How Nora was a victim and victimizer in A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

Many women in modern society make life altering decisions on a daily basis. Women today have prestigious and powerful careers unlike in earlier eras. It is more common for women to be full time employees than homemakers. In 1879, when Henrik Ibsen wrote A Doll's House, there was great controversy over the out come of the play. Nora’s walking out on her husband and children was appalling to many audiences centuries ago. Divorce was unspoken, and a very uncommon occurrence. As years go by, society’s opinions on family situations change. No longer do women have a “housewife” reputation to live by and there are all types of family situations. After many years of emotional neglect, and overwhelming control, Nora finds herself leaving her

Nora expects when what she calls the terrible storm breaks over her, “Krogstads letter” that her husband would step forward and take all the guilt and responsibilities, but to her ammusement he never did. She needed validation that her husband loved her inspite of what she had done, He continued to argue that no man would sacrifice their honor not even for love. Showing his self-centredness and only concerned about himself. Nora argues that millions of women have.

Nora begins to take offence to the words of Torvald. He refers to her as his most “prized possession”, and continues to say that he often imagines her as though she is his mistress, and she is a temptress. Nora continues to get offended, telling Torvald she doesn’t want any of this. Nora begins

Ibsen reveals that despite her interactions with her husband, Helmer is well indebted to the actions of his wife, who unbeknown to him, are responsible for saving his life. Nora is elated at the fact that she is able to finally disclose her secret to someone, she then proceeds to declare that she has no need to reveal this to her husband as Torvald is already so devoted and so smitten by her current beauty. It is Nora’s false belief in the power she has over her husband, that when it is shown to be misplaced, she reaches the extreme of deciding to leave for ever. The theme of power and control in the text is not merely demonstrated by one character over another, but also by society over the actions of Krogstad and Torvald in particular.

After Torvald reads Krogstad's first letter, he gets angry and shames Nora. He says that she’s a terrible person and that they have to do anything that Krogstad asks for. Also, he says that Nora can’t see the children anymore because she may corrupt them. After Nora hears this, Nora becomes disappointed in Torvald because he said he would sacrifice and do anything for Nora. She expected Torvald to try to sacrifice himself for her, taking all the blame on himself, which he didn’t to.

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

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.

Throughout the dramatic play titled “A Doll House”, Henrik Ibsen’s creation of the character Nora changes immensely from the beginning to the end of the work. Some people may argue and question the intentions of Nora, and describe her as a despicable and selfish woman; however, I see her as a courageous and selfless woman, who longs to be treated as an equal to men. Nora’s sacrifice for her husband at the beginning unravels throughout the entirety of the play, and reveals a boundless transformation of Nora into strong woman, who thrives off of the idea of becoming an equal, self-sufficient lady as she makes the brave decision to leave her family to better herself.

By saying all these things Nora is seemingly proving to Torvald that he has power over her. Luckily, Torvald is not incredulous and feels that Nora is being

A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen, creates a peephole into the lives of a family in the Victorian Era. The play portrays a female viewpoint in a male-dominated society. The values of the society are described using the actions of a woman, Nora, who rebels against the injustices inflicted upon her gender. Women’s equality with men was not recognized by society in the late 1800’s. Rather, a woman was considered a doll, a child, and a servant. Nora’s alienation reveals society’s assumptions and values about gender.

Women because of gender stereotypes were often treated alike to children. Nora exemplified many of the most common child antics. One of these is lying as she lied to Torvald many times throughout the book one example was when she got caught purchasing macaroons. She tells him she didn’t purchase the macaroons even though she can infer that he knew she had purchase them as he said Hasn't Miss Sweet Tooth been breaking rules in town today? […] taken a bite at a macaroon or two?" (1. 55). Torvald is as much to blame for this though as he treated her like a child when he talked to her about it; during the conversation he calls her his “little squirrel” . This in Nora’s mind must have made her think it was okay to lie. If Torvald told her he knew what she had done, and then just asked her to be honest with him, everything would have been fine. Also Nora would have learned to be honest with Torvald next time she made purchase without consulting him. But this doesn't happen as one small incident about cookies paves the way for an array of lies from both Torvald and Nora to each other throughout the play. The audience shouldn’t be surprised though of how Nora acts like a child because Torvald orders her around like he is her father. Nora even says living with Torvald “ [I]s like being with papa … .” (I. l.217) This shows how Nora was exposed to this discriminaton at a young age, and this might be why she disrespects herself and calls herself “a squirrel” as she was brainwashed at a young age by a man plagued with the common women gender stereotypes since childhood. Nora's treatment by Torvald and her father show how most women had been exposed to gender stereotypes since birth, and it explains why some women are okay with subjecting themselves to such The reason that Torvald did this to to his to Nora is because

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.

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.

Torvald also does not trust Nora with money, which exemplifies Torvald's treating Nora as a child. On the rare occasion when Torvald gives Nora some money, he is concerned that she will waste it on candy and pastry. In general, Nora’s duties are

Ibsen details the parallels between Nora and Krogstad as they both committed their crimes for love. Thus, in the first conversation between Nora and Krogstad, Ibsen establishes Krogstad as the cunning antagonist and the extremity of Nora’s crime to build up the climax of the play whilst continuing to portray Nora as childish.