (Ibsen). This comes to show how trapped Nora is in this fake, and loveless marriage and the great power men had over women. Moments after Torvald denounces Nora as his wife, she receives a letter from Krogstad saying that he regretted his actions and he