A Jury Of Her Peers

Torvald is very ignorant towards Nora. He controls her from every little point and doesn’t take into consideration what Nora actually wants. Torvald controls how many macaroons Nora can eat and with whom she can be and what she should wear. He doesn’t treat Nora as a human, but rather as a robot who is programmed to do what the owner demands it do. This ignorant trait is still widely visible in the 2st century.

Throughout Nora’s whole life she has been controlled by whomever she has been close to. She has never had to chance to have her own experiences, to think her own thoughts and to try to make something of her life. She knows nothing but what her and her father let her. Nora admits to

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 starts off the play essentially as Torvalds toy. She is obedient, she is cute, she rarely goes against his wishes, and she is nothing without her “owner”, Torvald. The reader, however, discovers early on that all is not what it seems to be. Nora is actually a very rebellious woman who enjoys going against Torvald’s wishes. There are scenarios where she does this out of the sheer enjoyment she gets. Nora loves macaroons.

Each time Nora finds herself unable to help herself the problem is easily directly traced back to her husband, her father, and to the overbearing dominance of the male society. She tries to save the life of the man she thinks she loves and in doing so sees how she has become a victim of her own ignorance which has been brought upon her by the men in her life.

Much of Nora’s change and growth is shown in Act III. As the party begins to die down, Torvald takes Nora and tells her how he feels towards her.

He routinely calls her juvenile names such as “little lark” and “squirrel” (1013) effectively belittling her and treating her like a child. He also claims “I’ve got wide wings to shelter you with” (1061) as if she is incapable of defending herself in any way. Torvald scolds Nora when he suspects her eating macaroons from the sweet shop; it is another way to seize control of a situation and make Nora seem small and naïve.

restricted to playing with the children, doing little housework, and working on her needlepoint. A problem with her responsibilities is that her most important obligation is to please Torvald, making her role similar to that of a slave. Torvald easily talks down to Nora saying things like: “…worries that you couldn’t possible help me with”, “Nora, Nora, just like a woman”, and “Mayn’t I look at my dearest treasure? At all the beauty that belongs to no one but me—that’s my very own?” as if she is considered his property.

Nora's second, and strongest, break from society's rules was shown by her decision to leave Torvald and her children.  Society demanded that she take a place under her husband.  This is shown in the way Torvald spoke down to her saying things like "worries that you couldn't possibly help me with" (Ibsen Page #), and "Nora, Nora, just like a woman" (Ibsen page #).  She is almost considered to be property of his: "Mayn't I look at my dearest treasure?  At all the beauty that belongs to no one but me - that's all my very own" (Ibsen page #)?  By walking out she takes a position equal to her husband and destroys the very foundation of society's expectations of a wife and mother.  Nora also breaks society's expectations of staying in a marriage since divorce was frowned upon during that era.  Her decision represented a break from all expectations placed upon a woman by society. Throughout the play Nora is looked down upon and treated as a possession by her husband. She is

First, Nora is secretive with her husband. From the beginning she hides from him things such as the macaroons that he gets on her for eating. In turn, Torvald acts like a father or a teacher who always needs to remind his “child” about evil of candy eating. The tone that set from Act I shows very clear dynamics between Torvald and Nora in the way that they have both agreed to conduct their marriage. Acording to Ibsen, Torvald is the dominant and Nora is the submissive.

As of today, women fight to get away from these set stereotypes. In the play, A Doll’s House by Hensik Ibsen, due to gender stereotypical dominance, the couple had communication issues, which soon lead to separation. As a woman, Nora is very respectful and obedient towards her husband. One misunderstanding, lead to many obstacles within Torvald and Nora’s relationship.

However because of the time period Torvald treats Nora like an irresponsible child. Nora faces tremendous influences from society such as economic dependency, patriarchal rationalizations, and chivalric illusions. In the first scene Torvald calls Nora a few pet names such

Torvald has a dichotomous character; the man that society has shaped and the controlling husband playing with his “doll wife”(p.80), the extended metaphor of the doll’s house is used to highlight how Nora has been manipulated and controlled since she was a child. The repeated use of the doll imagery reinforces the idea of Nora being weak and flimsy, an ideology which she later tries to break. The most prominent side would be the controlling husband which is shown through his attitude to Nora. He says to her “Hasn’t Miss Sweet Tooth been breaking rules in town today?” (p.5) which makes us despise his

In Henrik Ibsen's play, "A Doll's House," a lady named Nora has adventured out of the gender roles. A doll is a symbolic figure for Nora because it can be torn apart, played as long as someone like to and someone who does everything, but at the will of the owner. Nora's life accomplice Torvald sees Nora as someone who is capable of being a housewife and a mother, but nothing else. In the respective period ladies were subjected to attract, surprise, please and obey their life accomplices’ commands. Ibsen made a man who was vanquished enough to break separated from those desires and go up against her own particular way.

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.