Symbolism of a Doll's House

Henrik Ibsen uses several different stylistic devices in A Doll’s House. The author’s choice of writing this piece as a play is to emphasize interactions between various

In its historical context A Doll’s House was a radical play which forced its audience to question the

Genre: A Doll’s House is a naturalistic/ realistic play with Victoriana-Era flair; (also a modern tragedy in play form) that deals with real life family crises of the 1870s’.

In the beginning, Nora and Torvald's relationship appeared to be a good marriage according to the principles of the time. However, this marriage was based on fairly different and unequal roles. Torvald is a banker and he holds the power of the house as a man. He is very much concerned about his status and value in the society. Nora is a housewife who is supposed to take care of her husband and children. Torvald understands that Nora needs his guidance with every decision she makes and he treats

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.

Nora’s marriage has been a sham ever since the start. By the standard of modern day, she has legitimate ground to leave her husband Torvald. Because Torvald only cares about his image, he treats Nora as an object rather than a wife, Nora has never been taken seriously by her husband, and Torvald only loves her for her appearance. Torvalds image is of great importance to him considering now he is a bank manager, and he will not allow anything standing in his way to ruin this image this includes his wife. All of Nora’s life has been controlled by a male figure, first her father which just transitioned to her husband. Towards the end of the play suggests he never actually loved Nora, it was in fact just an act to have more control over her, and to prevent her from leaving.

Ibsen's drama "A Doll's House", serves as an example of the kind of issue-based drama that distinguishes Ibsen from many of his contemporaries. The play's dialogue is not poetic, but very naturalistic, and the characters are recognizable people. Given the sense of modernity which the play possesses it seems unusual to compare it to a Greek tragedy produced more than two-thousand years previously.

Throughout the play Nora’s family is referred to as a doll house. Hence the name of the title, but why is it a doll house? Nora and her kids are like dolls in Torvald’s game. It is like her family is always playing house. It seems to Nora that her life is being used as a game instead of actually getting to live happily. She and her husband have more of a father and daughter relationship, rather than a husband and wife relationship. “The child shall have her way (Ibsen 2.385).” When Torvald says this he sees his wife as a child and not an adult. He does not see her as capable as himself, therefor he does not share responsibilities. This makes him treat her like a child, and he tries to play her into doing what he thinks the story would be best doing. She even says “Surely you can understand that being with Torvald is a little like being with papa (Ibsen 2.217).” She even refers to her relationship with her husband being like her relationship with her dad. It shows that she has respect for her husband like her father, and that she listens to any command he may bark at her.

In Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”, the Christmas tree is a centrally important stage property used to symbolize Nora’s duplicity, reflect the disintegration of the facade of the perfect marriage as well as the fate of the Helmer family, and mirror Nora’s self-image. The state of the Christmas tree transitions from a plain fir tree at the beginning of Act I, to a decorated Christmas tree towards the end of Act I, then finally to a dishevelled tree at the beginning of Act II. Such transition in its appearance on-stage symbolises significant changes that happens in the Helmer household over the Christmas season. The decoration of the Christmas tree symbolizes Nora’s duplicity as being both a seemingly compliant housewife, and a tactfully manipulative

Throughout A Doll’s House, the use of symbolism is present. Through Torvald’s actions, the reader develops a clear understanding of Nora and Torvald’s relationship and thus developing the role of women theme. Firstly, Torvald treats Nora as if she is a child, but Nora doesn’t act upon this until the end of the play. This symbolic action could be due to the constant reminder of Nora’s secret bank loan, which affects her attitude and interaction with her husband, along with the constant inequalities present between herself and Torvald. Secondly, although not typically considered as imagery, stage directions are very helpful to the reader as they provide visual information that the reader can use to help create the setting and act out interactions in their mind. And lastly, without prior knowledge of the play, the title seems nonsensical, but as the story unfolds, the title becomes clearly connected to the plot and the theme of the story through the use of symbolism.

The representation of deception and social oppression through the use of symbols in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House

Macaroons: nora ! Nora! Please don’t leave me and go… why did she leave me half eaten? what is going to happen of me now!! Torvald detests me, he was always against Nora eating me………why did it have to be me?

This “doll house” image mainly lies within Nora, the doll of the play. Nora represents the

In “A Doll House” by Henrik Ibsen was created during 1800s time period. This play helps shine a light on the gender roles of the 1800s while also creating a twist that was uncommon for this period. During this time period, women were left home to oversee the domestic duties, while men went to commuted to work (Hughes). Men were seen as physically superior but morally inferior to women; which is also portrayed within this book (Hughes). This play marks the beginning of Henrik Ibsen’s realist period, which he explored the ordinary lives of small-town people (Kirszner and Mandell 881). This “modern tragedy” helped make Ibsen famous internationally because of the real-life story it captured (Kirszner and Mandell 882). Henrik Ibsen uses an array of literary devices to help keep the reader captivated from beginning to end. Three of the most prominent literary devices used by Henrik Ibsen are symbolism, foreshadowing, and an array of themes. These literary devices help transform a basic play into a complex story of lies and deception.

They have been dehumanized by society. As this play was published during the Victorian era, the play was seen as revolutionary. The thought that anyone would break societal and gender roles, especially a woman, was incredibly provocative. The way in which Nora is treated in this play reminds me of Eavan Boland’s poem ‘The Shadow Doll’. The doll is symbolic of the way women are expected to fit a role in life, in the case of this poem it is a bride. In the final stanza of the poem, it conveys an image of the bride “pressing down, pressing down” in order to lock the case of the wedding gifts. Boland is hinting here that at the inevitable loss of identity that she will now have to experience through her marriage, just like Nora has experienced throughout her marriage with Torvald.