A Doll's House Gender

Throughout much of English literature, gender and sex have been carefully analyzed. Often, a literary character can be identified as either male or female simply based on the character’s behavior or on the way they are described by the author. Gender is not the biological traits that society uses to assign a person into either female or male; this is called sex. Gender is the repeated socialization over time that leads men and women to fall into a false sense that they are acting naturally, rather than following a socially constructed role. In “A Doll House”, Henrik Ibsen appoints specific stereotypical gender roles to each of his characters to show how gender has been constructed by social expectations. “One of the most obvious issues that

"Nice?—because you do as your husband wishes? Well, well, you little rogue, I am sure you did not mean it in that way." (31). this is one of the many sexist remarks that Torvald Helmer states in the play A Doll’s House. A Doll’s House play was written by Henrik Ibsen during the nineteenth century, which was a time were women where looked down upon Torvald is a very selfish person all he ever cares about is his self and his future. This is why Torvald had such sexist thoughts towards his wife Nora and women in general. This play tells the story of a husband and a wife Torvald and Nora, who supposedly live in a happy wonderful home when in reality, there are dark secrets that Nora is hiding from Torvald, and she

However, it doesn't justify the rest of her lies to her friends and husband. Her deceptive actions then cause problems to stir up in her relationship with Torvald. Krogstad warns Nora that if Torvals fires him, he will take her down with him. Nora then tries to convince Mrs. Linde to persuade Krogstad to not inform Torvald about the situation, however once Krogstad is confronted by Mrs. Linde she tells him to expose Nora. Two letters are sent to the Helmer residence both addressed to Torvald. He comes to learn about Nora's forgery and loses his mind and yells and is shamming her for her actions. In the end, everything that Nora had acquired with Torvald, everything she bragged about, was taken from her because of her deceptive nature in the

Even though Helmer controls her a lot, there are times where she seem to not be bothered by his control. Not only is she submissive but she is also very manipulative. Nora uses her sexuality to get what she wants from Helmer because she knows it's the only thing that she has to gain power over Helmer's ego. She would flirt, lie and touch Helmer to get him to approve on things that she wants. When Helmer asked what Nora would like to have, she fumbled his coat button and said hurriedly "You could give me money, Torvald. No more than you think you can spare; then one of these days I'll buy something with it."(45). This shows how Nora acts toward Helmer when she wanted something from him. With Helmer, she is forced to show sexual appeal toward him because she is a woman because that's the only thing that she can do in order to get a reaction out of him. Another scene where this happens is when Nora was leaning on his chair, stroking the nape of his neck in order to get him to give back Krogstad position to him so he wouldn't reveal the secret of her borrowing money. She knows the position that she stand when it comes to Helmer. Even if her beauty is something that can manipulate him, it won't last forever like the control that Helmer has over her. Helmer’s reputation and him being a man isn't something that can easily be destroyed unlike her physical

A Doll’s house is a criticism of the subjugation of women during those period. We can infer from the theme of the novel that the author Henrik Ibsen was a strong Feminist as he created characters that fought for the rights of women. The central character of A Doll’s house, Nora fought for the same cause. A Dolls house speaks about women’s rights.The feminist ideologies of Nora were revealed in the end of the novel. Nora was the upholder of womens rights. She struggled against the selfish, stifling, oppressive and dominating attitude of her Husband Torvald and the society which he represents. Nora journey lead to her self-discovery as she fought against the exploitation of women by men. Torvald represents the orthodox society and Nora is the advocate of feminism. Torvald did not give any privilege to Nora and called her silly names throughout the play. He called her ‘squirrel’, ‘lark’, ‘little skylark’, ‘little songbird’, ‘little person’, ‘little woman’, and ‘little

Nora thought she did the right thing by borrowing money when Helmer was sick and not telling him. She knows that it was illegal to forge her father’s signature but feels that this crime should not apply to her because she had the good intention of helping her husband get well. This can be seen as an example of the subordinate position of women in society. Nora was thinking of the well being of her husband, while not thinking about the rules of the business world which is where men had all of the power at the time and even today. This is evident when Krogstad, the man she borrowed money from, comes to meet with Nora with the forged loan to discuss what she has done.

In “A Doll’s House” play people can see how authority can destroy a happy marriage. This play is about a husband (Helmer) who imposes his authority over his wife (Nora). At the beginning of the play this couple seems to be a perfect couple, a lovely and caring husband and lovely, loyal and caring wife and mother, but inside their customs is just an unhappy couple. Nora doesn’t have her owns opinion or thoughts she must leave behind her husband decisions and beliefs. Everything begins to fail when she decides to do something without her husband knowing, Helmer get sick and Nora trying to save his life borrows money from Krogstad. When everything comes out to light, Nora meets the real Helmer the one who’s cruel, deaf, and insensitive.

The audience learn that Helmer and Nora's relationship is not a relationship with equality between genders. Through the way Helmer speaks to Nora, the audience can infer that he thinks that Nora is a child and he keeps Nora dependent on him. Helmer also plays the role of Nora's second father. Nora seems to be a woman who is unaware of the true aspect of their relationship and is quite oblivious.

If you read Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll House” from a literary perspective, you will see a story about this “perfect” family, but if you just dig a little deeper you will see there is a whole lot more to this play than the eye first sees. You soon find out that this perfect family is not so perfect after all. From a symbolic perspective “A Doll House” is about marriage, respect, feminism, and how Torvald’s family is like a doll house. Nora’s actions are very shocking to the general public that this book was first written for. This story was written in 1879, therefor women played the role as a house wife with no voice. The women were treated more as property, than significant others. Women had little to no rights which is a reason why many older

In A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen focuses on the importance of women's roles and freedom in society. Widely regarded as a feminist paean, the play features two major female characters; the most prominent of whom, Nora Helmer, shatters her position as a subservient, doll-like female when she walks out on her husband and children with a flagrant "door slam heard round the world." Nora’s evolution, though inspiring, should not overshadow another crucial woman in the play: Mrs. Kristine Linde. Both women attain freedom in a society dominated by the adherence to conservative marital roles, but do it in different ways. While Nora reaches her consciousness and slams the door on her shackling domicile, Mrs.

In the play “A Doll House” the main character was a woman by the name of Nora Helmer. She was a young women who lived in Europe during the nineteenth century. She was married to a man by the name of Torvald Helmer who seemed to be a little controlling. At first Nora seem to appear as an

She is married to her husband, Torvald, who has recently been promoted in his job at the bank. In the story Torvals constantly belittles his wife, referring to her as meek animals, like starlet and squirrel. He uses these words to make her seem weak and incapable of affairs, other than domestic. He did not think women should be allowed to, or even could, handle money. From this information it can be gathered that Torval is the victimizer to his wife. Later on though, it is revealed that Torvald was once very sick and the Helmer’s could not afford to pay for his medical needs. Nora had to take out a loan, behind his back, and pay for his expenses, that were required in another country. At one point, this is revealed and Torvald is taken aback by his wife’s ‘betrayal’. Nora then, has an epiphany and realizes she has been subjugated by her husband for a long time and in an instance walks out on him, for good. Against Torvald’s knowledge and will, he was at point a victim where his wife was the only one to care for him. He acted superior to his wife in their marriage, but when he became ill he was the frail and week

Unlike Laura, Nora is developed as a very round character through the use of indirect presentation. Over time, Nora builds up the confidence to leave her husband, who treats her like a plaything, a doll. Little things built up to make her marriage unhappy. In the beginning, Nora seems a bit ditzy, even a bit unintelligent, and not much of an intriguing character at all. She allows her husband to call her ridiculous things like his “sulky squirrel” or “little lark” and doesn’t seem the tiniest bit offended by it. She also seemed childish when her husband refused to give her spending money but exclaims, “Money!” when Helmer says “Nora, guess what I have here.” It’s like offering a little child a small present like candy to lift their spirits a little. And she poses to be a little scatterbrained when she couldn’t help but be a little prideful and slightly insensitive while talking to Mrs. Linde, who had almost nothing and was pretty miserable. At first she realized what she was doing and said “Oh, but thoughtless me, to sit here, chattering away. Sweet, good Kristine, can you forgive me?” but reverts back to doing so. Although Mrs. Linde insisted “No, no, no, tell me about yourself,” it seemed like she was saying that out of politeness as Mrs. Linde doesn’t seem like the kind of person to sit there and spill out all of her pains and sorrows. However, the ditzy side of Nora is really only skin deep. She is truly a round character. It can be seen that she is willing

   In his play, A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen depicts a female protagonist, Nora Helmer, who dares to defy her husband and forsake her "duty" as a wife and mother to seek out her individuality. A Doll's House challenges the patriarchal view held by most people at the time that a woman's place was in the home. Many women could relate to Nora's situation. Like Nora, they felt trapped by their husbands and their fathers; however, they believed that the rules of society prevented them from stepping out of the shadows of men. Through this play, Ibsen stresses the importance of women's individuality. A Doll's House combines realistic characters, fascinating imagery, explicit stage directions, and

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