Essay about The Rebellion of Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House

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

Nora is trapped in her own house, in her own society as being a woman and the role they have. "I shall not allow you to bring up the children; I dare not trust them to you" (line 242). Torvald says to be own wife, taking away her most prized possession and the ones she loves the most and since she's a woman and Torvald is the man of the house, he is allowed to do it. One of Nora's friends, Mrs. Linden just married a man who recently passed away just for the money because women in that time aren't allowed to own the money that the family brings in, thinking Mrs. Linden would get all the money she got nothing. Then she meets Mr. Krogstad again and she's willing to sell her body once again for money and a way of living. "What a difference! Someone to work for and live for--a home to bring comfort into" (line 84). The book is complete brilliance, it shows that women are imprisoned inside their homes how Mrs. Linden has willing played a large part in this role towards the end of the

Throughout A Doll’s House, Torvald views Nora’s actions as being deceiving not only towards him but also towards her family. However, Nora gain her perspective on her own actions and begins observing it differently than Torvald’s. The play states, “ It was me they told that his life was in danger...well, well, I thought, you’ve got to be saved somehow. And then I thought of a way-,” (Ibsen 35-36). Within Nora’s and Mrs. Linde’s private conversation, Nora conveys that her manipulation of money revealed how she deceives her husband even though it was in good intent to save his life. In addition, this demonstrates Nora’s willingness to think about others, such as her husband, before realizing for herself that there were going to be consequences for her later on. Within the play, Nora states, “ You have never understood me. A

The central theme of A Doll’s House is Nora’s rebellion against society and everything that was expected of her. Nora shows this by breaking away from all the standards and expectations her husband and society had set up for her. In her time women weren’t supposed to be independent. They were to support their husbands, take care of the children, cook, clean, and make everything perfect around the house.

In A Doll House, Nora finds herself subordinate to her husband as well as the rules of society. Torvald forbids her from the consumption of macarons, bestows on her an allowance as if she were a child, persuades her to do as he wishes, dance like this, not like that, and she like a “good little lark” obeys his most every will. Her act of courage and independence, illegally taking out a loan to save his life, is seen as wrong in the eyes of society, while she sees it as necessary and forgivable; it is what a good wife should do for her husband.

Also in Act II, Nora begins to question the law. When Krogstad comes to Nora, they speak of why she used the money. Nora says, “Hasn’t a daughter the right to shield her father from worry and anxiety when he’s old and dying? Hasn’t a wife the right to save her husband’s life? I don’t know much about the law, but there must be something somewhere that says that such things are allowed”(2,1). Nora doesn’t seem to question much, but her concern that she could not sign for a loan to take care of her family as a man could shows that she is now questioning the rights of a woman.

Nora plays the part of a slave in her subservience to her husband, for she is supposed to

   In his play, A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen depicts a female protagonist, Nora Helmer, who dares to defy her husband and forsake her "duty" as a wife and mother to seek out her individuality. A Doll's House challenges the patriarchal view held by most people at the time that a woman's place was in the home. Many women could relate to Nora's situation. Like Nora, they felt trapped by their husbands and their fathers; however, they believed that the rules of society prevented them from stepping out of the shadows of men. Through this play, Ibsen stresses the importance of women's individuality. A Doll's House combines realistic characters, fascinating imagery, explicit stage directions, and

n A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen examines conventional roles of men and women in the nineteenth century. In the play, Nora exemplifies the conventional feminine standard of the period. She seems to be powerless and confines herself through patriarchal expectations, which signify a woman’s social role at that tome, that is, of a wife and mother. In turn, masculine perspective measures feminine conduct during that period. Finally, Nora makes a decision to break up with her family in order to become independent. She does this aslo in order to gain and assert her personality through social identity. However, her deed is rather a manifestation of her selfishness than her rebellious spirit. It means that none of the gender parties in this play can be considered as completely just or unjust. So, the paper considers various manifestations of justice and injustice in the relationships between the main characters and considers the social background of their decisions and deeds.

"The mere fact that Nora's well-intentioned action is considered illegal reflects woman's subordinate position in society. It can be suggested that woman have power to choose which rules to follow at home, but not in the business world, thus indicating her subordinateness."(Thomas, cyberessays.com)

At the end of their first reconnection, Nora reveals that her transformation from obedient doll to liberated woman had already begun. She now admires Mrs. Linde for her long years of work and independence and uses it as inspiration for her own. In Mrs. Linde’s trust, Nora exposes her personal act of sovereignty: a few years ago, she had secretly borrowed money to save her husband’s life, incriminating herself. Even though she did the morally correct thing, Nora’s actions are condemnable and

Nora is the character in A Doll House who plays the 19th woman and is portrayed as a victim. All of the aspects of this quote can be applied to the play A Doll House, in Nora’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.

Henrik Ibsen's cleverly uses setting within A Doll's House in order to make his work one which aptly describes both the time period and societal constraints in which the Helmers, particularly Nora, reside. Women of the time were frequently frowned upon for any attempts to move out of the social stereotype of silent-as-mice housewives. Nora however, finally chose to break that boundary in deciding to leave her husband and children, leaving them vulnerable to ridicule and open criticism of Nora's self-absorption. As well, in Norway, women were not permitted to control their own money until 1888, following A Doll's House's performance and publication by almost a decade. Thus, Nora's actions in the play were illegal at the time and considered extremely scandalous. Kristine Linde represents the seemingly average woman of the time, choosing a life that centers around not only helping, but taking care of others, essentially acting as a mother to everyone she knows. Ibsen's writing was particularly influential to the time period, in which women's rights movements were beginning construction and obtaining followers. However, although A Doll's House is today interpreted as a feminist play, Ibsen was less concerned with the rights of one particular group than the rights of humankind. Perhaps it was because of his self-imposed exile after the failure of his theatre in which Ibsen felt the need for all humans to be

Here, Nora pulls together the tragic circumstances. She sees that she was never truly happy in the house, just content. Her father kept her as a child would a doll, and Torvald continued this when they were married. They formed her opinions for her, set expectations to which she was supposed to adhere, and wrote a vague script of how she was supposed to act. She was like a puppet, with no thoughts or actions of her own. When she finally realizes the injustice being done to her, she decides to free herself.

Her final goal was so important to her, protecting her family, she knew she had to do whatever was necessary, even if that meant not being true to her husband or society. In the end, she realizes that it was more important to her husband his reputation, than what it had meant to Nora, all she had done for the love of her family, concluding to the raw truth that her husband didn´t really love her: he loved what she represented before society, a loving, faithful wife that compelled to all his expectations. She knew that to love her children, she needed first to understand and love herself, a thought way beyond and ahead of time, for a woman in the late 1800´s.