Nora was a poor wife because she was only playing the part. She didn’t truly understand her husband or the pressures he was under and it was her security in her delusion that failed her, not Torvald’s failure to meet some fantasized expectation that she had of him. She was surprised by her husband’s reaction because she didn’t understand the pressures he was faced with as a man of that time. Her failure to take responsibility and communicate her error as well as her attempts to hide it from him, like a child who’s broken something, had robbed him of any chance to intervene and Torvald was right to be upset with her. 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
Nora is introduced as a housewife who believes the true meaning of marriage revolving around obedience. She demonstrates the true definition of a respectful daughter, a faithful and obedient wife, and a dependable mother. It wasn’t unusual for Torvald to throw his weight around towards Nora. He attempts to limit her macaroon intake “Hasn’t nibbled some pastry,” (Ibsen 788) she replies, “You know I could never think of going against you” (Ibsen 788). In the eyes of Nora, he is considered a confident, powerful, and successful businessman since he is receiving a promotion as a bank manager after the New Year. Torvald’s sense of marriage can be summed up that he is the king of the castle “This is the way it should be my darling Nora. What-ever comes, you’ll see: when it really counts, I have strength and courage enough as a man to take the whole weight myself” (Ibsen 814). Torvald’s view is she is just a “doll” in his doll house. To him, it was important to stress there was no such thing as equality in their partnership, he
Therefore, Nora seems to be a hardworking woman when she has to be, however her doll-like life has never had severe consequences and at the first sign it might, she flees. She flees after a heated argument with Torvald at night, not even giving it a night’s rest to really think about her decision further and consider other options. When Torvald askes her what about the children, she tells Torvald: “I have another duty equally sacred…my duty to myself” (Isben, 1076). It is one of the worst things a mother could do to leave her children without a caretaker, even if she was not much of one to begin with. Nora shows a lack of courage by not sticking it out since a true hero would have stayed and tried to work something out that would not be so damaging to the family.
Nora and Torvald have both contributed to their marriage problems, not just one of them. Nora contributed to this problem because she is the one who initially forged the check, which was illegal. If she never would have done this, they these marriage problems many never have arose in these such extreme ways. Even though the problems about her forging the check may not have arose, there would have still been a lot of different issues present because Torvald is a very controlling husband and treated Nora as property, and not really as a wife that he loves and respects. Even though Nora had a part in these problems, Torvald is the most to blame for most of the marriage problems. This is because when Nora forged the check in order to save Trovalds life, he acted out in horrible, violent, and angry ways. Nora did
Though Torvald seems to truly love Nora in the beginning, he actually values the reputation he has with his peers. For example, even at the end of the novel, Nora confesses that she would like to leave the family for the sake of her well-being. However, Torvald's reaction turned to insult Nora even more by asking her to stay in the house like brother and sister; he wanted her to stay so that it would appear that Nora and Torvald are still a married couple. "But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves"(Act III, 78), this is what Torvald told Nora which gives another idea of how he finds his appearance more important than his love for Nora. Also, Nora suggests that the love Torvald thinks he has for her is only an infatuation of the fact that he has someone to love. Why
Torvald was ill and the only thing that could save him would be time spent away from the cold. Nora never tells Torvald about this loan because he doesn’t believe in borrowing. Toward the end of the play when Torvald finds out about the loan, his true colors come out and Nora finally gets to see what her husband is really like. This is what really causes Nora to leave her family and to try to find who she really is. This situation also causes Torvald to change a little as well. Near the end when Torvald finds out about the loan, he gets angry with Nora. Once he learns that she is going to leave him and the children, he begins to change his ways a little and starts treating her with a little more respect. He hopes this will make Nora stay, but she already has her mind set and finally has control for once in her life.
Nora also receives the command from her husband that she should “...make your mind at ease again, my frightened little singing bird. Be at/ rest and feel secure; I have broad wings to shelter you under”(3. 1. 543-544). After showing his whimpering self at realizing that society might find out that he owes his wife, he then receives a note promising not to reveal the truth. Torvald reacts with happiness and pretends that he did not just hurt his wife. His wife does not let this go as he rants with sexist remarks bluffing about his strengths. The pride Torvald has as a man makes him discriminate against women and what they stand for showing making the break up within this family. Also in The House on Mango Street, one of the protagonist's friends must take care of their family because she is the eldest daughter but this has only made her hope for a man to get out of here since all she has learned is that men are superior to her. This shows how dominance of a family member can make other family members want to leave, therefore breaking the family
The attitude Torvald has towards his wife, Nora, throughout the play almost makes it seem as though he is constantly judging her for her actions without telling her how he truly feels. As any married couple should know, “lack of communication is a prime cause for divorce” (Perry). He does not express his concerns in a mature manner but instead he talks to her like she does not know any better for the little things she has done. For instance, when she mentions that she is not allowed to have the macaroons because of Torvald, this shows that he has a way of controlling her. It continues by him calling her names such as song bird, squirrel, spendthrift, or skylark. He also has no trust for her. He shows this by mentioning her actions in regards to spending money. “You always find some new way of wheedling money out of me, and, as soon as you have got it, it seems to melt in your hands” (Ibsen “A Doll’s House” 930). With this lack of trust, they simply could not thrive and last nearly as long as they may have once thought. Marriage does not bind people if they cannot find the truth in one
Another main difference between Torvald and Nora is how much their self-image matters to them individually. Nora's self-image is the complete opposite of Torvalds. From Nora's perspective she doesn't have much of an image to produce, but she does have the image of herself that Torvald can see along with her close friends. She really cares about what her husband thinks about her so she does whatever she can to make sure that his opinion doesn’t change, she gets worried by how she will look in his eyes after he finds out about the crime she has committed, this is why she tries to stop Torvald from sending Krogstad his notice, "Call it back, Torvald! There's still time. Oh, Torvald, call it back!..."(1304) Nora acts like this because once Torvald finds out what she has done, she knows that he is going to look at her a different way than what he does now. Nora doesn’t want this so she tries preventing Torvald from doing his job. On the other hand, Torvald cares a lot about the way others look at him, he thinks that once people find out what his wife has done that it will destroy his reputation and people will tend to look down upon him. When he finds out about what his wife has done
Nora proceeds to apologize and plays the role of the obedient wife. Nora has the right to spend extra money after what she has been through for the first few years of marriage. Nora and Torvald were very poor. Torvald also became sick and had to travel to Italy to recover. Nora secretly and illegally got a loan to pay for the trip to Italy. During the time setting of the play, women weren’t allowed to do certain things without their husband’s permission such as take out loans. Nora has been working extra hard to pay back her debt and the promotion that Torvald will receive will help Nora become debt free.
Torvald’s wife Nora is the center of several of the traits that classify him as a morally ambiguous character. Nora is more like a possession to Torvald than a soul mate or wife. She is like a doll to him, something that he can control and shape into what he wants. Nora is treated like a child and as if she can not function a second without him to be there to tell her what to do. Her dependency on him is extremely important to him because that is
He never wanted her unhappy or upset with him. But no matter what he did, he was always at fault for something; Norma never seemed to be completely happy. All Torvald did was fire Krogstad, and his marriage went into jeopardy. Nora decided to leave. She’s not even taking their children with her. She tells Torvald that she’s “sure” she’ll think of him and the children often. Nora gave Torvald the keys to their home and told him it’s
Firstly, Nora goes through a conflict with Krogstad. He blackmails Nora by threatening to tell her husband about the money she borrowed from him. “Have you forgotten that it is I who have the keeping of your reputation?” (45) Krogstad knows all he has to do is tell her husband, Helmer about the debt and Nora’s life will be over. Nora also has a conflict with Helmer. Nora and her husband have a broken marriage because they don’t seem to be on the same page. Nora genuinely cares and loves her husband; hence her reasoning for borrowing the money. Torvald loves Nora but it seems the outside appearance of their relationship is what matters to him. Their broken marriage causes another conflict, keeping secrets. Helmer has no idea that Nora borrowed money from Krogstad to help him. Nora kept this a secret because they don’t communicate with each other.
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
Later in the play things start getting complicated for Nora. Her husband Torvald had become Mr. Krogstad boss at work, and Torvald wanted to fire Mr. Krogstad. This is when Mr. Krogstad starts to blackmail Nora. He wants Nora to stop Torvald from firing him. If she does not, Mr. Krogstad was going to tell Torvald her secret. This should have been the perfect time for Nora to tell the truth to her husband, but she believed that telling Torvald the truth will ruin their relationship. Nora says to her friend Mrs. Linde “Torvald, with all his masculine pride – how painfully humiliating for him if he ever found out he was in debt to me. That would ruin our relationship. Our beautiful, happy home would never be the same” (Iben 802)
He always maintains his authority over the house. He always kept the keys of the letterbox with him. Torvald just uses her as a showpiece. To him Nora is like a trophy which he can flaunt everywhere . He says, “Yes, just look at her! She’ s worth seeing , if you ask me ! He always tries to degrade Nora he says , “ Little Nora talking about scientific tests” . Even when he discovers what Nora has done for him he refers her to a ‘wretched woman’ contradictory to what Nora was imagining