...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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...A Doll's House's Symbolism A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen was written in the late 1800’s and uses symbolism to get the writer’s ideas and descriptions across to the reader in greater detail. We will examine four of the writer’s uses of symbolism. The first is actually the title of the play and sets the stage for everything that transpires in the play. The second symbol is the Christmas tree that is brought into the first scene by Nora. The third use of symbolism that Ibsen uses is the macaroons that are only introduced in the first scene. Finally, the Tarantella can be interpreted as one of the most symbolic parts of the whole play. The title of Henrik Ibsen’s play, “A Doll’s House,” is symbolic in itself. The doll in the play would be Nora. Nora is in a mindless role of a plaything that first belongs to her father and then to Torvald. Nora play’s her part in the life but secretly wants more and is constantly reminded of how little control over her own life she has. An example of this is that after 8 years of marriage and three children, Torvald Helmer wags his finger at Nora and asks “Hasn’t Miss Sweet-Tooth been breaking the rules in town today ?” (Ibsen, 1897, p.)_Torvald speaks to Nora as a parent would speak to child in a condescending tone throughout the play. The title “A Doll’s House” is an ironic metaphor for what could be considered as more of a prison than a home for Nora who is really not expected to ever make decisions for herself or think for herself. In the...
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...The Struggle for Identity in A Doll's House A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, is a play that was written ahead of its time. In this play Ibsen tackles women's rights as a matter of importance. Throughout this time period it was neglected. A Doll's House was written during the movement of Naturalism, which commonly reflected society. Ibsen acknowledges the fact that in 19th century life the role of the woman was to stay at home, raise the children and attend to her husband. Nora Helmer is the character in A Doll House who plays the 19th woman and is portrayed as a victim. Michael Meyers said of Henrik Ibsen's plays: "The common denominator in many of Ibsen's dramas is his interest in individuals struggling for and authentic identity in the face of tyrannical social conventions. This conflict often results in his characters' being divided between a sense of duty to themselves and their responsibility to others."(1563) All of the aspects of this quote can be applied to the play A Doll House, in Nora Helmer'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. The inferior role of Nora is extremely important to her character. Nora is oppressed by a variety of "tyrannical social conventions." Ibsen in his "A Doll's House" depicts the role of women as subordinate in order to emphasize their role in society. Nora is oppressed...
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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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...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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...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...
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...In the play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, the story follows Nora Helmer and the life she has with her husband Torvald Helmer, who treats her as if she is his doll. The play was written in 1879 and the play takes place in the same decade. Throughout the whole play, Henrik Ibsen demonstrates the importance that social class had in the nineteenth century. In addition to the importance of social class, Ibsen also reveals the role that people were expected to live up to during the nineteenth century. To express and show how it was during this time, Henrik Ibsen’s play shows how Nora and Torvald struggle to live in a society where you expected to act a certain way to uphold your social standing. The time that the play takes place is when there...
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...Research question: Nora’s struggle to find her identity in the play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s house is a play, which was written way ahead of its time. In the play Ibsen has highlighted that women’s right is a matter of importance. During that time women were considered a mere doll. A Doll’s house reflects the common society during that time period. Ibsen has tried to bring out the fact that during 19th century the role of a woman was to stay at home, raise her children and serve her husband. The same is expected by Nora Helmer, a character in A Doll’s House. She is portrayed as a victim of the 19th century woman. Michael Meyer has quoted, "The common denominator in many of Ibsen's dramas is his interest in individuals struggling for and authentic identity in the face of tyrannical social conventions. This conflict often results in his characters' being divided between a sense of duty to themselves and their responsibility to...
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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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...their loved ones away; this is especially true when people become obsessed with the idea. Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” tells the story of a married couple that is eventually torn apart by money and the pursuit of it. Nora Helmer has been desperately working to pay back a loan she took out to pay for a trip to Italy when her husband was sick. Krogstad is blackmailing her about this to gain a higher position and Torvald, Nora’s husband, is ignorant of all of this. They are all committing acts that they would not normally do in pursuit of money. This drives a wedge between Nora and Torvald, and Krogstad’s pursuit of money had already injured his relationship with people in his past. Money has driven all of them to do things that have driven people away. This happens everywhere. The lust for money, even when it is for a supposedly good cause, will drive those a person loves the most away and this is portrayed perfectly in Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”. The kind of hurt the hunt for money brings can be easily seen in the character of Krogstad. His love, Mrs. Linde, left him in pursuit of money and this left Krogstad devastated. She did this to support her family but her grab for money still hurt Krogstad profoundly. Krogstad claims that when Mrs. Linde left him it “was as if all the solid ground went from under my feet” and that he had become a “shipwrecked man clinging to a bit of wreckage” (Ibsen). He is stating that Mrs. Linde’s departure started his downfall. It is after she leaves...
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...Ashley Griffin Professor Paulette J. Marek ENC1102 81 30 October 2013 Metaphors A Doll’s House is a play that is significant for its attitude toward the 19th Century Marriage norms. There is lots of controversy that talks about protagonist, Nora, Leaving her husband and children because she wanted to find out who she is as a person. Metaphors are use all the time in writing. The Pet name that torvald uses for Nora are metaphors for how women were treated during the Victorian era. I feel that the main idea of the author Ibsen’s work is all about metaphor that he uses in this drama The Doll’s House. In the begging Nora follows her childlike or housewife role that she plays. After sometime Nora speaks to Torvalds and realizes that he feels that Nora should only be the housewife and mother of his children. She should not be able to know or find out who she is as a person. Nora goes from a very immature person or just went along with what she was told to a very dependent, and very self-sufficient person. She now shows the idealized “doll” role of a woman but also keeps away from the limitations and social constraints of that time period. In the beginning of this drama Nora is a house wife and very childish person that she feels she needs to be. Growing up she had a father that was very dominant. She then married Torvalds who was also very dominant towards Nora. With the way Torvalds was it showed Nora’s Physical growth but her immaturity and emotional dependence hasn’t changed...
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...Realism in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Churchill’s Top Girls Nineteen-century Europe held rigid conventionalisms of class division, social order and gender roles. Society hid behind the mask of hypocrisy in an attempt to preserve bourgeoisie’s position of power. In that concern, conceptions of ‘liberty of the spirit’[1] and ‘liberty of thought and of the human condition’[2] came to question. Thus, Henrik Ibsen drew attention to the threat to ideas of freedom and public opinion by giving life to A Doll’s House (1879). He aimed to critique constraints of Victorian society rather than vindicating the rights of women. In that sense, in a speech given in his honour by the Norwegian Women’s Rights League on 26 May 1898 he stresses: ‘Whatever I have written has been without any conscious thought of making propaganda. […] To me it has seemed a problem of humanity in general.’[3] Ibsen clearly states he strove to expose the manipulation of individuals’ liberties as he worked for the human cause. In Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls (1982) the aim of the play is to reveal how the fulfilment of women’s self-realization needs in the personal and social spheres is achieved by compromising humanity and morality. In the end, what ‘The New Woman’ gets is disillusionment and loneliness as she finds herself in a predicament: mother or career woman, sensitive or hardened. In Top Girls what is represented is the price women pay to go up the corporate ladder in a male-dominant world. Thus, I will...
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...making the money and providing for their families. The women were simply in charge of being the perfect housewife and the perfect mother to the kids. In Henrik Ibsen’s play “A Doll House”, he uses several characters, such as Nora and Torvald to portray what a typical 19th century family looked like. Throughout the play we start seeing a change in the characters behavior, causing Nora to really question herself in being the wife and mother she should be. Because of the different roles between men and women, this leads to gender inequality causing Nora to leave her family behind....
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..."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...
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...In the play, “A Doll’s House”, by Henrik Ibsen, the drama deals with the underlying issue of parental obligation and its effect on the lives of the children involved. The play was written in 1879, during a time where it was believed by society that a mother should stay home and take care of the children, while the father provided for the family but had little or no responsibility at home. Although the story is centered around the unhappy, controlled life of Nora, who chooses to leave her family and her role as a mother in order to find herself, her concealed problems stem from her father. Nora’s husband, Torvald, hints at the true issues with fatherhood when he states, “It seems most commonly to be the mother’s influence, though naturally a...
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