Pet Names and Belittlement: Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House

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.

When Torvald finds her hairpin stuck in the keyhole of the letter box, Nora tells him it must have been their children trying to get into it, not willing to admit that she had tried to break into his things. Although the truth about her is about to be discovered, Nora wants to preserve the last bits of dignity that she has left, finally worrying about herself before anyone else. This last lie however, leads up to her finally speaking the truth and expressing that she no longer feels that she loves Torvald. Her husband is furious at her, insulting her, and fails to see that every lie that she told was for his sake. Realizing that Torvald can’t see her side of things and will only find fault in what she did, she comes to her decision to leave her family. Nora states that she is not happy and never really was, her marriage to Torvald was as fakes as a doll house according to her. Rather than lie, she is completely honest now and states that she wants to become her own person and learn that which she doesn’t know despite what society might think.

Krogstad’s behavior and motives are based on the fact that he does not want to lose his job at the bank where Nora’s husband Torvald manages. In a desperate attempt to keep his job and spare his children from hardship, he uses Nora to influence her husband. Her attempts to save Krogstad’s job fail because Torvald is convinced that Krogstad is a liar and a cheat and he will not jeopardize his moral character or be swayed by his wife. He states, “Do you think I’m going to make myself look ridiculous in front of my whole staff, and let people think I can be pushed around by all sorts of outside influence?” (1624)

In “A Doll House” Ibsen uses his male character, Torvald to be controlling towards his wife Nora, which lacks understanding in the play. This allows the plot development in the play to develop between the couple and shows the problem they face. This play allows me to compare Torvald and Nora to the american man and the girl in “Hills Like White Elephants.” The short story and the play are similar to each other because of the way the couples acts in both, they lack their communication skills, the males try to control the females and they lack understanding.

A Doll 's House by Henrik Ibsen, is a play that has been written to withstand all time. In this play Ibsen highlights the importance of women’s rights. During the time period of the play these rights were neglected. Ibsen depicts the role of the woman was to stay at home, raise the children and attend to her husband during the 19th century. Nora is the woman in A Doll House who plays is portrayed as a victim. Michael Meyers said of Henrik Ibsen 's plays: "The common denominator in many of Ibsen 's dramas is his interest in individuals struggling for and authentic identity in the face of social conventions. This conflict often results in his characters ' being divided between a sense of duty to themselves and their responsibility to others." All of the aspects of this quote can be applied to the play A Doll House, in Nora Helmer 's character, who throughout much of the play is oppressed, presents an inauthentic identity to the audience and throughout the play attempts to discovery her authentic identity.

Now that Krogstad is fired from the bank, He is blackmailing Nora for her getting a loan through signing her dying father’s signature. When Torvald finds out about Nora’s crime, She expect sympathy from Torvald about her dilemma because he said to her that he fantasizes about risking his life to save Nora’s. “Do you know, Nora, I have often wished that you might be threatened by some great danger, so that I might risk my life’s blood, and everything, for your sake” (Ibsen, 833). Once given the opportunity, however; Torvald shows no intention of sacrificing his life or anything for Nora, thinking only about his appearances. His selfishness becomes

Ibsen’s character Nora in A Doll’s House, shows gradual development throughout the play to support his theme that above all else, you are human; even in marriage both parties should be given the equal opportunities, rights and respect. While Nora may at first seem happy with her life inside her “doll house”, she begins to recognize that she must find herself, and stop being a toy in the lives of men.

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.

When Krogstad threatens to expose the truth, Nora must use her craftiness to distract Torvald and sway him into letting Krogstad keep his job. Unfortunately, she is not able to change his mind, but she does succeed in diverting his suspicions of her motives. She praises him and lulls him into a false sense of security by telling him that "[n]o one has such good taste as [he has]" and then goes on to ask him if he could "take [her] in hand and decide what [she is] to go as" for the dance. She confesses to him that she "can't do anything without [him] to help [her]". These statements lead him to believe that he is the one to "rescue" her, when it is in fact Nora who is trying to rescue him from dishonour. Later on, when Krogstad puts a letter in Torvald's mail, explaining everything that Nora has done, Nora uses her charms once more. She pretends that she has forgotten the tarantella so that Torvald will spend all his time with her and think nothing of the mail that awaits him. Nora truly believes that by deceiving her husband, she is protecting him from worry. Because of Nora's deception, the person that Torvald believes her to be is quite different from the person she actually is. He believes that she is a "spendthrift," infatuated by expensive things when in reality, she saves her money to pay back Krogstad and buys cheap clothing and gifts. Torvald

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.

Investigation of Power in Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ Nora Helmer is introduced in Act I as a character subjugated to the wills and desires of her husband; she is merely an object which Torvald, possesses. At the conclusion of Act III however, she has become sufficiently independent to arrive at her decision to leave the children, her husband and what life she had behind, as she slams the door on the family home. A significant transition of power has occurred and this is one of the major themes that Ibsen raises in his dramatic text ‘A Doll’s House.’ However, in examining the underlying issue of power presented by the text, one cannot simply look at the plight of Nora’s character, three major aspects of this theme need also to be

In “A Doll’s House,” Ibsen presents us with the drama of Torvald and Nora Helmer, a husband and wife who have been married for eight years and whose lives are controlled by the society in which they live. Their relationship, although seemingly happy, is marred by the constraints of social attitudes around them and their perceived gender roles. Creating even more conflict is the thin veil of deceit between them, which inevitably breaks them apart.

Krogstad feels threatened by her influence because she can be the pivotal deciding factor in whether or not he keeps his job. Nevertheless, Krogstad tries to turn her influence to benefit himself by threatening to reveal her crime if she does not help him to keep his job. This backfires on Krogstad when two women, Nora and Mrs. Linde, manipulate Krogstad into feeling obstinate and therefore he promises never to tell anyone of what Nora has done. Nora's power helped her to remain protected throughout the entire play.

The theme of power is expressed through the title of A Doll’s House, as when one plays with dolls he or she has complete control of what occurs. The relationship between a person and their doll is a direct act of subjugation, only the doll is not alive and has no choice in the matter. With the binary opposition of phylogeny versus misogyny present in the stage production, a question of the work is who is the one controlling the household. Ibsen had the character of Torvald believe he was in command of what occurred in the house; however he (Ibsen) provided more evidence that Nora was really the one who kept everything together. For example, Nora was speaking with Mrs. Linde that she obtained much needed money without consulting with Torvald first, as she lied to him saying it was given to them by her father. Mrs. Linde replied saying “a wife should not borrow without her husband’s consent” (Ibsen 88), meaning she had fallen into the belief that women are below men, which Ibsen is proved to be false in this play.

Mrs. Linde assumes that Dr. Rank is the person that Nora borrowed money from, but Nora denies it and doesn’t tell her who the real person is. Torvald shows up. Nora begs him to not fire Krogstad. Her begging only angers off Torvald, and he tells the maid to send Krogstad his notice. Torvald goes to his office. Nora then had a plan to ask Dr. Rank for the remainder of the money that she owes, but her plan fails when he tells her that he will be dying soon and that he is in love with her. She feels guilty and doesn’t ask. As Dr. Rank goes in to see Torvald, Krogstad comes storming in, upset that he was fired. He yelled at Nora and then put blackmail in Torvald’s mailbox on the way out. In a fret, Nora tells Mrs. Linde everything. Mrs. Linde explains that she used to have a relationship with Krogstad that maybe she could change his mind. Mrs. Linde leaves to give a note to Krogstad, while Nora has to keep Torvald from reading the letter. The next night, while the costume party was taking place, Krogstad met up with Mrs. Linde to talk. The conversation revealed that they were once both deeply in love with one another, but Mrs. Linde left him for another wealthier man. She then confesses that she wants to get back with him. He accepts. They agree that they would leave Krogstad’s letter for Torvald to read because it would be better if Krogstad knew what his wife did for him. They ran