A dolls house
A dolls houseDuring the time in which the play took place society frowned upon women asserting themselves. Women were supposed to play a role in which they supported their husbands, took care of their children, and made sure everything was perfect around the house. Nora is portrayed as a doll throughout the play until she realizes the truth about the world she lives in, and cuts herself free.
Nora Helmer was a delicate character who had been pampered all of her life, by her father, and by Torvald. She really didn't have a care in the world. She didn't even have to care for the children; the maid would usually take care of that. In every sense of the word, she was your typical housewife. She never left the house, mostly because her husband was afraid of the way people "would talk." I do not know if but a few people knew about their marriage, and that was the way Torvald wanted it to be. It really wasn't her fault she was the way she was, it was mostly Torvald's for spoiling her. Nora relies on Torvald for everything, from movements to thoughts, much like a puppet that is dependent on its puppet master for all of its actions. Her carefree spirit and somewhat childish manners are shown throughout the play with statements such as, "Is that my little lark twittering out there?" and "Is that my squirrel rummaging around?" (1069) The animal imagery used relates the animal to how Nora is acting or should be portrayed. A lark is a happy, carefree bird, and a squirrel is quite the opposite. If you are to squirrel away something, you were hiding or storing it, kind of like what Nora was doing with her bag of macaroons. It seems childish that Nora must hide things such as macaroons from her husband but if she didn't and he found out, she would be deceiving him and going against his wishes which would be socially wrong.
As the play goes on, Nora seems to transform from her delicate little character into something much more. At the end of act one, Krogstad goes to Nora for the recollection of the money she had borrowed from him. "You certainly won't tell my husband that I owe you money?" (1083). Since Nora was wrong in doing so socially, she could not tell Torvald or anyone else about her problem. Not only would that affect their social standard but also Torvald's ego, which inevitably would happen anyway. After Krogstad threatens to expose Nora for forging her father's signature she realizes that no matter what she does Torvald was going to know the truth. The flaw within this patriarchal framework becomes apparent when Nora discovers that she has no legitimate name of her own. She can use neither her married name nor her maiden name to borrow money. She finds that she cannot appropriate her father's name. In other words, as a married woman she has neither authority nor identity. Panic begins to set in and she begins to feel helpless because she has no power to do anything about the situation. " Been thinking of running away from home-…or even something worse…" (1097)
In act two Nora continues to act as she is supposed to, as a perfect housewife. She confides in her friend Mrs. Linde about her problem with Krogstad for the first time, which shows that she is starting to break free from Torvald and think for herself. Knowing that there isn't much that can be done to prevent Torvald from finding out, she tries to delay him from reading the letters. The climax of the play happens when Torvald does read the first letter Krogstad sent Nora questions (possibly for the first time) Torvald's reaction as inappropriate. He treats her with no respect, calls her a liar and is ready to throw their whole marriage away just because his name might be hurt. He refuses to help her in any way, which shows that their marriage really didn't mean anything much. " Oh what an awful awakening! In all these eight years - she who was my pride and joy - a hypocrite, a liar - worse, worse - a criminal! How infinitely disgusting it all is! The shame!…"(1109) When the second letter came and he found out that his name was saved, he acts as nothing just happened between the two of them and everything was back to normal. " Try to calm yourself and collect your thoughts again, my frightened little songbird. You can rest easy now; I've got wide wings to shelter you with. How snug and nice our home is, Nora. You're safe here…Tomorrow all this will look different to you; then everything will be as it was." (1110-1111) Nora realizes that here is a problem still. By waiting until after he discovers that his social status will suffer no harm, Torvald reveals his true feelings, which put appearance, both social and physical, ahead of the wife whom he says he loves. He looked at her as if she were just a possession of his and nothing more. He was more interested in her physically than emotionally. "When I saw you turn and sway in the tarantella-my-blood was pounding till I couldn't stand it" (1009). Torvald tries to rekindle Nora's slave sprit in an effort to validate him and to reestablish his dominance over his environment after their argument. Helmer pleads with Nora: "You loved me the way a wife ought to love her husband. It's simply the means that you couldn't judge. But you think I love you any the less for not knowing how to handle your affairs? No, no just lean on me; I'll guide you and teach you. I wouldn't be a man if this feminine helplessness didn't make you twice as attractive to me. (1110)
Nora's final gesture to leave Torvald and her children declares her separation from the fixed role of a wife. Nora seems to stand as a dominant example of emancipation, and insists on pulling herself away from Torvald's view of her as a stereotypical wife. She chooses instead to see herself as someone in process, in a state of becoming rather than of having defined being. When she leaves, Nora understands that she lived her life as only an unquestioning follower, or as a doll in a doll house. Never being able to choose or express a hope, desire, thought, or wishes, without consideration of the dominant authority in her life. Nora also breaks society's expectations of staying in a marriage since divorce was frowned upon during that era. Her decision was a succession for all expectations put on a woman and wife by society.
The story A Dolls House is believable. It stands for every marriage where equality never took place. Many women knew their social status and lived as they were meant to, but for the few that realized there was more to the world then the sheltered life they were living, broke free. Nora was one of the women who knew her place and acted accordingly until she saw that her name had no real value. She was not looked at as an individual, she was seen as her father's daughter or her husband's wife. The turning point for her decision to break free from this world and start her own life is very believable. She comes to see that her marriage isn't real. She no longer loves her husband and knows that he does not truly love her as well. She knows that there is so much more to discover in the world to understand and until she does will not allow another man to control her life. "I'm a human being no less than you - or anyway I ought to become one….I can't go on believing what the majority says, or what's written in books. I have to think over these things myself and try to understand them." (1113)