A Doll House relationship comparison: Nora and Torvald v. Christine and Krogstad

In Henrik Ibsen's, A Doll's House, the character of Nora Helmer goes through the dramatic transformation of a kind and loving housewife, to a desperate and bewildered woman, whom will ultimately leave her husband and everything she has known. Ibsen uses both the characters of Torvald and Nora to represent the tones and beliefs of 19th century society. By doing this, Ibsen effectively creates a dramatic argument that continues to this day; that of feminism.

Christine is an independent woman who has been out in the world and has held multiple jobs. Nora is seen as a child who does not have knowledge of how the world works because she is trapped in a “dollhouse”. Christine supports this idea when she calls Nora a child and says, “For you (Nora) know so little of the burdens and troubles of life.”(Act 1) When the reader learns what Nora did for Torvald, it shows that Nora is more intelligent than she seems which is a characteristic that Christine also possesses. In order for Nora to pay back the loan she took, Nora did repair work for extra money. Nora and Christine both had a sick parent who needed their help, which caused them to make a tough decision and they each chose the most important person to them.

In Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, Christine Linde surprises Nora Helmer with a visit to her house. The two women were childhood friends and have not seen each other in many years. As both characters' qualities unfold during the play, it is easy to see how Mrs. Linde's character traits underscore those of Nora's. Mrs. Linde's serious, responsible nature amplifies Nora's playful, childlike personality; Mrs. Linde's taking care of her sick mother and two young brothers emphasizes Nora's abandonment of her dying father; and finally Mrs. Linde deciding to marry Krogstad heightens the ending of Nora's marriage.

In Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House, pointedly captures the reality of the Victorian Era within the play. Nora Helmer, the protagonist of the story, represents the typical women in society during that era. The audience’s first impression of Nora is a money obsessed, childish, obedient house wife to her husband, Torvald Helmer. However, as the play progresses one can see that Nora is far from being that typical ideal trophy wife, she is an impulsive liar who goes against society’s norm to be whom and what she wants. Her husband is illustrated as the stereotypical man during the 19th century, as he is the dominate breadwinner of the family, who too deserts his position as the play reaches its end. A key theme that is brought to light in A

Krogstad victimizes Nora in a very different way than her husband and father. Krogstad does not use his position of dominance as a man to control her. Instead he uses blackmail to manipulate Nora to his will. As we examine her situation Nora seems more a victim of circumstance here than of the not so evil will of her blackmailer.

In the beginning, Nora acts and speaks like a child saying things like “Pooh!”(Act 1). Ibsen showshow he thinks dependant and uneducated woman are naive and almost childlike. Nora and Torvald’s relationship is almost exactly how her and her father’s relationship had been, with the man completely controlling Nora, and Nora acting like an obedient child. Nora had not been independent with her father and when she marries Torvald she is also completely dependant on him for everything she wants or needs. Both Nora’s father and Torvald coddle Nora and treat her like a delicate doll so she is never fully is independent. At one point in the play Torvald even admits he finds Nora more attractive because of her dependence on him. Christine Linde is

People cannot survive on their own in this world, so they form relationships. Relationships play an important role in a person's life; it influences and defines one's character and ideals. It can make someone the happiest person in the world or the most miserable. In order to establish a stable and long lasting relationship, there must be proper communication at the base of this bond. The rules of proper communication include: listening to each other, understanding the other person's emotions and needs, truthfully expressing one's view's, and supporting each other during times of adversity. In Henrick Ibsen's play, A Doll's House, he uses the character development of Nora Helmer, the protagonist, and Torvald Helmer, the

Nora is treated like a child by Torvald, but she is accustomed to it and believes he loves her dearly. However, an important component of a successful and true marriage is trust, which is lacking in the Helmers’ marriage. Nora keeps a secret from Torvald while he is reluctant to trust her with money, let alone his reputation (Ibsen 2, 3, 13). When Torvald discovers that Nora has kept a secret from him, he is furious and takes away her right to raise the children without a second thought (Ibsen 83). However, while Torvald was throwing a fit, Nora comprehends that he has never loved her and that she was forcing herself to believe she loved him (Ibsen 87). Like Nora, Edna knew that she and her husband, Leonce, never loved each other; she thought he was her ticket out of her old life while he thought of her as his possession (Chopin 8, 29). Both Edna and Nora were raised to be obedient wives, but Edna, after her awakening, felt like marriage was “one of the most lamentable spectacles on earth” and did not try to save her marriage (Chopin 100). Love was sometimes not a factor that determined marriage; money and image was usually more preferred.

Another main difference between Torvald and Nora is how much their self-image matters to them individually. Nora's self-image is the complete opposite of Torvalds. From Nora's perspective she doesn't have much of an image to produce, but she does have the image of herself that Torvald can see along with her close friends. She really cares about what her husband thinks about her so she does whatever she can to make sure that his opinion doesn’t change, she gets worried by how she will look in his eyes after he finds out about the crime she has committed, this is why she tries to stop Torvald from sending Krogstad his notice, "Call it back, Torvald! There's still time. Oh, Torvald, call it back!..."(1304) Nora acts like this because once Torvald finds out what she has done, she knows that he is going to look at her a different way than what he does now. Nora doesn’t want this so she tries preventing Torvald from doing his job. On the other hand, Torvald cares a lot about the way others look at him, he thinks that once people find out what his wife has done that it will destroy his reputation and people will tend to look down upon him. When he finds out about what his wife has done

Nora and Krogstad’s first encounter in Act One of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, is significant to the plot as the main source of conflict is revealed whilst the central theme of deceit is enhanced through the use of dramatic irony. Throughout their conversation, Ibsen uses language devices to explore the characterisation and parallels between Nora and Krogstad and to foreshadow and detail Nora’s awakening at the end of the play.

In Ibsen’s play, “A Doll House” the protagonist is Nora, and the antagonist is Krogstad. This dramatic play is motivated by her efforts to keep her big secret. She does everything to keep her secret from Torvald, including flirting and even dancing. Nora goes through the biggest journey out of all the characters. At the beginning she is an obedient house wife, but by the end she is a liberated woman. Krogstad seems to be the villain of the play. He is constantly making Nora go against him. He starts conflict in Nora’s life with consistent threats and blackmailing. However, in the end he is reformed. Even though he was awful to Nora, he helped her see the emptiness of her life. Without his constant scheming, Nora would still be nothing but a

In A Doll House, Ibsen presents us with Torvald and Nora Helmer, a husband and wife who have lived together for eight years and still don't know each other. This rift in their relationship, caused in part by Torvald's and Nora's societally-induced gender roles and also by the naivete of both parties to the fact that they don't truly love one another, expands to a chasm by the end of the play, ultimately causing Nora to leave Helmer. Throughout most of the play, Ibsen continually has his characters prepare for a masquerade ball that takes place at their friends' house.

The exposure of Torvald's behavior/attitude towards Nora and his exploitation of what the world would call his "soulmate" is not only the exposure of a particular man's mind and culture. It is meant to expose the emptiness in the hearts of many people who can be associated with Torvald. In other words, those who thrive off of the sense of superiority over their partner. The events of the drama paint a very realistic picture. Said picture being one that illustrates a controlling partner dominating the life and relationship of a love blinded

In “A Doll’s House,” Ibsen presents us with the drama of Torvald and Nora Helmer, a husband and wife who have been married for eight years and whose lives are controlled by the society in which they live. Their relationship, although seemingly happy, is marred by the constraints of social attitudes around them and their perceived gender roles. Creating even more conflict is the thin veil of deceit between them, which inevitably breaks them apart.

The key to a happy marriage is communication. If there is no communication, then there's no happiness or love. Torvald and Nora haven’t sat down and had a real conversation over the past 8 years, according to Nora. That’s when she finally realizes she’s made a mistake. Nora has been living a lie and she braces herself and breaks it to Torvald. Nora says “I have waited so patiently for eight years; for goodness knows, I knew very well those wonderful things don’t happen every day. Then this horrible misfortune came upon me, and then I felt quite certain that the wonderful thing was going to happen at last. When Krogstad’s letter was lying out there, never for a moment did I imagine that you would consent this man’s conditions? I was