A Dolls House Reaction Paper-Drama

The play “A Dolls House” was written by Henrik Ibsen. This play truly is an interesting, play and it really connects with how things can be in real life which helps the readers truly connect with it! Henrik Ibsen, in full Henrik Johan Ibsen was a major Norwegian play righter of the late 19th century who introduced to the European stage a new order of moral analysis that was placed against a severely realistic middle-class background and developed with economy of action, penetrating dialogue, and rigorous thought (Britannica, 2010).

The story “A Dolls House” begins on Christmas Eve. One of the main characters in the play, Nora, is making preparations for Christmas, for example getting the Christmas tree making sure she has presents all along while she is eating her favorite treat, macaroons. Nora’s husband Torvald, then enters the room to discuss having money for gifts and such. Torvald mainly focuses on his money and material things rather than on people. His significance of manhood relies on his financial assurance. Throughout the play Nora’s husband, Torvald calls her many different diminutive names instead of her real name, Nora.

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Some of them include: “squirrel”, “little person”, “little woman” and “little featherhead”. Torvald seemed to use the word 'little' before the names he called his wife. The pattern of this seems like it is more than just a collection of pet names. As silly and different the names are, Nora always seemed to answer with an obedient 'Yes! ” In her doing this it creates the first impression of her that she is less of a person opposed to Torvald. This gives the first example in Torvald’s present day society of what the role of women should be because of the way that he treats Nora.

For Torvald, money and materialism could be a way for him to avoid the complications of personal contact. He is very controlling over his wife and even tells her that she is not allowed to eat sweets such as macaroons. During the play it talks about how Nora had taken out a loan and also forged her fathers signature. Krogstad, who is a man that works at the bank, also is the one that Nora took the loan out from. Torvald is planning on firing him so Krogstad then threatens to tell Nora’s husband about the money Nora had borrowed.

Nora is scared that her husband will find out which in the end he does. When Torvald finds out he is very upset with Nora worried that it will ruin his reputation and tells her that they will keep up appearances but, Nora will not be allowed to be close to their. Nora then receives another letter from Krogstad learning that he has had a change of heart and has sent back the bond after all. Torvald is then relieved and forgives Nora for what she had done. He tells her that he knows that, as a woman, she is unequipped to make proper decisions.

Because of how her husband reacted it is a wake-up call for Nora and in an instant; she see’s that Torvald is not the loving, selfless husband she had once anticipated. With that revelation, she comes to realize that their marriage has always been a lie, and that she has been an active part in the betrayal. After realizing this she makes the decision to leave her husband and children so that she can find out who she really is. Torvald tries his hardest to get her to stay and tells her that he will change. Nora does not believe that they could ever become suitable companions and she leaves, slamming the door behind her.

Nora’s journey of self-discovery and provides much of the play’s dramatic suspense. Nora’s primary struggle, however, is against the selfish, stifling, and oppressive attitudes of her husband, Torvald, and of the society that he represents. In this play the author Henrik Ibsen uses symbolism in order to convey his own ideals of what the role of woman in society should be. The book takes place in 19th century Norway, when the common view on women by men is very condescending. Women should be self-sacrificial, giving up anything and everything for their social counterparts the husband.

Nora's decision to leave her husband and children so that she can educate herself shows a different Nora compared to how she was at the beginning of the play. After stating that she has to 'do it alone' (Literature for Composition, 2010), without help shows her desire to be independent. Ibsen puts forth his own opinions by setting up Nora's role as a typical woman in present day, her being totally reliant on the husband, and then brings his own ideas into play by making Nora have desires to be independent. The familiar perceptions of marriage were under full attack in this play “A Doll's House”.

A wife back in the eighteen hundreds was supposed to be totally committed to her husband, Nora instead was deceitful and withheld information from her husband. In the three days that the play takes place Nora truly grows and becomes a different person, a person that no longer wants to be dependent on her husband. She becomes a woman who has a longing to discover life on her own, to learn, and to find out who she truly is.

Reference:

Britannica, Retrieved on 2010, January 14, 2011 http://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/280962/Henrik-Ibsen Literature for Composition, 9th edition, Retrieved 2010, January 6th



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