A Doll'

The society and era represented in A Doll's House was one wherein women were objectified to the point where they had little, if any, voice in the male dominated order. Nora is such a women in a world that is defined by men (mainly, for her, her father and husband). The play A Doll's House created a social uproar upon its initial release because as much as it is a piece of dramatic theater it is also social critique. The issues the play criticized were largely the prevailing conventions of the era regarding the role of woman, including her roles as daughter, wife and mother/homemaker. A Doll's House is the story of Nora Helmer, a woman who has been spoiled, sheltered and petted her whole life, much like a doll. She is treated like a virtual idiot by her father and when she marries her husband, he immediately treats her in a similar manner. Nora is filled with character qualities that cannot be contained by the artificial boundaries imposed upon her by the men in her life and society's expectations for women during the era. Nora herself retained illusions about her husband as well. She did love him dutifully at one point and even committed forgery in order to save his life. However, even though Nora repaid the money when her husband discovers her act, his reaction hits Nora like a thunderbolt of recognition�she realizes that in the eight years they have been married her husband has never viewed her as a human being. This analysis will

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! It's not true! It can never, never be true! Nobody; of course nobody will come to-day, Christmas-day; nor tomorrow either. But perhaps�No, nothing in the letter box; quite empty. Stuff and nonsense! Of course he won't really do anything�Oh, if I dared go out. If only nobody would come. If only nothing would happen in the meantime. Only not to think. What a delicious muff! Beautiful gloves, beautiful gloves! To forget�to forget! One, two, three, four, five, six" (Ibsen 308-309). The above two pieces of dialogue from Nora show us how neurotic she has become constantly living in fear of male recriminations for her actions. Further, the dialogue is more symbolic of the deeper theme of the play, about how repression and objectification of women eventually silences their voice and even thoughts. Nora is neurotic because she thinks her well-intentioned but illegal act will be discovered. However, she is worried about it not only because of her children possibly having a "bad" mother (inexcusable for a woman of this era), but it is also because she is afraid Torvald will discover her ruse. The brilliance of Ibsen in this dialogue is that he shows Nora is very much a woman with feelings, fears, ideas, and, most importa

Category: Literature - A