...Essay 01 May 2011 The Doll in A Doll House The play "A Doll House" was written by Henrik Ibsen in 1879. In the nineteenth century, women's rights were hardly restricted. The role of the woman was to stay at home and take care about the children and her husband, while the male figure in the home acted as the dominating role. The man made almost all decisions for the family. Nora Helmer is the woman of this period and is portrayed as a victim of her environment, society and male dominance. Throughout her entire life, Nora has been emotionally controlled and treated like a doll by both male characters in her life, her father and her husband. She has believed them without any questions because she is afraid to offend them, "When I lived at home with Papa, he told me all his opinions, so I had the same ones too; or if they were different I hid them, since he wouldn't have cared for that" (1213). Her father shaped her life, her opinions and her thoughts. He played with his "doll-child," spoiled and treated her like a toy and not like an individual (1213). When Nora married Torvald Helmer, she simply passed from her father's hands into her husband's hands with no changes. Nora says: " ...our home's been nothing but a playpen. I've been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa's doll-child" (1213). Torvald takes Nora's father role and treats Nora as a child, controlling everything from her movements to her thoughts. He dresses up his "doll-wife", teaches how to...
Words: 691 - Pages: 3
...A DOLL HOUSE A Doll's House is a three act play about a seemingly typical housewife who becomes disillusioned and dissatisfied with her condescending husband. Nora represents the 'doll' in this 'perfect doll house' with decorated Christmas trees and fancy parties. The realization that her life is a sham, she spends her whole life in a dream world. In this dream world, Nora does not take life seriously, an attitude that led to many of the plot’s complications. Nora and Torvald Helmer believe they are happily married and on the brink of a blissful new phase of life. Nora's lie is exposed and Torvald first blames, then forgives her and is finally abandoned as Nora recognizes the truth of her situation. She accuses her husband, and her father before him, of having used her as a doll, and declares herself unfit to be a wife or mother until she has learned to be herself. Nora's position in her own household, as well as Nora's perception of the world. Not only have the men in her life treated her like a "doll", to be dressed up and played with, but she herself has lived as that doll. She has played into the role, and she has always viewed the world from only the perspective of her little house. She is treated like a child and is not taken seriously. She is belittled by Torvald and doesn't listen to her feelings, wants, and desires. In Nora world she takes a back seat approach to life and becomes like an object, reacting to other’s expectations rather than advancing herself....
Words: 615 - Pages: 3
..."The Doll House" by Henrik Ibsen Eng/125 University of Phoenix In Dollhouse, the husband Torvald treated Nora as a child with no mind and intelligence. His pet names for her in the beginning demonstrates how he didn’t not treat her as his equal. His lack of accepting her as an equal was also demonstrated in his ability to see that Nora was a smart woman and could see and do things for her. Ibsen used many strategies to get this point across. In one of his strategies he takes a common housewife and made her secretly intelligent he uses metaphors and irony. In applying that Nora, was treated like a doll in her perfect Dollhouse was really stating that Nora was treated like a doll in her husband’s house. For example Torvalds used pet names for his wife giving her the appearance of a doll. In using irony Ibsen strategy was to state that what goes around comes around. For example the Irony of Krogstad and his forging of documents and that of Nora forging documents and the reality that both might lose their jobs, his being at the bank and hers being a mother and wife. The devices that Ibsen uses is that of the conventions of a marriage in the 1800’s, and the relationship of husband and wife. Women of this time were depended on their husbands. Most wives did not work, but instead stayed home with the children. Most women were not considered equal to the men of the family. And finally most women were considered simply-minded and lack schooling and understand the way the...
Words: 654 - Pages: 3
...Literary Essay: A Doll’s House Rachael Shannon 2015-07-24 Ms. Behiel ENG3U Life for a housewife in the 1800s was very different from what it is in the 21st century, but what remains true is the difficulty in having a good marriage. The play, A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, represents the struggles one might have went through, but he really challenged the typical marriage back then. In the play, Nora is a loving mother of three and a caring wife who has been misunderstood and mistreated. Nora’s decision at the end of the play to leave Torvald Helmer is justifiable because, he makes her perform by singing and dancing, he treats her like a doll and he dictates her whole life. Firstly, Torvald treats Nora as his own doll and makes her sing and dance for his pleasure. For example, before she must dance the Tarantella for the party and has to practice for Torvald, “Now, you must go and play through the Tarantella and practise with your tambourine.” (II, 41) Torvald makes Nora practice for the dance, he even commands her. This is a misuse of his power over her and he treats her like a subordinate. In addition Nora is able to bargain with her husband by offering her services, “I would play the fairy and dance for you in the moonlight, Torvald.” (II, 38) He has used her for his own entertainment as if she was a servant to him and not his wife. In conclusion, Nora had to leave Torvald and the children because her husband was mistreating her as a performer. Secondly, he treats...
Words: 718 - Pages: 3
...Doll house By: Henrik Ibsen European drama Long form of ‘doll house’ By Dimple Patel 2) The author and his times.3) Form, Structure and Plot.Stream of ConsciousnessChronological orderBeginning & ending4) CharactersTorvald HelmerNoraDr. Rank5) Settings6) Imagery & Symbolism. The TarantellaAllusion 7) Figurative lang.Doll in a doll's houseLittle squirrel/skylark/songbird8) Ironic Devices:Paradox9) Tone10) Theme11) Significance of the work12) Comparison of this work to others13) Effect of this novel on you and your life | Henrik Ibsen is author of ‘Doll house’. He was born on march 20, 1828, Skein Norway. He was a major 19th century Norwegian playwright, theater director, and poet. He is offered referred to as “the father of realism”, and is one of the founder of Modernism in theater. His full name is Henrik Johan Ibsen. He was Norwegian. He wrote books called A Doll’s house; Peer Gynt: A dramatic poem; Hedda Gabler: A play. In 1862, he was exiled to Italy, where the tragedy Brand was written. He moved to Germany in 1868, where he wrote the Doll’s house. Hedda Gabler was written in 1890, by creating one of the theater’s most notorious characters. When in 1891 he returned to Norway, he was literary hero. He died in may 23, 1906, Oslo, Norway.This novel is organized in acts. There are three acts.It is 56-57 pages long European drama, because it was written in Germany, and all the settings took place in Germany too.When the Nora is talking to Helmer reader can...
Words: 1780 - Pages: 8
...A Doll’s House * Based upon the day to day human struggle against the degrading constraints of social conformity NORA & TORVALD’S RELATIONSHIP * T heaps many incessant diminutives on N which she happens to deserve initially * N’s desire for macaroons without T’s knowledge ensures her as a child who needs to grow up; she is after all a “willing doll” * Hiding macaroons in her pocket points out that she is not supposed to be eating them for T’s reasoning – the fact that she’s hiding it points out a sign of child-like behaviour * Virtually twitters as she throws things around for the servants to pick up, coyly flirts with husband, and childishly plays with her children: living up to the childish names T calls her such as my little squirrel, a little skylark, and a little featherbrain * T treats N like a personal pet, N responses confidently shows she enjoys these names * Playful world in stark contrast to T’s cautious, ordered world of business * Prefers sanctuary of study/work merely using N as an occasional diversion for entertainment * T doesn’t allow N to read mail, locks in a box to which only he holds the key – shows how far he keeps N from the outside world so she remains under his control * Marriage=no sense of equality, T can’t imagine such a relationship * Selfishly runs their lives according to his notions & does not feel it necessary to consider wife’s feelings * N aware their relationship is based on appearance...
Words: 1023 - Pages: 5
...In A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, a woman named Nora is facing a life altering situation that stands to both ruin her social and private life. In dealing with the potential outcomes of the scenario, Nora comes to find that she has been living a convenient mistruth. Nora’s greatest and most damaging lies are lies she tells to herself. As is seen numerous times throughout the play, Nora hides, withholds, and distorts the truth in order to please everyone around her, including herself. Nora is presented almost immediately as a person of questionable character, wherein the first scene she conceals from Torvald having eaten macaroons. Torvald says to Nora “Not even a bite at a macaroon?” after suggesting she had been to the confectionaries’ (I.11). Nora replies by saying “No, Torvald, I assure you really” (I.11). Forward points out in her critical essay “It becomes clear that she is humouring Torvald, and we soon gather that she is capable of deceitful behavior when she eats macaroons surreptitiously, despite knowing that he would disapprove.” (2009) Nora further compounds this same lie by telling Dr. Rank that she was given macaroons by Ms. Linde. Dr. Rank states “what, macaroons? I thought they were forbidden here” (I.35). Nora replies “yes, but these are some Christine gave me” (I.35). Again, when presented with the opportunity to be a genuine person, Nora chooses the opposite. When she initially greets Ms. Linde and is catching up on old times, Ms. Linde asks Nora “You spent...
Words: 810 - Pages: 4
...however, her motive for leaving was selfish and self serving. She had been living in "The Dolls House" for along time. It wasn't until her secret was revealed that she all of a sudden had this revelation of liberation. It was an infantile response to a situation that could have been rectified. Honestly, where will we find Nora in 5 years? Living in another "Doll's House" being taken care of physically, emotionally and financially. Her sudden liberation was purely out of humiliation and she managed to damage many innocent people. How does she ever expect to explain her departure to her children? I borrowed money to save your father's life, which I wasn't supposed to do and I forged my dying father's name. I needed to leave to find myself.I feel that she never should have had children. Torvald is always being blamed for keeping up appearances, but she had those children for appearance sake only too. Ibsen never portrayed her as a caring or concerned mother. They were always off with the nurse. What was she doing that was so important that she couldn't spend time with her children? If she truly were a feminist, she would have broken the "nurse cycle" and tended to her offspring! I feel that Nora made a very selfish decision. Leaving 3 children under any circumstance is difficult, however, her motive for leaving was selfish and self serving. She had been living in "The Dolls House" for along time. It wasn't until her secret was revealed that she all of a sudden had this...
Words: 622 - Pages: 3
...In the play, a doll’s house, Dr. Rank is a character without much significance to the play as a whole. He does not further the plot the way krogstad or Mrs. Linde does. Krogstad initiates the conflict by attempting to blackmail Nora Helmer. Mrs. Linde gives Nora an excuse to leap into exposition in Act One, and she also tames the heart of the antagonistic Mr. Krogstad. Dr. Rank, in the play, mainly just visits torvald in his office,flirts with nora and carries the burden of a disease believed to be syphilis. Dr. Rank’s purpose in ibsen’s play is a very debatable one as some may believe he was there only to shine more light on the true characters of torvald and his wife, nora. Some could also believe that Dr. Rank is a symbol of the life which nora yearns for, a life of freedom and independence which everyone in her life has refused to give her. Dr. Rank's function in the play also refers to a past occasion in Nora's life. Just as she used to seek the conversation of the maids as a refreshing change from the moralizing of her father, Nora finds amusement in Rank's companionship as a change from Torvald’s tiresome nature: NORA: When I lived at home, naturally I loved papa best,but I always found it terribly amusing to slip into the servants’ hall,because they always talked about such interesting things,and they never lectured me at all.(Ibsen 196) Rank’s character is also really interesting because it contrasts so much with the other male characters in the play. Krogstad and...
Words: 560 - Pages: 3
...A Doll House was one of Henrik Ibsen's most contentious plays. The world of financial freedom Nora glimpses at the plays outset which turns out to be the definition of a prison and is replaced by another kind of freedom at the end of the play: the frightening freedom to cut herself loose from the bonds of marriage, family and society. In my production of a Doll House, it is revealed, through Act III lines 155 to 282, that feminism is a key concept. While Nora dances the tarantella for Torvald, at first she dances with hardly any worry, as if she might just hold it all together if she kept on dancing. But as the spotlight on her grows stronger and darkness falls over Torvald, she looks lost, blank like a frantic puppet in someone else’s game. Nora eventually realizes that her husband does not see her as a person but rather as a beautiful possession, nothing more than a toy. When Toryald says to Nora, “Can I not look at my richest treasure? At all that beauty that’s mine, mine alone”(Henrik Ibsen, line 253-254) This displays his position of control. Those men in that society are more worthy than women. Set design is a production element that is essential in making this production happen. Since the set is generally the first element of a production that the audience sees, its job is to convey the information needed to launch the story. Through this set design my peers and audience will be able to question and further understand the feminism that took place in the play a Doll House...
Words: 425 - Pages: 2
...be equal as man. Women were strong on obtaining legal rights. As for the right to lawfully borrow money without her husband given permission. At this point they wanted even more rights such as furthering there education by choice oppose to having to suddenly get married and raise children, and also being abe to choose whom they decide to mate and marry. Nora from A Doll’s House and both Ophelia from Hamlet can be considered when pertaining to these sexiest pre-set standards. In the 19th century, female characters have often played roles dependent on men. In Henrick’s Isben’s A Doll House, Nora’s life is dependent on her husband and her father. As for Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Opheila whom is also a female character who seems to be dependent on her father, brother, and boyfriend. Both Opheila and Nora come from predominantly different time periods, yet they are in similar situations but with evident differences. With these similarities of being treated as children and lectured for loss of honor also come differences of manipulation and management of their problems. In A Doll’s House written by Henrick Isben in the year of the late 1900s, Nora’s husband, Torvald, treats her as if she was a child and it becomes very obvious that he does not...
Words: 1071 - Pages: 5
...In past times, women were not seeing as suppliers of the household. In “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen the two female roles are Nora Helmer and Mrs. Kristine Linde; these two ladies have to deal with the struggle of being a woman during these times. In many ways both are very sexual and dominant, but at the same time very different. And given the twist to this story, Nora is definitely the more heroic female character. In the beginning of the play, Nora is powerless. Her husband Torvald Helmer treats her as if she is a brainless doll, Ibsen writes: “Has my little spendthrift been out squandering money again?” (1259). This quote shows how terrible view Torvald has of his wife. Just like Nora, Mrs. Linde begins the play in a place of just about no power, and no control over things. She has no money, no job, and is a widow. Is when she shows up at the Helmers, that Nora realizes she has power in her household, because she was able to talk her husband into, perhaps giving Mrs. Linde a job at Torvald’s place of work: the bank. This power sensation persists when she realizes the effect she has on Doctor Rank. Her eternal beauty has a bigger effect in men that she ever thought. His confession “Now you know it, Nora. And now you know that you can trust me more than you can trust anyone else” (1149). On the other hand Mrs. Linde never had that amount of power. At the beginning, in Act I, Nora is presented, as if she is a child. This comes off as not sexual or appealing way. Same...
Words: 612 - Pages: 3
...The setting of the play is set at Christmas time, and Nora and Torvald both look ahead to New Year's as the start of a new phase in their lives just like many of us may do still to this day. In A Doll’s House, the symbol of the New Year is somewhat different. In the following year, Torvald will start his new job, and is excited about the extra money and respect the job will bring him. Nora also looks forward to Torvald's new job, because she will finally be able to repay the money that she owes Krogstad. By the end of the play the environment of the new start for Torvald and Nora has drastically changed. They both must become new people and face drastic changes of living. The New Year represents a new start of a new and different period in both their lives. Another symbol is the Christmas tree. The Christmas tree is a cheerful object meant to provide an ornamental purpose. In The Doll House the tree symbolizes Nora as an ornament as well in that she is enjoyable to look at. There are several similarities drawn between Nora and the Christmas tree in the play. Just as Nora tells them that no one can see the tree until it has been decorated, she tells Torvald that no one can see her in her dress until the dance. In the second act, Nora's mental condition has begun to slip away, just like the Christmas tree has been torn from its branches. Another symbol seen is the number of childlike names Torvald calls Nora throughout the play. Such as, "little skylark," "little woman," "squirrel...
Words: 374 - Pages: 2
...Donna Thivierge Critical Essay- A Doll’s House In A Doll’s House by Henik Ibsen it can be looked at in critical perspective, in which would be feminist criticism. It illustrates that the role of a female in society was at that time. And the need that every individual needs to find out the kind of person they really are and to strive to become that individual. In the beginning Nora returns home from Christmas shopping and puts her packages on the table. Torvald, her husband, hears her and calls out “Is that my little lark twilling out there?” (pg.1282, Barnet, Burto, Cain. Introduction to Literature).Throughout the play he never calls her by her name until towards the end he has all little pet names for her. He comes out from the study. He expresses horror of debt. They discuss how their finances will improve as he got a new job as manager at the bank. Nora behaves like a little child and he enjoys treating her like one Nora’s friend, Mrs. Christine LInde, that she hasn’t seen in a long time returns to town. She explains to Nora that she hopes to find some work that isn’t too strenuous now that she is widowed, childless, and her husband left her no money. Nora then reveals to Christine how she borrowed money from Krogstad, whom is a lawyer and also works at the bank, that it really wasn’t money that her Papa had left her. She explains she had to do it to save Torvald’s life when he was very ill, to take a trip to Italy and she has never told him any different. Christine is...
Words: 1503 - Pages: 7
...A Doll’s House The five major characters in the play all transform during the course of the play. However their level of transformation differs. Ibsen used the theme of transformation as a major theme in the play to show how people can change and experience self-realization. Nora at the start of the play was content with her life. She was happy enough to stay with her husband, and she was happy because her husband could provide all of what she wanted. Although Torvald teases her she still shows affectionate responses to them. He also tells her that she shouldn’t eat macaroons because they will mess up her teeth, she doesn’t go and argue top him about it but rather quietly has a few while Torvald is away at work. At the early part of the play Nora does not mind let alone realize that she is being treated like a doll by her husband. However as the plot develops, we realize that Nora is more than just a housewife, she is capable of so much more because of the way in which she pays back her loan. She works in secret for a long time trying to pay back the loan she obtained so that she could look after her husband’s health. This was considering that a woman was not supposed to look after the husband in any way other than being a housewife as it would emasculate the man. We also realize that Nora is courageous to suffer the consequences of borrowing money for her husband by having to work. This is particularly important because its shows that she was intelligent enough to know...
Words: 987 - Pages: 4
