Doll House By Henrik Ibsen Essay, Research Paper

A play serves as the author’s tool for critiquing society. One rarely encounters

the ability to transcend accepted social beliefs. The play reflects

controversial issues that the audience can relate to because they interact in

the same situations every day. As late nineteenth century playwright, Henrick

Ibsen points out the flaws of mankind and also provides an answer to the

controversy. Unknowingly the heroine solves the problem at the end of the play

and indirectly sends a message to the audience on how to solve their own

problems. Henrik Ibsen provides a unique analysis on the issues that his culture

never thought as being wrong. In the play ?A Doll’s House?, Ibsen tackles

women’s rights as a matter of importance being neglected. In his play he

acknowledges the fact that in nineteenth century European life the role of the

women was to stay home, raise the children, and attend to her husband. The

aforementioned problem is solved through the playwright?s recommendations and

the actions of the characters. In the play ?A Doll’s House?, the author uses

realism to present a problem and solution to controversial societal issues.

While ?A Doll?s House? mainly concentrates on the negative aspects of

culture, there are positive facets explored by Ibsen. Ibsen focuses on the lack

of power and authority given to women, but through Nora demonstrates the

strength and willpower masked by her husband Torvald. To save her husband’s life

Nora secretly forges her father’s signature and receives a loan to finance a

trip to Italy. Nora’s naivetй of the law puts her in a situation that

questions her morality and dedication. Nora is not aware that under the law she

is a criminal. She believes that her forgery is justified through her motive.

She is not a criminal like Krogstad, because his crime was simply a moral

failing and not for the good of his family. A morally unjustified crime is the

only type of crime. Nora’s believes that her love for her husband is what

propelled her to sign her father’s name and pass it off as his own. Nora’s

motive is to save her husband’s life and keeping it secret is to save him from

pain and humiliation. If he knew, it would hurt his "manly

independence" (p. 22) and upset Nora and Torvald’s "mutual

relations" (p.22). Nora knows that without forging her father’s signature

she would not be able to save her husband. Nora uses her wit to find a way to be

able to overcome the shackles placed on her by society and get enough money to

save Torvald’s life. The sacrifices made by Nora are far outweighed by the

actions of her counterparts. Torvald sees Nora’s only role as being the

subservient and loving wife. He refers to Nora as "my little squirrel"

(Ibsen p.12), "song-bird" (p. 33) or "skylark" (p. 40). To

him, she is only a possession. Torvald calls Nora by pet-names and speaks down

to her because he thinks that she is not intelligent and that she can not think

on her own. Whenever she begins to voice an opinion Torvald quickly drops the

pet-names and insults her as a women. When Nora asks if he can reinstate

Krogstad at the bank he claims that she only asks because she fears that he will

suffer the same fate as her father. Nora realizes that living with Torvald

prevents her from being a real person. He treats her as a doll because that is

what he wants. He does not want a wife who will challenge him with her own

thoughts and actions. The final confrontation between the couple involves more

oppression by Torvald, but by this time Nora has realized the situation he

wishes to maintain. Torvald calls her "childish" (p. 70) and

"ungrateful" (p. 68) even though she saved his life. Nora expected

Torvald to be grateful to her, when this does not happen she decides that the

only way to fix the situation is to leave him and her children and find herself

independently. Nora wants Torvald to take the blame for the forgery and realize

that how he treats her is not the way a husband should treat his wife. When he

doesn’t take the blame she knows that independence is the only answer and so she

leaves. The oppression of women caused many women to believe that their duty in

life was only to be a wife. Ibsen provides a narrative on one woman’s plight to

find her purpose in life. In presenting this problem, Ibsen ends his play with a

solution to the characters’ unhappiness. Ibsen was the first author in Europe to

tackle the issue of women’s place in the world and label it as wrong. Nora’s

realization of Torvald’s part in her misery allows her to leave him. She does

not fully blame Torvald for her unhappiness, but she knows that she can’t be

happy with him. Her expectation of "the most wonderful thing" (Ibsen

p. 72) leaves her with the knowledge that Torvald will never change. Nora

becomes cognizant of the mistreatment she has endured, and consequently leaves

to become someone different. Ibsen encourages women to make a change by taking

action and not to watch their life pass by unfulfillingly. Nora becomes a role

model for change. In A Doll’s House the audience gathers a picture of what it

was like to live in the late eighteen hundreds. This picture is not a positive

one. More wrongs are committed against the characters of this play than any sort

of reward for the hardships they endure. This play reflects an accurate

representation of the society that existed when it was written. Nora finds that

she is trapped in a world that she does not belong in. Nora finds a way out.

Society oppressed Nora and her family by masking the truth of their lives for so

long. Ibsen contributes to the solution by providing his play as an example of

why Europe was wrong.