Emily Hamner
Mrs. Rutan
AP Lit & Composition
18 December 2015
Mrs. Rutan
AP Lit & Composition
18 December 2015
More Than Just a Doll
A traditional marriage, commonly based on Christian morals, is likely comprehended as the ideal way to go about a marriage. Marriage should be based on love; not the masculine role exceeding the feminine for the desired dominant role in the relationship. Often times, husbands look at their wives as a showpiece item. They could be viewed as their own personal butler in some cases someone to cater to their every need. This corruption prevailed in Henrik Ibsen’s-- A Doll House. Nora, his main character, desired the “ideal” life intensely. She did anything in order to get the attention and to retain the lifestyle of a doll as her husband, Torvald treated her.
She was routined into playing the role of the “doll wife” (Ibsen, 1149) an she eventually became blinded by the mischievous and malicious ways of her dear husband. In this piece, Ibsen argued the equality of men and women and their roles within a household. The sexism diminishes any feeling of dignity of women and the proven point coming from the play: women can only take on so much before they crack.
Ibsen makes it quite apparent that Nora isn’t anything more than just a doll figure to Torvald—just something he can play with. Her life was simply made up of “playtime” (Ibsen, 1149). She had no real job; her roll was to entertain. She had no true responsibilities; the maid did the cleaning and watched the children. Nora’s “home [had] never been more than a playroom” (1149). Torvald wanted Nora to dance, so she danced. Torvald wanted Nora to wear a certain costume, so she wore that costume. What Torvald says, goes. Nora had no backbone, always folding into what Torvald wanted. She was his puppet, his doll, and that is all she would ever be to him. Ibsen used Nora as a weak character in order to show the struggle between feminine and masculine roles within stories and real life.
She was routined into playing the role of the “doll wife” (Ibsen, 1149) an she eventually became blinded by the mischievous and malicious ways of her dear husband. In this piece, Ibsen argued the equality of men and women and their roles within a household. The sexism diminishes any feeling of dignity of women and the proven point coming from the play: women can only take on so much before they crack.
Ibsen makes it quite apparent that Nora isn’t anything more than just a doll figure to Torvald—just something he can play with. Her life was simply made up of “playtime” (Ibsen, 1149). She had no real job; her roll was to entertain. She had no true responsibilities; the maid did the cleaning and watched the children. Nora’s “home [had] never been more than a playroom” (1149). Torvald wanted Nora to dance, so she danced. Torvald wanted Nora to wear a certain costume, so she wore that costume. What Torvald says, goes. Nora had no backbone, always folding into what Torvald wanted. She was his puppet, his doll, and that is all she would ever be to him. Ibsen used Nora as a weak character in order to show the struggle between feminine and masculine roles within stories and real life.
Wastrel
Name calling is one of the most degrading things a husband can do to his wife; it's Torvald's favorite way of belittling Nora. She is constantly being referred to as a "wastrel" (1094") or his "squirrel" (1093). These names, specifically pet names, are anything but a sought out romantic gesture; they're degrading and inhumane. This was one tactic Ibsen used to force Nora to think Torvald was in control. Ibsen was able to convey the message of women will believe anything if it's thought to be an act of love; what Nora believed to be a loving gesture, was Torvald’s way of eventually dehumanizing his wife. With his act of total control Nora simply became a possession-- rather than a human-- which she later found out.
The confusion between an act of love or an act of abuse is apparent in the real world as well; women in abusive relationships believe their husband is preventing future hurt and “it won't happen again, he loves me” will never come to an end. Women around the world live with these pains of being abused everyday, according to DomesticAbuseShelter.org, a non-profit organization, "One out of every three women will be abused at some point in her life" ("A New Beginning.") Women think a man truly does love them; most don't look past the bruises and emotional pains they are put through to realize their boyfriends or in Nora's case-- her husband is causing her pain in order to accomplish hubris within himself.
The confusion between an act of love or an act of abuse is apparent in the real world as well; women in abusive relationships believe their husband is preventing future hurt and “it won't happen again, he loves me” will never come to an end. Women around the world live with these pains of being abused everyday, according to DomesticAbuseShelter.org, a non-profit organization, "One out of every three women will be abused at some point in her life" ("A New Beginning.") Women think a man truly does love them; most don't look past the bruises and emotional pains they are put through to realize their boyfriends or in Nora's case-- her husband is causing her pain in order to accomplish hubris within himself.
Ibsen made it clear that Nora isn't of any real value otherthan being Torvald’s little toy doll. Her life revolved around something for him to play with, no real responsibilities; the maid cleaned and watched her children. Her life was made up of a “hand-to-mouth kind of existence” (1149). She did what Torvald wanted; she was his puppet, his doll, and that is all she would ever be to him.
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Torvald not only emotionally abusing Nora without her realization of it, he was also controlling over her every move; this became obvious through the constant fighting throughout the dialogue in the play and the syntax structure throughout Ibsen’s work. Between the childish conversations, what the basis of their relationship is, Nora is very difficult to work with; she is always bragging about her life, but is left waiting for her whimsical dream, the “big wonderful” (1132), to become a reality. When a twist in the plot comes about, the climax of the story, the tone shift, forcing Torvald and Nora to have their first real adult-like conversation. Ibsen made Nora’s shy self and Torvald’s lack of consideration quite obvious to the blind eye by his use of Nora’s brief dialogue and all the dashes—Torvald didn’t stopping her before getting a word out. When the two had their real conversations Nora argues that "we have never tried seriously to get to the bottom of anything together" (1149) and that she had been "passed from Daddy's hands into yours [his]" (1149). Nora became able to stand up for herself, with her mind heading in the right direction, she was able escape her controlling husband, and her life stuck within the walls of the doll house.
In Act III, Nora had attained the realization that her husband had been doing nothing but amuse himself with her fragile emotions and treating her as if she was just the doll he so wrongfully wanted her to be:
"when I look back on it now, it seems to me I've been living her like a pauper. I have earned my keep by doing tricks for you, Torvald. But that's the way you wanted it. You have great sings against me to answer for, Daddy and you. It's your fault nothing has become of me" (1149).
Nora became something after leaving Torvald, the grown up she longed to be, proving Ibsen's point that women can be something to. Just as women in the real world, they grow up; they escape their past life as a child and make something out of themselves. Women can do more than be a housewife, clean the house, do the dishes, or make dinner; they're empowering. They can do anything-- no matter what their puppet master or doll owners say.
"Men and women have roles- their roles are different, but their rights are equal." -Harri Holkeri
Works Cited