Defying Social Constraints in A Doll's House Essay

She leaves the care of her children to her grandmother, abandoning them and her husband when she leaves to live in the pigeon-house. To her, leaving her old home with Léonce is very important to her freedom. Almost everything in their house belonged to him, so even if he were to leave, she would still feel surrounded by his possessions. She never fully becomes free of him until she physically leaves the house. That way, Edna has no ties whatsoever to that man. Furthermore, Edna indulges in more humanistic things such as art and music. She listens to Mademoiselle Reisz’s playing of the piano and feels the music resonate throughout her body and soul, and uses it as a form of escapism from the world. Based on these instances, Edna acts almost like a very young child, completely disregarding consequences and thinking only about what they want to do experience most at that moment. However, to the reader this does not necessarily appear “bad”, but rather it is seen from the perspective of a person who has been controlled by others their entire life and wishes to break free from their grasp. In a way, she is enacting a childlike and subconscious form of revenge by disobeying all known social constructs of how a woman should talk, walk, act, and interact with others.

She did not want to tend to the children hand and foot, or her husband for that matter. Others in the community, such as Madame Ratignolle frowned upon this thinking and would do anything for their family, while Edna on the other hand would do as little as possible. “It was not a condition of life which fitted her, and she could see in it but an appalling and hopeless ennui.” (Page 56) ‘Ennui’ is a feeling of listlessness and detachment; Edna was completely detached from her present life, she could not see herself acting as Madame Ratignolle did. It is a far stretch to say that suicide was a better alternative than living this begrudging life, but in the eyes of Edna, it was the perfect way to go against society and her family; a way to truly be on her

The final reason for Edna’s escape from her troublesome life is the failure of her relationship with Robert. Edna was able to find some form of escape through her desire and hope of being with Robert, but when those plans fell through Edna feels as if she has nothing to look forward to, nothing to live for in life. Robert realizes that he and Edna will never be able to have a true

In A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen, is a play about the personal revolution of a Norwegian housewife. Nora appears to be happy with mindlessly obeying her husband, until it is discovered that she has a secret debt that she has hidden from him. Krogstad, Nora’s loaner, threatens to reveal the debt to her husband. When it is inadvertently revealed, Nora realizes the lack of depth of her husband’s feelings for her and leaves their established household and family to find her own personal identity. The theme of A Doll’s House is that societal norms restrict personal freedom.

She must be a “mother-woman”, a woman who “idolized their children, worshipped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels” (Chopin, 10). Edna often does not conduct herself in a way that a woman at the time is expected to; she is not devoted to her husband or dedicated to taking care of her children. This aspect of the setting is crucial to the novel; during this time period, Edna is expected to be a dutiful wife and mother, which she does not want to do. Furthermore, she cannot divorce her husband, as she knows it will severely hurt her children. Therefore, Edna struggles between her identity and her desire for independence while balancing the expectations and restraints of society during that time. Enda tries once more to find a sense of identity in what she terms the “pigeon house”, a smaller house in New Orleans that she wishes to inhabit. This new house, separate from her husband, her children, and her life at her family home, is important to Edna’s search for her identity. When visiting the pigeon house, it is clear what effect the house has on Edna: “Every step which she took toward relieving herself from obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual. She began to look with her own eyes. . .” (Chopin, 127). However, even with the addition of the pigeon house, Edna cannot escape the expectations of society,

She often relieves herself of the responsibility of the two by shouldering it onto others, such as their grandparents or maidservant, and prefers their absence. Throughout the book, it seems as if they are the only thing that she cannot remove entirely, and this is perhaps is what mostly leads her to suicide in the end. After she makes the decision to move into the 'Pigeon House', she is able to separate herself from Léonce and his possessions. And once she realizes that Robert wished to own Edna rather than stand by her as an equal, she is finally able to sever herself from him as well. However, she could not escape her

Edna has a difficult time finding herself while living with her husband. Her actions show by not caring what she wears, not listening to her husband and even hanging out with her actual love Robert more than her workaholic husband. However, this whole time Edna just wants freedom, She wants to be able to do what she wants to do without being demanded to do it.

Finally, her decision to commit suicide can also be interpreted in several ways which come to my assistance to reaffirm the thesis statement that Edna does not reject her children but rejects her mother image. Her decision to commit suicide can be an act of cowardice, because, she finds herself all alone opposed in every way not to be what she wants to be. This proves that she hates the society that binds her in an unrealistic world that does not befit her nature. She does not want to be confined to the society and that she sees death as an escape from the society which is accompanied by the repercussion that she has to leave her children too (The Awakening: Themes, Motifs, & Symbols, n.d.).

First of all, Edna always wanted to be free and away from her children and husband whenever she was able to. Edna never wanted to be a mother but she had to comply with society's standards and that had made her become dispirited. In the novel it said, “Mrs.Pontellier was not a mother-women”(8). This implied that even though she gave birth to her children, she wasn't really a mother to them because she wasn't nurturing them how women are demanded to do because of societal norms. Edna didn’t want to have children to begin with so she didn't take on the full responsibility in being a mother and wanted to be free from the task that society had put upon her. The ending fits in with this idea because her death represented the freedom that she had been longing for. When it says, “But they need not have thought that the could possess her, body and soul.”(116), it proves how Edna wanted to be away from them all. Also, Edna began to stand up for herself to her husband in order to show how she was growing mentally and that she couldn't live her life according to

The ideals Edna had were very progressive for her time. Just as expected she met a lot of push back from most since people do not like the idea of change But one of the biggest leaps she took was moving out of her own home. An understandable gesture for a woman coming into her own, for with a change of heart of change of setting is also needed. She tells

Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” is a controversial play focusing on the marriage of Nora and Torvald Helmer. The play is filled with symbols that represent abstract ideas and concepts. These symbols effectively illustrate the inner conflicts that are going on between the characters. Henrik Ibsen’s use of symbolism such as the Christmas tree, the locked mailbox, the Tarantella, Dr. Rank’s calling cards, and the letters allows him to give a powerful portrayal to symbolize aspects of characters and their relationship to each other.

This struggle between being a mother and wife. and being a free spirit, is apparent from the beginning of the book. She struggles also with her relationships, those with Leonce, and Robert. “What folly! to bathe at such an hour in such heat!” (Chopin 522) says her husband when Edna and Robert finish with a swim. He is obviously disapproving of their relationship with the water, and how they spend time it it. But he also seems somewhat oblivious to the fact that they are falling in love in front of his eyes, as well as Edna changing her entire

Edna’s affair with Alcee Arobin demonstrates yet another attempt to acquire the life of a man. In the relationship, Edna experiments with her sexual desires and the lust that she feels just as any capable man would. Chopin states indirectly Edna’s true desires in a relationship: “Alcee Arobin was absolutely nothing to her. Yet his presence, his manners, the warmth of his glances, and above all the touch of his lips upon her hand had acted like a narcotic upon her” (Chopin 82). While Edna possesses no romantic feelings for Alcee Arobin, she feels a strong physical attraction to him.

Edna committed suicide because there was no other way out. She did not fit into society. Her thoughts and emotions were not the same as the thoughts and emotions of the other women of this time. Edna committed suicide so that she could be reborn in

A Doll’s House was published in Norway in 1879 by Henrik Isben. He is known as the father of Modern Theatre. He is also referred as the father of realism. The play is very interesting because of the funny dialogue, the unique characters, and Ibsen 's view of the place of ladies in the public eye. The main characters of the play is Nora Helmer and her husband Torvald Helmer. Imagine what it would be like to live in a doll 's home? It 's a house in which you are controlled and have no energy to settle on any solid choice; It 's a house in which you are a play thing for another person 's amusement. This sounds a ton like an awful marriage, so it 's a house in which your husband holds the satchel strings, in a manner of speaking, and abandons you with no influence over your family 's accounts. In fact, your husband keeps you on a tightrope. Such is the perceived life of Nora Helmer.