...The Theme of Henrik Ibsen’s play “A Doll House” In Henrik Ibsen’s play “A Doll House,” there are many clues to the kind of marriage Nora and Torvald Helmer have. Nora appears to be a “doll” controlled by her husband. She relies on him for everything and is literally trapped in the domestic comfort of “a doll house.” Nora seems to be a silly, selfish girl, but she has made great sacrifices to save her husband's life and pay back her secret loan. By the end of the play, she has realized her true strength and strikes out as an independent woman refusing to accept the false values of a contemporary society which deny the worth of an individual’s personality. Ultimately, the theme of “A Doll House” revolves around the fact that a true marriage is a joining of equals, and that every human being has a need and a right to find out the kind of person he or she really is, and deserves the opportunity to become that person. The play focuses on the ways that women are perceived in their various roles, especially in marriage and motherhood. Throughout the play Torvald treats Nora as if she is a child instead of a wife. He coddles, pampers, and patronizes Nora calling her his “little lark” and “squirrel.” He demands respect from her and expects her to live with him being the strong, dominant husband, and herself the dutiful wife. Torvald, like the other men of their society, believe that it is the sacred duty of a woman to be a good wife and mother. Torvald tells Nora that women are responsible...
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...IDENTIFICATION OF WOMEN AFTER MARRIAGE Marriage is known by all as a legal union of a man and woman forming together to become one as equal partners. Unfortunately, in the plays Trifles by Susan Glaspell and Doll House by Henrik Ibsen. Marriage is identify as a type of union were women have to adapt to a mans need, and be subject to be beneath their husband. In both stories, the main idea and theme interact with each other in the sense of degrading women and leaving them with no sense of worth. The universal definition of Theme is defined as the subject of a talk or a person’s thought. However, in literature it’s illustrated as a main idea or the foundation for an entire piece. In the plays, Trifles and Doll House, one common similarity shared was theme. Identification of women was a main component because not only did both story portrayed women as not having any sense of identity but because their role were mostly determined by who their husband was. In Doll House, the main character Nora is initially known for her silly, childish ways. For example, “oh yes, Torvald let us…squander a little…I’ve been buying a lot…oh, please Torvald can I hung money on the tree…oh please wouldn’t that be fun.” (Act I) This quote demonstrate how poorly Nora thinks as a woman and how she acts and beg like a child just to get what she wants. As a matter of facts, because Nora acts like a child her husband treats her as such. Instead of calling her by her name he refers to her as his “little...
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...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 theme. He treats her as if she is a child, but Nora doesn’t act upon this until the end of the play. This may be due to the constant reminder of her secret bank loan, which affects her attitude and interaction with her husband. Although not typically considered as imagery, stage directions are helpful to the reader as they provide visual information that the reader can use to help set the setting. Without prior knowledge of the play, the title seems odd, but as the story unfolds, the title becomes clearly connected to the plot and theme of the story. Through the...
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...A Doll’s House – Being More Than Just A Doll June 15, 2015 Dr. Ozichi Alimole A Doll’s House – Being More Than Just A Doll In A Doll’s House, Ibsen uses many literary conventions such as realism and symbolism to convey his message about marital inequality and the rights of individuals. His play is powerful, requiring imagination on the part of both the author and reader to experience wholly. Additionally he very effectively shows the conservative way in which women were treated and expected to behave, as well as the consequences for standing alone or taking action. In addition to feeling that Mr. Ibsen’s depiction of marriage in 1870’s Norway was likely very relatable for women I also agreed with a description of A Doll’s House in his biography where it says: This 1879 play set tongues a-wagging throughout Europe for exploration of Nora's struggle with the traditional roles of wife and mother and her own need for self-exploration. Once again, Ibsen had questioned the accepted social practices of the times, surprising his audiences and stirring up debate. (“Ibsen,” n.d., para. 9) He uses realism in delivering his ideas as evidenced by the fact that there are limited numbers of similes and a dearth of flowery language, and in capturing a subject that is accepted as an every day norm ("Realism," n.d., para. 4). The effect this has is to cast a fairly strict tone, one free from enhancement with a very matter of fact representation. The strong social criticism issued...
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...Doll House To what extent do the historical and biographical context necessary or helpful in understanding A Doll House? The historical and biographical context are helpful in understanding A Doll House because they give outside information that helps to better understand the play. The biographical view helps one understand that many of the themes are taken from real life situations and they are not just made up. An example of this is the sacrificial role of women. In the story Nora sacrificed a lot for her family. She sacrificed everything when Torvald was about to die she took a loan out of the bank and that was illegal at the time. This parallels with the life of Henrik Ibsen because his mother sacrificed a lot for his family. Her father was a successful merchant and she married into a merchant family but her husband made some bad decisions that caused them to lose all of their money. He became abusive and started to abuse Henrik’s mother. She sacrificed time and again for the sake of her family. What values are shown in A Doll House? Henrik Ibsen presents values such as gender roles, family, marriage, and social status. The main value that I personally agree with is the idea of gender equality. I believe that men and women are equal and should be treated as such. This has not been reflected in history as men have taken advantage of their leadership roles and extended them into the huosehold. A Doll House presents this value in a subtle manner, but it is prominent. For...
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...Ibsen’s Play, “A Doll’s House” Henrick Ibsen has outdone himself in his play “A Doll’s House”. Ibsen has refined and fine-tuned the taste and view of his plays with the use of different techniques, among them being Symbolism. Symbolism is among the most common techniques used in drama. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas and qualities, in an artistic and poetic style. It uses images, and indirect suggestions to express mystical ideas, emotions, suggestions and states of mind. Symbolism adds another layer of meaning to the meaning of script writing. While the clear, obvious meaning lies on the surface, symbolism is mostly hidden from the “front row” and it usually lies deeper than it seems. Ibsen utilizes symbolism in the play “A Doll’s House” with the purpose of revealing a certain character. In Nora’s character, Ibsen says that he used symbolism to develop her character and in the end the character’s qualities were incredibly outstanding that even the critics said it was an outstanding move. The play, “A Doll’s House,” revolves around the life of the two Main characters; TorvaldHelmer and his wife, Nora Helmer. They live in a “Doll looking House”, as it is symbolically represented by Ibsen. The play’ tittle, “A Doll’s House,” also symbolizes that all the people that live in Torvalds residence are “dolls.” Torvald plays with them when he pleases and ignores them when he has work to do or something else in his mind("Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House"). Torvald also has...
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...A Marxist View on the charactersof “A Doll house” If you want a literary piece that will surely intrigue your mindset towards your financial status while entertaining you with their different perspective in dreaming of being rich in their society,this is the play for you. In Henrik’s Ibsen’s Marxist novel “A Doll House” the characters suffers from the prejudices and strictures of their capitalists community, this inevitable factors in this kind of society affects their living and they are often undermined by those struggles. The portrayal of the Nora, Torvald, Kristine, Krogstad, Anna-Marie and Dr. Rank shows a Marxist perspective of life. Nora’s way of thinking is predominated by her obsessions to material wealth and her eagerness to be financial stable. The story begins with Nora is just returning home after a shopping trip, she enters the apartment with an “armload of packages”(43) and she is followed by a boy carrying a Christmas tree then, when his husband Torvald enters she immediately asks for money in order for her to “hang the bills in gilt paper” as Christmas tree decorations (45).Nora didn’t want anyone to see their Christmas tree until it is not fully decorated by luxurious presents because Nora wants to boast that his husband found a new stable job. Nora administered the decoration of the tree, she spent a great amount to show to their neighbors that they are now financially stable. Now, that Nora belongs to a higher class of the society she practically throws...
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...A Doll’s Transformation: Henrik Ibsen’s feminist heroine in A Doll’s House Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House, written in 1879, is often considered one of the first feminist plays ever written, exposing, among other social commentary, women’s oppression and subordination through “the anatomy of a marriage where the wife was no more than a legal infant and her husband’s virtual slave” (Fjelde 475). Through one of history’s first female protagonists, Nora, Ibsen challenges the Victorian ideal of a woman’s role in her marriage and in society, painting a bleak picture of living life as a woman at the time. In A Doll’s House, Ibsen explores the sacrificial role of women in society, women’s oppression, and chauvinistic 19th century marriage customs through the life and transformation of his heroine, Nora. One tool Ibsen uses to present his feminist ideals is the theme of the sacrificial role that the play’s female characters must play. Nora has made a huge sacrifice in taking out a loan in secret and working to pay it back without allowing Helmer to find out; she has become a prisoner of her secret and of her necessity to pay off the loan with what little legal rights she possesses as a female in her society. Mrs. Linde, similarly, has made sacrifices as a woman, having found it necessary to abandon her true love and marry a wealthier man. The nanny, Anne-Marie, who proclaims she is a “poor girl “ and insinuates she had no other options, was forced to abandon her child to support...
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...Ever since the beginning of man in Literature there has been a discussion over appearance vs. reality. The appearance of the apple to Eve was one that it would give her great wisdom as to that of the gods. In reality it did give her wisdom, but with that also came the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The appearance of the apple was good but the outcome was bad so was marriage in the 19th century. In Henrik Ibsen’s play "A Doll's House," where a man treats his wife with inferiority and where to him appearance of things is as water is to life, various symbols are used to express a theme. Three symbols used, a Christmas tree, the title, and the nicknames that Torvald calls Nora emphasize the theme of a comparison of perfect marriage relationship to the reality of their relationship that is an artificial " Doll's house" relationship. Ibsen’s use of a Christmas tree is used throughout the play epitomizes Nora's feelings. In the first act there is a festive tree with "pretty red flowers" and Nora comes into the house acting frivolously. Both tree and the Helmers look very happy. Nora's mood is festive and the tree gives a merry glow to the reader. In the end of Act I, Krogstad has threatened Nora that if she doesn't help him keep his job he will tell Torvald of their illegal loan. Torvald has said that Krogstad "has forged someone's name" so Torvald is going to fire him so in Act II, the tree is "stripped of its ornaments and with burnt down candle-ends." In this act the tree is...
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...Guerline Donisvitch “Introduction to Literature” Ann Rasmussen April 23, 2009 Barbie Doll The poem begins in a fairy-tale vein, the archaic term “girl-child” being used to underscore the mythic quality of the story. The dolls, stove, iron and lipstick are all traditional play things for young girls, but they are also markers of an identity in the making, the things that young girls grow to identify with their own social roles. The doll presents an idealized image of the body, and stove and irons tell them what kind of work is expected of them as adults. The lipstick perhaps is the most sexualized cosmetic for women, signals to young girls that they will be valued for their physical appearance. The “magic of puberty” introduces the theme of growth. It is a magical time because the body changes rapidly. She also refers to the pain that comes with puberty. When girls are growing older they are really cruel to each other. The “girl child” is told she has “a great big nose and fat legs” even though she is smart, healthy and strong. The girl was made to feel guilty for who she was, for her intelligence and abilities, and also for not being slim and “beautiful.” She apologized to everyone for not being the person they wanted her to be, but all they could see was her body and how it did not match their idea of what a woman should look like. They tried to help her be more of an idealized woman by suggesting how to compensate for her unfeminine qualities. “girl-child”...
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...Love-orange In the text Love-Orange the main theme is love and losing, because she experience throughout the text, the way she loves her imaginary orange and losing people around her: “That summer I saw more clearly the worlds awaited. Is was filled with many deaths that seemed to tie all the strands of my life together and which bore some oblique relationship to both the orange and the doll” (P 2, L23 – 26), in this quote she realise that people around her die, the girl is well a known of her problems and insecurities and she sees the dead as a part of her life, she accept it, because there is only a defined amount of love to one person with she describes as a love - orange. Although the death takes a lot of people around her, she sees the funeral as a vacation, a time to come out of the house and a break from her own world. She is smart but childish at the same time, that can only mean that she is older than 10 years, I would say that she where a teenager, because her grandparents where still alive. The girl, that we do not know the name of, often hides under the bed when strangers come by her grand parents house, where she lives. Every time strangers come by, she would say these words to her dog: “A world outside” (P 1 L 8), the dog is a bit redundant in the text, but still an object that is used to support the fact that she is a bit more like other people. She is different, and she thinks she lives in a ‘inside’ world, that is one of the reasons why her grandmother...
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...Abraham Smith Prof: Rennie English 102 18, May 2013 "A Doll's House" The play " A Doll's House" written by Henrik Ibsen was published on December 4, 1879. This play was first performed in Copenhagen on December 21, 1879 and sold its first eight hundred copies. The title in this play narrates the theme that symbolize the "contrast between realistic and idealistic". (English Literature & Grammar) The plot this play shows a seemingly perfect happy family but later starts to go bad when Krogstad shows up. The speaker also used the title as a symbol that conveys into the story. The main character Nora, is play as a "Doll" and living in a "Doll's House". Ibsen also used several symbols to relate the expected meaning of his audience, such as: Christmas tree, tarantella, and masquerade. In act I Nora quotes, " Hide the Christmas tree well, Helene. The children mustn't get a glimpse of it till this evening, after the it's trimmed". The tree represents Nora. She and the tree has to be dress up and ready for people to admire, most especially her husband. Also, Nora is not to be exposed in her party dress until she looks completely dress and decent. Throughout the play, it is clear that Nora and the tree are one in the same. As the tree becomes untidy so as Nora. The speaker reveals that Nora was control by her husband and even treated like a child relatively than a wife. Nora was demanded to eat certain food. Nora Husband calls her by nicknames such as, songbird, squirrel...
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...Marina Mitrakos Mrs. Johnson AP English 5 Period 1, 21 November 2014 Is “Safe” by Miranda Lambert the theme song for Nora or Hedda? Miranda Lambert’s song “Safe” is a better representation of Nora from Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House than Hedda from his Hedda Gabler. The song begins with, “Just like the fringe on my boots, you move with every step I take” (Lambert). Likewise, Nora and her husband have equal dominance and work together; Torvald refers to them as, “We two…” rather than stating that it is only because of him that they are not in debt (Ibsen 2). In Hedda’s case, she and her husband could not even spend enough time together on their honeymoon, and therefore are not on “the same page”. The next lines, “You walk in front of me to make sure that I don’t fall” also relates to Nora because she confides in Mrs. Linde for advice, has the maid to take care of the children, and Helmer to provide money for the family, meaning she is rather dependent (Lambert). On the other hand, Hedda prefers to have control over everything by threatening and manipulating people and is independent. Additionally, the line, “We get prettier with time” represents how Nora and her family are finally starting to make money and have nice things, while Hedda and her husband seem rather distant, even on their honeymoon (Lambert). Since Hedda prefers to be superior, she would not, “find a way to free [her husband’s] hands [and] wash them clean” (Lambert). However, Nora cares a lot about helping her family...
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...from the success of the dollhouse furniture, the Handler's decide to turn the companies' emphasis on toys. In the year 1947, the "Uke-A-Doodle is the first, in a line if musical toys. In 1948, Mattel is incorporated in Hawthorne, California. During the year 1955, Mattel becomes involved with "Mickey Mouse Club . This very popular show soon become the major spot of advertising for Mattel, which revolutionized they way the toys were marketed. It also introduced they another great product, the "Burp Gun , and automatic cap gun. During the late 1950's, well, 1959 to be exact, the most sot after doll, "Barbie makes her first appearance. This doll was named after a girl Barbie, short for Barbara, created by her mother Ruth Handler. When Barbie was a young child, Ruth would often times see her daughter playing with paper dolls. Since the majority of dolls in those days were baby dolls,...
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...leads Jem to think that someone knew he was coming back for his pants, so therefore they were reading his mind. After Jem tries to walk like an Egyptian, he and Scout find a pair of soap dolls that look just like them in the knothole. Shortly after, they find a watch and knife on a chain that Atticus says would be worth ten dollars if the watch was...
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