Complex Relationships Between Characters in A Dollhouse by Henrik Ibsen

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.

Henrik Ibsen uses several different stylistic devices in A Doll’s House. The author’s choice of writing this piece as a play is to emphasize interactions between various

Henrik Ibsen creates characters in A Doll’s House who change throughout the play. Ibsen’s use of foil characters helps the reader understand each individual character better. Some of the characters in the play are perceived as opposites but in fact share several similarities. Krogstad and Torvald, Christine and Nora, and Krogstad/Christine’s relationship and Torvald/Nora’s relationship are all foils to each other. Foil characters are mirror images of each other; they have similarities as well as differences.

In the fight I had noticed the main issue between Nora and Trovald, they both did not acquire who they both were. Both did not learn to love each other of who they were. Nora was formed in Trovald's trophy wife. Today both men and women marry each other for who they both are. they both love each other, even the flaws they carry in their suite case. In Doll House they avoid who they all really are, and what everything to be picture perfect. They just lived in this doll house pretending to be who they aren't in their "perfect home" when they were really just hiding from the reality that the home was falling

Genre: A Doll’s House is a naturalistic/ realistic play with Victoriana-Era flair; (also a modern tragedy in play form) that deals with real life family crises of the 1870s’.

Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” a nineteenth century play successfully uses symbolism to express many characteristics of Helmer’s life, together with the way that the main character Nora feels towards her marriage at the end of the play. Ibsen’s use of symbolism to convey about the social setting, including the harsh male-controlled Danish society, seen mostly in Torvald in the play and the role of women, signified mostly in Nora. These symbols act as foretelling before the tragic events at the end of the play, as they show the problems which lead to the demise of the Helmer’s ‘perfect’ family life.

Nora plays the part of a slave in her subservience to her husband, for she is supposed to

As Torvald receives the letter, he acts out with rage “It is so incredible that I can’t take it in. But we must come to some understanding. Take off that shawl. Take it off, I tell you. I must try and appease him some way or another. The matter must be hushed at any cost. And as for you and me, it must appear as if everything between us were just as before- but naturally only in my eyes of the world. You will still remain in my and that is a matter of course. But I shall not allow you to bring up the children; I dare not trust them to you. To think that I should be obliged to say so to one whom I have loved so dearly, and whom I still-. No, that is all over. From this moment happiness is not the question; all that concerns us is to save the remains, the fragments, and the appearance-“(715 ). In was in this spite of rage that’s Nora’s dream of the soon to be wonderful life, is changed. Although it was shortly after this outrage from Helmer that he receives another letter saying Nora’s secret is safe; it was too late for Nora. The outrage has caused Nora to realize things about her life and explains to Helmer “I mean that I was simply transferred from papa’s hands into yours. You arranged everything according to your own taste, and so I got into the same tastes as you- or else I pretended to, I am really not quite sure which- I think sometimes the one and sometimes the other. When I look back on it, it seems to me as if I have

Her first instinct is to feel pity for Mrs. Linde’s lack of children or husband, classifying her “utterly alone” state as “terribly sad” and inferior to the life she has with Torvald (Ibsen 8). This all changes, however, once Nora agrees to help Mrs. Linde. By binding herself to a woman instead of a man for the first time, she reaches a further state of awareness. When Mrs. Linde mentions Nora’s “lack of trouble and hardship” and calls her a child, Nora becomes defensive, alluding to her displeasure with her position in society (Ibsen 12). “You’re just like the rest of them,” she claims, “you all think I’m useless when it comes to anything really serious...” (Ibsen 12). The “them” and “you all” in Nora’s pivotal statement refers to the men who have bound Nora to the state of a useless doll in a dollhouse: dependent, incapable, and unenlightened—merely nice to play with and pretty to look at.

She cleverly manipulates the men around her while, to them, she seems to be staying in her subordinate role. In all three acts of the play Nora controls many situations and yields the most power.

Nora changes her dress and is no longer hiding who she really is any longer. Overall, it shows the transformation into the person she needs to become to better herself and not for her husband. Nora becomes more independent at this point in 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.

In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House, the play is framed around symbolism and its irony.

In “A Doll House” by Henrik Ibsen was created during 1800s time period. This play helps shine a light on the gender roles of the 1800s while also creating a twist that was uncommon for this period. During this time period, women were left home to oversee the domestic duties, while men went to commuted to work (Hughes). Men were seen as physically superior but morally inferior to women; which is also portrayed within this book (Hughes). This play marks the beginning of Henrik Ibsen’s realist period, which he explored the ordinary lives of small-town people (Kirszner and Mandell 881). This “modern tragedy” helped make Ibsen famous internationally because of the real-life story it captured (Kirszner and Mandell 882). Henrik Ibsen uses an array of literary devices to help keep the reader captivated from beginning to end. Three of the most prominent literary devices used by Henrik Ibsen are symbolism, foreshadowing, and an array of themes. These literary devices help transform a basic play into a complex story of lies and deception.

Ibsen also employs the use of many smaller themes within his play, A Doll House. Respect and reputation, love, lies and deceit, and money are just a few of these smaller themes. Respect and reputation are something that the men of this play are obsessed with. Some of the men have good standing in society and would do anything to keep it. While other men have lost their good name and would go to great lengths to get it back. Even though the play is set in a private home, the reader knows that the public eye is constantly peeking in. Another important theme that Ibsen puts in to this play is love. He uses the