Taking Sides: An Analysis of A Doll’s House Essay

In A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen, is a play about the personal revolution of a Norwegian housewife. Nora appears to be happy with mindlessly obeying her husband, until it is discovered that she has a secret debt that she has hidden from him. Krogstad, Nora’s loaner, threatens to reveal the debt to her husband. When it is inadvertently revealed, Nora realizes the lack of depth of her husband’s feelings for her and leaves their established household and family to find her own personal identity. The theme of A Doll’s House is that societal norms restrict personal freedom.

In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, Nora Helmer is a traditional “angel in the house” she is a human being, but first and foremost a wife and a mother who is devoted to the care of her children, and the happiness of her husband. The play is influenced by the Victorian time period when the division of men and women was evident, and each gender had their own role to conform to. Ibsen’s views on these entrenched values is what lead to the A Doll’s House becoming so controversial as the main overarching theme of A Doll’s House is the fight for independence in an otherwise patriarchal society. This theme draws attention to how women are capable in their own rights, yet do not govern their own lives due to the lack of legal entitlement and

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.

Henrik Ibsen's, A Doll's House is definitely a unique story written by a very intelligent, complicated writer. I believe he intentionally wrote the play in a manner which would lead every reader to draw his own conclusions. He forces us to find our own interpretation of the play in context with our personal lives and experiences with the opposite sex. The theme may be interpreted by many as a study of the moral laws that men and women are required to follow by nature. I believe it is primarily based on the gender stereotypes that determine the role of women in society.

In Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, Nora starts out as sympathetic person, making decisions based upon the welfare of only others, and never herself. She is a caring, naïve and loving person, making it easy to forgive her for her faults. As the story proceeds her motives are questioned, and so is the idea of whether or not she is still a sympathetic character.

At the end of the play ¨A Doll house¨ Nora decides to leave her husband and three children. Her decisions were for the better and her choice in leaving was in the right. Nora felt as though she was unloved and always treated as a child. She also felt as though her life was a facade.

Nora's second, and strongest, break from society's rules was shown by her decision to leave Torvald and her children.  Society demanded that she take a place under her husband.  This is shown in the way Torvald spoke down to her saying things like "worries that you couldn't possibly help me with" (Ibsen Page #), and "Nora, Nora, just like a woman" (Ibsen page #).  She is almost considered to be property of his: "Mayn't I look at my dearest treasure?  At all the beauty that belongs to no one but me - that's all my very own" (Ibsen page #)?  By walking out she takes a position equal to her husband and destroys the very foundation of society's expectations of a wife and mother.  Nora also breaks society's expectations of staying in a marriage since divorce was frowned upon during that era.  Her decision represented a break from all expectations placed upon a woman by society. Throughout the play Nora is looked down upon and treated as a possession by her husband. She is

The enforcement of specific gender roles by societal standards in 19th century married life proved to be suffocating. Women were objects to perform those duties for which their gender was thought to have been created: to remain complacent, readily accept any chore and complete it “gracefully” (Ibsen 213). Contrarily, men were the absolute monarchs over their respective homes and all that dwelled within. In Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, Nora is subjected to moral degradation through her familial role, the consistent patronization of her husband and her own assumed subordinance. Ibsen belittles the role of the housewife through means of stage direction, diminutive pet names and through Nora’s interaction with her morally ultimate

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.

Nora then has to keep her husband from knowing about the loan, and doing many things such as dancing with him. The play also pivots on the point that Nora is in a struggle to gain power from her husband. In a relationship the power needs to be shared between the participants. Nora does all she can to gain power which includes lying to her husband and always asking for money from him. She does many things that deceive him, and it is all about who has the power. Nora just wants her husband to respect her and know that she can be independent without him, and to have a miracle where he shares all his

The play “A Doll’s House” was based on marriage norms and Nora being a protagonist and leaving her husband and children because she wants to be more independent and discover herself. Nora was a typical upper-class women, she had money that her husband provided, she had children, she had a caretaker that took care of her children, she also had a home. In “A Doll’s House” we noticed that Nora had made a few mistake that questioned society, like the way she left her husband and children because she wanted to be independent, by leaving her family this had made the society angry because, no women should leave their husband to be on their own. Society feels that since you have everything why leave it to be independent. The main idea of this play

Communication, honesty, and compromise are good qualities to have in a marriage. It takes communication to express feelings to the other person in the relationship. It takes honesty and compromise to make the relationship perfect. It takes all of these qualities to have a healthy relationship and a healthy marriage. The Helmer’s do not posses these qualities in their marriage.

The play, A Doll’s house, illustrates the restrictive role of women in the society. Nora proclaims, “To be able to be free from care, quite free from care; to be able to play and romp with the children; to be able to keep the house beautifully and have everything just as Torvald likes it!” This is the evidence in her attempt to meet the society’s and her husband’s expectation. Nora expects to be an upstanding and honest mother for her children due to the parental obligation. Nora has been content in being a caring and responsible mother in her marriage; and she has shown her great love for her children by playing with them. Instead of being busy with social activities with other women, she spends most of her time with her children. As a result, her

Write a paper that explains how history is portrayed in a particular play emphasizing what a certain historical event, personage, or situation enables the playwright to communicate. Discuss what effect the playwright's transformation of historical reality has on an audience.

When The Doll House was first produced most of society was still completely entrenched in the misogynistic society that I call the doll house. The Doll House is something that both the wife and the husband play into. The family falls into the stereotypical gender rolls where the man provides and the women keeps the house and tends to the family. The problem is that males dominate under these types of conditions which lead to stereotypes that women are not capable. The reason that so many were shocked by this play is because Nora’s actions went well outside the social norms especially for a women.