This paper was to explore feminism in the Victorian era as it is illustrated in IbsenÆs A DollÆs House. The writer reflected on contemporary norms and gender roles to gain insight into the even more limiting norms and gender roles of the Victorian era. Academic research from peer-reviewed journals and scholarly books on literary criticism were used to help understand the motivation of Nora to abandon her home, her security, the children she loves, and the husband she no longer loves. I discussed this project with my grandmother, who still remembers a time when women had little autonomy or chance for intellectual expression in their marriages. Her insights helped prepare me for NoraÆs predicament. All sacrifice and no reward lead Nora to the recognition that though she has loved her husband despite his oppression and objectification of her, he has no capacity to make similar sacrifices in the name of love for her.
During the Victorian Age, gender and marriage were primarily social constructions based on white male values, norms and beliefs. In Henrik IbsenÆs A DollÆs House, Nora is a married woman who initially believes her duty is to please first her father and then her husband. Though she is an intelligent, high-spirited woman, Nora suffers her fatherÆs control and manipulation as she later will the baby-talk and bullying of her husband Torvald. Though she is willing to sacrifice her own desires and expressions for these men, eventually Nora comes to recognize she is nothing more than a doll living in the house of oppressive males. As she tells her husband, ôa great wrong was done to me Torvald. First by Papa and then by youà,ö (Ibsen, p. 104).
In the beginning of the play, Nora is content to play larks and squirrels for her husband, to steal cookies, to beg for money, and to limit herself for her husbandÆs happiness. She believes these sacrifices are part and parcel of the marriage contract, but she also ...