How Is Nora Presented In A Doll's House

Nora is introduced as a housewife who believes the true meaning of marriage revolving around obedience. She demonstrates the true definition of a respectful daughter, a faithful and obedient wife, and a dependable mother. It wasn’t unusual for Torvald to throw his weight around towards Nora. He attempts to limit her macaroon intake “Hasn’t nibbled some pastry,” (Ibsen 788) she replies, “You know I could never think of going against you” (Ibsen 788). In the eyes of Nora, he is considered a confident, powerful, and successful businessman since he is receiving a promotion as a bank manager after the New Year. Torvald’s sense of marriage can be summed up that he is the king of the castle “This is the way it should be my darling Nora. What-ever comes, you’ll see: when it really counts, I have strength and courage enough as a man to take the whole weight myself” (Ibsen 814). Torvald’s view is she is just a “doll” in his doll house. To him, it was important to stress there was no such thing as equality in their partnership, he

Despite her grand revelation and advancement as a character, Nora is still devastatingly childish and naïve. This is shown in the final act and scene of A Doll’s House, after her fight with Torvald. On the surface it seems like the right choice for Nora to leave because of this nasty fight; however, she too, like Torvald, is somewhat clouded by emotion. In reality she is running from her problems without making any actual effort to salvage her marriage. Over and over again, Nora solves her problems by going behind Torvalds’s back instead of actually communicating with him. Even in the end, she lies about such a trivial thing such as attempting to break into their mailbox, this being at a point where she has mostly accepted defeat. This could show how afraid Nora has been afraid of her husband, however, it mostly shows how avoidant of confrontation she is. Not to mention, she puts Torvald on a sort of pedestal, having expectations that are idealized and not based in reality. Yes, Torvald is indeed manipulative, but he does have very reasonable cause to be furious. Most of Nora’s

In Henrik Ibesen's play A Doll House, Nora Helmer struggles with telling her husband, Torvald Helmer, the truth about a loan she receives for them to go to Italy when he was sick. Consequently, when Torvald learns of the news he instantly insults Nora and declares that she has "ruined [his] happiness" (Ibesen 93). However, when Torvald tries to dismiss his insults after receiving a note that her contract was revoked, she does not accept his apologizes and decides to leave Torvald and her children to "make sense of [her]self and everything around [her]" (Ibesen 100). Her selfish decision to leave makes her a bad wife and mother, but she there are a few more characteristics that makes her a bad wife. The characteristics that Nora shows in

Nora starts off the play essentially as Torvalds toy. She is obedient, she is cute, she rarely goes against his wishes, and she is nothing without her “owner”, Torvald. The reader, however, discovers early on that all is not what it seems to be. Nora is actually a very rebellious woman who enjoys going against Torvald’s wishes. There are scenarios where she does this out of the sheer enjoyment she gets. Nora loves macaroons.

In the play, Nora never leaves her house or the living room like someone controlling a doll. Nora is a doll living in her own doll house under the watch and command of Torvald. This shows how he is in control over her and it also represents her lack of freedom. The readers and audience can see this form of control when Torvald says “As for you and me, we must make no outward change in our way of life…But the

Nora serves only to entertain Torvald and does not realize Torvald sees her as nothing but a little doll to play with. Nora ironically points out: “We shall have a lovely tree—I’ll do all the things you like, Torvald, I’ll sing and dance.” Right after Nora mentions the tree, she willingly goes along with her role as a submissive female and this represents her initial characterization which will then develop to her rejection of her submissive role.

Torvald never gives Nora the opportunity to speak her mind. And when she does have an opinion, he usually influences it. Now that she is able to speak freely she doesn’t hold anything back. She really let’s Torvald know how she feels.

This tone gives the statement a endearing and protective connotation. However, it illustrates how Torvald manipulates Nora to control her actions, revealing his dominating character and Nora's insecure and submissive characters are revealed. As Nora continues to be obedient, Torvald takes advantage of her; furthermore, Torvald does not want to discuss official issues with her, and teases her about her "silly and insignificant" character. The negative denotation of Torvald's diction emphasizes the abuse in the relationship. The lack of communication allows Torvald to continue abusing her. Abuse forces a person to stay in a relationship. It makes the victim feel unimportant and unloved. Open communication can bring equality and love to the relationship.

Another main difference between Torvald and Nora is how much their self-image matters to them individually. Nora's self-image is the complete opposite of Torvalds. From Nora's perspective she doesn't have much of an image to produce, but she does have the image of herself that Torvald can see along with her close friends. She really cares about what her husband thinks about her so she does whatever she can to make sure that his opinion doesn’t change, she gets worried by how she will look in his eyes after he finds out about the crime she has committed, this is why she tries to stop Torvald from sending Krogstad his notice, "Call it back, Torvald! There's still time. Oh, Torvald, call it back!..."(1304) Nora acts like this because once Torvald finds out what she has done, she knows that he is going to look at her a different way than what he does now. Nora doesn’t want this so she tries preventing Torvald from doing his job. On the other hand, Torvald cares a lot about the way others look at him, he thinks that once people find out what his wife has done that it will destroy his reputation and people will tend to look down upon him. When he finds out about what his wife has done

Although Nora acts childish, she is aware of her situation and understands that she has to act this way in order to get what she wants. She understands that she is a doll in Torvald’s eyes and plays the part while he is around. That is the safest thing for her to do. In a doll toy house, the owner talks to the doll. He may narrate a story or tell the doll what to do, but the doll is just there to look pretty and for the enjoyment of the owner.

Nora metaphorically calls herself a doll and their house a playroom because she was never really taken seriously, she was just for Torvald's amusement much like a child with a doll. The doll is put in a dollhouse to give the illusion of having life when in reality the child controls the doll. Much like Torvald with Nora. Not only was Nora a doll to her husband but to her father as well. Everything in her life was censored to fit the beliefs of the men she lived with.

A doll house is based on Nora understanding how she feels about her relationship with her husband Torvald. The play opens up with Nora arriving home from Christmas shopping, excited to show her husband what she has purchased. Torvald will be getting a promotion at his bank so Nora feels that she gets to splurge a little on gifts. Torvald calls Nora a child, spendthrift, and a lark for her actions on spending a lot of money. Torvald teases Nora and compares her to her father by saying the following:

ruined my whole future.?(Ibsen 916). Torvald has no compassion for her. He does not care that she took out the loan to save his life. Torvald just wants to order Nora around. His love is not true, but it is an angry petty obsession.

– little Nora talking about scientific investigations” (Ibsen 256). This highlights the lack of respect Torvald gives to his wife throughout their marriage and the absence of equality there is between each other. Torvald always expects Nora to “do as [he] wishes” and he believes it is Nora’s job to follow his every command (Ibsen 253). He treats their marriage as a privilege for her to be with him. The manner in which Torvald handles Nora is a trigger that leads to her to eventually leaving him.

The conclusion of “A Doll’s House” begins with Nora walking out on Torvald and her children in order that she might progress in of her own accord. Her reason for doing this is Torvald unforgiving criticism of her telling her that she is “forsaking her most sacred duties” by abandoning him and their children. She is unphased in the least by his statement and advises him that the only obligation she now has is to herself. Nora has come to the realization that continuing to adhere to society’s ideas of what a woman’s role is, no longer benefits her. Having to adhere to society's ideals of what a woman should or should not be renders her incapable of reaching her full potential.