In very last act of this play, It is revealed that Mrs. Linde had a past with Krogstad, and has come to an epiphany about her own marriage. However, they are not the only ones that have a moment of realization and go through a transformation in their lives. Nora and Torvald go through an emotional metamorphosis in their marriage, and it causes Nora to find who she really is as a person. The great significance that is brought to this play is the not just the definition of equality between men and women, but other social injustices that go on throughout society. Mrs. Linde was just known as a mature and commonsensical widow, but little was it known that she knew Krogstad this whole time! There is a relevant scene that I found in this act …show more content…
It seems that Nora has had enough of Torvald’s rude and selfish remarks such as telling guests in their home that she can be “terribly stubborn” or insulting Nora’s father saying that he has a “lack of total principle” because he assumes that Nora’s character is based off of the characteristics of her father. Furthermore, he goes farther with his comments saying, “ You will remain here in my house. That is taken for granted. But you will not be allowed to raise the children. I could not trust you with them.” or, “You must rely on me. I will advise you and give you directions. I wouldn’t be a man if this female helplessness didn’t make you twice as attractive to me." I do not think there is another person who has not had enough of Torvald’s criticism towards Nora. He seems to believe that whatever comes out of his mouth is true, and in the end with Nora replying with, ““Everything you do is right, Torvald." without consideration. However, later on in this act Nora finally stands up to Torvald. In realization she says to Torvald, ““The whole reason for my existence was to perform tricks for you, Torvald. But that’s what you wanted...It is your fault that I have made nothing of my life.” She finally recognizes the manipulation Torvald has done throughout her life. Additonally she says, “I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was Papa’s doll-child; and in this house the children have
Torvald, as Nora’s husband, struggled to be a man that followed and upheld to rules of society to appear acceptable to others. Throughout the play, there were many instances where Torvald had done this. For example, when Nora introduced Mrs. Linde as a potential employee for his bank, Torvald said, “Well, it is not altogether impossible. I presume you are a widow, Mrs. Linde?” (pg.
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
When Torvald does not immediately offer to help Nora after Krogstad threatens to expose her, Nora realizes that there is a problem. By waiting until after he discovers that his social status will suffer no harm, Torvald reveals his true feelings, which put appearance, both social and physical, ahead of the wife whom he says he loves. Nora's personality changes from a two-dimensional figure to a fully developed and captivating woman who can independently take care of herself and her family without the guiding hand of a man at her side; this is illustrated by her handling of the debt crisis up to the point that her husband finds out. This revelation is what prompts Nora to walk out on Torvald.
Torvald is a good husband, but he treats Nora merely as a pretty doll. Moreover, Torvald is also the money provider of the family, which gives him even more power and pride. However, Nora’s husband does not expect her to be independent or thoughtful. It seems that Torvald even enjoys Nora is being dependent and childish, so he can keep his pride and control over Nora. Due to Nora’s dependency and Torvald’s domination, an equal relationship does not exist in their marriage. Especially on the act III, during their last intense argue, Torvald even says, “You are out of your mind! I won't allow it! I forbid you!” (Ibsen, Act III, 658). This also reflects on the marriage situations in the society of the nineteenth century. Generally, the women were no more than an accessory, or a doll to the men. Husband nearly listened to their wives’ thoughts and had a deep conversation with them.
Torvald is demanding and condescending towards Nora. He becomes
To me this is the point where Nora shows that she is not independent of Torvald. Nora knows she is Torvalds “little skylark” or plaything. She is there to entertain and make him happy. Little does he know that most of the relationship is based on secret and lies. Like in A Doll’s House, the movie “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, the relationships are based on secrets and lies. In the movie despite living together for years, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, their identities and professional lives, are lies. They each keep secrets not wanting the other to know. Nora and Torvald have been together for years and she doesn’t tell her husband about him being sick or where she truthfully got the money from. Nora doesn’t tell Torvald because he hates the idea of
Torvald would never have thought she were capable of it, since during that era it was unrealistic of women to leave their houses but rather put up with the difficulties they faced. Ibsen highlights society's domineering outlooks of marriage and the interactions of two people naïvely pretending to be in love. Throughout the play Ibsen reveals the fragile attributes of his characters to help enhance the play-like nature of their relationship, the role of women, and Nora's course of self-discovery.
However, Torvald was equally guilty of neglecting his duty to understand his wife in any meaningful way. He failed to establish any real communication with his wife and their marriage suffered for it. Even still, Torvald wasn’t completely without reason in his initial reaction. While his reaction was a bit rash, Nora’s action hadn’t just compromised Torvald’s reputation, the threat extended to the entire family. Her poor judgement had threatened to undo everything he had dedicated his life to working towards, and even in his rage he doesn’t wish to send her away. We see when he’s calmed down that he does in fact love Nora and intends to address the problems that have been illuminated through this situation. He forgives her for her recklessness and pledges to educate her (837). He is attempting to be reasonable and understanding in but Nora cannot see past her
The protagonist, Nora, of this story plays the role of an average woman from this time period. From the beginning of the play there is a sense of dominance as her husband, Torvald, calls her names such as his “little squirrel” and a “featherhead”. (1.5-1.16) As the play goes on it is evident that Nora is not so much the child everyone sees. She reveals the unthinkable, she forged her father's signature illegally in order to keep her husband alive. Krogstad, the antagonist of this story, claims he will ruin her husbands reputations as the bank manager if she does not convince Torvald to promote him. When Torvald discovers this secret, he criticizes his wife telling her she is “unfit to raise their children” and “.............”. She is heartbroken
Conflict in the play begins when Nora brags to Mrs. Linde, an old family friend, about how she forged her fathers name to secure a loan to save Torvalds’s life. She reveals that she has been secretly paying of his debt. Nora also confesses that Krogstad, a banker, plans to blackmail her and expose her lies
When Torvald is sick, there is nothing he can do for his family. The doctor gave him specific instructions to focus on regaining his health and nothing else. This resulted in Nora engaging in illegal behavior to raise money to pay for Torvald’s medical expenses as well as any other family needs. Once Torvald has recovered and discovers the trouble Nora is in, he becomes angry at her for potentially ruining their shared name. He is also frustrated that she had to protect the family and especially him while he was incapacitated due to his illness. He did not like the thought of Nora being an independent woman and looking out for everyone since that is meant to be one of his duties to his
The main characters in this play are Tovald Helmer, Nora, Tovald’s wife, Christine, Nora’s childhood friend who is also widowed, Krogstad, Dr. Rank, Ann, and Nora’s children who enjoy playing with Ann during the
Nora believes her purpose in life is to be happy for her husband and the children. Nora did believe that she loved Torvald and was happy. She had a passionate and devoted heart that was willing to do almost anything for her husband. At first she did not understand that these feelings were not reciprocated. Torvald does not want a wife who will challenge him with her own thoughts and actions. She finally realizes her feelings where untrue. The final confrontation between the couple involves more oppression by Torvald calling her a "featherbrained woman" and "blind, incompetent child", but by this time Nora has realized the situation he wishes to maintain, and is convinced her own happiness is more important. The fury Nora saw in Torvald after opening the letter that exposed her lie showed Nora a strange man. Someone she had not been wife to, someone she did not love. Their marriage is fake and mutually beneficial because of their social class. She realizes they are
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
Torvald says “That’s just like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know how I feel about that. No debt, no borrowing. There can’t be any freedom or beauty in a home life that depends on borrowing and debt. We two have managed to stay on the straight road so far, and we’ll go on the same way for the short time that we still have to be careful.” Nora responds saying “As you wish, Torvald.” When saying this Nora is very upset and pouting because she feels disrespected in the way Torvald was talking to her and believes that she is right and Torvald is wrong. She thinks the debt shouldn’t be something of their worries because he will be earning a large salary at his new job that could pay off the loan very quickly. But, because she doesn’t want to go against her husband she agrees and says what she says to avoid conflict. Torvald feels bad and because of it gives her money to spend on Christmas gifts. Then after giving her the money he tells her that she is very wasteful with her money and that same trait runs throughout her family. He basically just disrespected Nora and her father to her face and she sat there and just quietly smiled and said “Ah I wish to inherit a lot of Papa’s traits.” She is agreeing with him that she is very wasteful with her money and that she doesn’t care, instead of standing up for herself and telling him that she spends money on things that she feels are a necessity to her. Throughout the rest of this act Nora never gains the