A Doll's House By Henrik Ibsen Research Paper

In the play “A Doll’s House” Henrik Ibsen introduces us to Nora Helmer and shows us how spontanesly her design of the ideal life can change when a secret of her is revealed. Nora’s husbands promotion to Manager of the town Bank, leaves her convince she will be living a wonderful life; stress and worry free. However, Nora’s idea of a wonderful life is completely changed when her long-kept secret is revealed.

She gains her independence and saves her husband. However, her reputation is nearly destroyed after Torvald finds out she forged the letter. Nora asking, “It is indiscreet, to save your husband’s life,” knows that she sacrificed a lot to save Torvald (Ibsen 1029). Nora believes she saved Torvald’s life, she also believes that if he knew then their lives would never be the same. If Torvald knew Nora had taken out a loan, he would feel indebted to her and that would be humiliating to his masculinity, while disrupting their “happy” home life. However, Nora relinquished many of the things that meant a lot to her. Nora forged her father’s signature risking her and Torvald’s reputation. She also takes on all the debt herself, paying it off with her spending money. Nora will not be able to buy as much for herself with the debt revealing her willingness to sacrifice wealth for Torvald’s wellbeing. Just as Cyrano sacrifices his life to send letters to Roxane, Nora sacrifices her happiness and reputation to save Torvald. This shows Nora’s devotion and unconditional love towards Torvald. Both Cyrano and Nora are risking their lives for someone they love. As Cyrano repeatedly risks his life for Roxane, Nora feels as though her “duties to herself” are more valuable than her devotion to anyone else as she states, “aren’t they your duties to your husband and children?... Duties to myself…” (1076). Nora has gone through a kind

We also see his demeaning behavior when he underestimates her ability to handle money. Herman Weigand points out that "Torvald tells her in money matters she has inherited her father 's disposition" (Weigand 27). So Torvald 's condescending language and names keep Nora in her place as a doll where he likes her to be. James Huneker put it best when he said

Nora finds strength in realizing her failure, resolving to find herself as a human being and not in what society expects of her. Nora’s recognition comes when Torvald so

Nora comes to this realization towards the very end and in retaliation, she enters the unknown, outside world, leaving her sheltered and previously comfortable life behind. “I have waited patiently for eight years, for I wasn't such a fool that I thought the wonderful is something that happens any old day. Then this--thing--came crashing in on me, and then there wasn't a doubt in my mind that now—now comes the wonderful.” Yes, then what? When I had surrendered my wife to shame and disgrace--!”When that happened, I was certain that you would stand up and take the blame and say,” I’m the guilty one." In retrospect, Nora’s entire life has been dictated by male authority figures for the majority of her life, and she is finally breaking free from the vicious cycle. She was more or less passed down from her father and his establishment of her life in a doll-home very early on, only to pass that torch onto Torvald, who treated her similarly, if not worse. Torvald’s life was then shattered the moment Nora left his doll-home, and will slowly be subjected to realizing that him and Nora could’ve never have prospered in the first

Nora also receives the command from her husband that she should “...make your mind at ease again, my frightened little singing bird. Be at/ rest and feel secure; I have broad wings to shelter you under”(3. 1. 543-544). After showing his whimpering self at realizing that society might find out that he owes his wife, he then receives a note promising not to reveal the truth. Torvald reacts with happiness and pretends that he did not just hurt his wife. His wife does not let this go as he rants with sexist remarks bluffing about his strengths. The pride Torvald has as a man makes him discriminate against women and what they stand for showing making the break up within this family. Also in The House on Mango Street, one of the protagonist's friends must take care of their family because she is the eldest daughter but this has only made her hope for a man to get out of here since all she has learned is that men are superior to her. This shows how dominance of a family member can make other family members want to leave, therefore breaking the family

When Krogstad threatens to expose the truth, Nora must use her craftiness to distract Torvald and sway him into letting Krogstad keep his job. Unfortunately, she is not able to change his mind, but she does succeed in diverting his suspicions of her motives. She praises him and lulls him into a false sense of security by telling him that "[n]o one has such good taste as [he has]" and then goes on to ask him if he could "take [her] in hand and decide what [she is] to go as" for the dance. She confesses to him that she "can't do anything without [him] to help [her]". These statements lead him to believe that he is the one to "rescue" her, when it is in fact Nora who is trying to rescue him from dishonour. Later on, when Krogstad puts a letter in Torvald's mail, explaining everything that Nora has done, Nora uses her charms once more. She pretends that she has forgotten the tarantella so that Torvald will spend all his time with her and think nothing of the mail that awaits him. Nora truly believes that by deceiving her husband, she is protecting him from worry. Because of Nora's deception, the person that Torvald believes her to be is quite different from the person she actually is. He believes that she is a "spendthrift," infatuated by expensive things when in reality, she saves her money to pay back Krogstad and buys cheap clothing and gifts. Torvald

What comes to mind when the word morals is said? Whose morals should be followed, individual or group? In A Doll House, Ibsen portrays the protagonist, Nora, to follow the morals of her husband, Torvald. Four key aspects that help Nora decide to change her mind and make a decision to leave Torvald. These include the constant change of nicknames, the questioning of her own independence, the questioning of Torvald's love, and the realization that Torvald loves his reputation more then herself. As a result, Nora sets out to find her own individuality and moral beliefs.

Nora has always been contented with her being Torvald’s “little featherbrain.” As the play progresses, Nora eventually figures out that Torvald doesn’t genuinely love her. She expects Torvald to be her protector and stand up against people that criticise her criminal acts. Nora also assumes that Torvald would have offered to take the blame for the crime. He failed the test of love and devotion by mocking her instead of providing help. Therefore, she becomes more rebellious by using imperative speech with Torvald instead of her innocent and childlike language. As the play reaches its end, Nora becomes totally independent from Torvald and talks to him from an equal standpoint, rather than communicating as niece and grandpa or daughter and daddy. Additionally, she no longer views him as the leading person in her life because she now apprehends that she hasn’t been herself throughout their marriage. As she defends her position on her actions she states, “When I look back on it now… I lived by performing tricks for you, Torvald” (Ibsen, 1230). It is clear to her now that she has been nothing more than a means of entertainment to her husband as he would have her dance for him and perform other silly acts.

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.

After Torvald answers why he doesn’t like Krogstad, Nora begins to panic. She begins to panic because she learns that she committed the same crime as Krogstad. Torvald says that Krogstad never admitted his guilt, has a life full of lives, and even lies around his family. Torvald then goes on to say how living in this type of atmosphere can corrupt the whole family. Then, Torvald tells Nora that there’s no way he could work with a person like Torvald. Nora realizes that she might be corrupting her children and that she should leave them to prevent her from corrupting the children. After Torvald tells her all of this, she says that she has to get back to work on the tree so she can think.

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

Humanism is an idea which focuses on the importance of oneself, rather than the importance of divine or supernatural matters. Humanism is often mistaken for feminism which is one of the major controversies of A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen. The idea of humanism becomes apparent through Nora’s interactions with Torvald, Torvald’s interactions with Nora, and Torvald’s interactions with other characters in the play. Many argue that A Doll House, is a feminist play due to its portrayal of the characters which emphasized many values of feminism, but in actuality the play addresses views on the value of dignity in one’s character and the need for one’s identity to be found based on positive choices which defines humanism. Ibsen was able to develop the idea that A Doll House was a humanist play through the way characters made decisions within their lives, even though within the play there were related notions of feminism.

However, Nora does eventually realize that she has been treated like a child all her life and has been denied the right to think and act the way she wishes. When Torvald does not immediately offer to help Nora after Krogstad threatens to expose her, Nora realizes that there is a problem. By waiting until after he discovers that his social status will suffer no harm, Torvald reveals his true

Nora is introduced as child-like women who is a manipulator and a liar, but it is only the surface of her character. In a deeper look into Nora’s character, she manipulates and lies to protect the people close to her. Nora lies and manipulates Torvald for the sake of his pride and reputation. In Act I of A Doll’s House, Krogstad confronts