A Doll's House Argumentative Essay

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.

The stench of scandal is thick in the Helmer household. Upon the introduction of the family friend Dr. Rank, both Torvald and Dr. Rank excuse themselves to take care of some personal issues. Enter Mr. Krogstad, our well intentioned, cut throat. Mr. Krogstad pleas with Nora to have his new boss, Torvald, down at the bank restore his position. Wondering how she can oblige our fun loving loan shark, Nora refuses, claiming she can't sway Torvald's business decision. Then out comes this mysterious document baring Nora's signature. Mr.

Krogstad’s behavior and motives are based on the fact that he does not want to lose his job at the bank where Nora’s husband Torvald manages. In a desperate attempt to keep his job and spare his children from hardship, he uses Nora to influence her husband. Her attempts to save Krogstad’s job fail because Torvald is convinced that Krogstad is a liar and a cheat and he will not jeopardize his moral character or be swayed by his wife. He states, “Do you think I’m going to make myself look ridiculous in front of my whole staff, and let people think I can be pushed around by all sorts of outside influence?” (1624)

Torvald would never have thought she were capable of it, since during that era it was unrealistic of women to leave their houses but rather put up with the difficulties they faced. Ibsen highlights society's domineering outlooks of marriage and the interactions of two people naïvely pretending to be in love. Throughout the play Ibsen reveals the fragile attributes of his characters to help enhance the play-like nature of their relationship, the role of women, and Nora's course of self-discovery.

In A Doll House, Nora finds herself subordinate to her husband as well as the rules of society. Torvald forbids her from the consumption of macarons, bestows on her an allowance as if she were a child, persuades her to do as he wishes, dance like this, not like that, and she like a “good little lark” obeys his most every will. Her act of courage and independence, illegally taking out a loan to save his life, is seen as wrong in the eyes of society, while she sees it as necessary and forgivable; it is what a good wife should do for her husband.

Nora slowly built up resentment for her way of life, and how much is expected of her. Her husband Torvald is very traditional, and demanded her to act a certain way. Nora played along with the role of the perfect housewife even though she had no desire to so. Her own dreams and desires very rarely, if ever, considered and she was always expected to place her family’s needs above her own. Nora’s resentment of Torvald, and the way society viewed women in general, is very clearly stated after she decides to leave him.

Torvald Helmer is perceived to be the perfect family man, with a strong admiration and love for his family. However, brewing deep down, he is narcissistic, power-hungry, and a mere victim of his corrupted perspective on society. His wife, Nora, is nothing but a pawn in his fragmented, deconstructed view on life, and his flawed relationship with her is similar to that of a child and her father; whereas Nora fails to be taken serious. Nora is a nothing short of a puppet, lacking control of her

     Most of us live a life where we do what we want and when we want without anyone telling us how to live our lives. This wasn’t the case in A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, where he illustrates to us how one woman lives a life through her father and husband. Throughout the play we see how a once childish like woman gains her independence and a life of her own. Ibsen shows us a very realistic play that demonstrates how on the outside Nora and Torvald seem to have it all. While in reality their life together is simply empty until Nora stands up for herself and starts to build her own life.

You have ruined all my future... And I must sink to such miserable depths because of a thoughtless woman!” (Ibsen 62) Filled with anger, Torvald ridicules Nora’s father, and calls Nora a stupid hypocrite. This action is very significant for the play because we start to see Torvald’s true nature; he doesn’t care for Nora nor does he truly love her, but on the contrary

The play also does suggest that women should leave their controlling husbands or lovers in order to gain the independence they are seeking. Nora’s husband Torvald plays the dominant role in their relationship. Torvald often would degrade Nora by calling her “silly girl” referring to her not being able to make decisions on her own, so he thought. Nora plays the role of a loving mother and respectful wife, whom is all about her family. “I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald. That’s how I’ve survived.

She points out to Torvald that their marriage was a clear failure when she questions Torvald, “How could you ever teach me to be a proper wife? Your wife?” (Ibsen 82). To this question Torvald is unable to provide a reasonable answer hence proving Nora’s point about the failure of their marriage. Further, the sudden change in Nora’s behavior during the second half of the play is significant as it symbolizes her clear intent to depart from the house in search of her inner-self.

After Torvald’s cruel reaction, she understands that “personal and human freedom are not measured in economic terms” (Witham 1786). She comes to the realization that it does not matter how well off they are financially or the perfect appearance they have, but that individual freedom and identity are the key to happiness. In order to reach this, Nora must leave her family and home life. Nora’s decision to leave her comfortable life is not an easy choice because not only was she is leaving behind her family, but she is also stepping into society’s line of fire. Women faced condemnation from society for not choosing “socially prescribed roles of marriage” (Atner 1794). She, like other brave people, chose to “abandon these roles in order to realize their value as individuals” (Atner 1794). Nora sacrifices the appearance of a “dollhouse” to better understand herself and this cost the destruction of her family (Witham 1786). It is at this point she goes from the “Angel in the House” to the “Fallen

A Doll’s House finished with a tragic ending to a not so stable relationship. It all revolved around one secret that was hidden for too long between Nora, who was married to Torvald and Krogstad who is a good friend of her husband, though it was up to Krogstad whether to protect their marriage or not. Throughout the book it was easy to take sides from one character to the other. However some may think that Nora decided to end the marriage for good reasons. One of them being that she felt as if she wasn’t an equal more as if she were treated as a “doll”.

Later in the play, Krogstad enters to speak to Torvald. Krogstad is a lawyer, works with Torvald at the bank, and is the

Here, Nora pulls together the tragic circumstances. She sees that she was never truly happy in the house, just content. Her father kept her as a child would a doll, and Torvald continued this when they were married. They formed her opinions for her, set expectations to which she was supposed to adhere, and wrote a vague script of how she was supposed to act. She was like a puppet, with no thoughts or actions of her own. When she finally realizes the injustice being done to her, she decides to free herself.