¶ … Henrik Ibsen's a Doll's House
Henrik Ibsen's characters are not the people they appear to be. On the surface and at the beginning of the play audiences see typical people, pursuing typical lives with typical problems. Not until the play progresses, and in retrospect, do audiences realize that society negatively or positively stimulates the characters motives and actions. This paper looks at three such characters in Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House -- Torvald, the protagonist Nora and the antagonist Krogstad.
Though not the antagonist or the protagonist, Torvald plays a central role in A Doll's House. He is not the character that he appears to be. In the beginning of the play Emma Goldstein notes,
He is an admirable man, rigidly honest, of high moral ideals, and passionately devoted to his wife and children. In short, a good man and an enviable husband. Almost every mother would be proud of such a match for her daughter, and the latter would consider herself fortunate to become the wife of such a man.
While Torvald is a model man, underneath his facade audiences see that his upstanding place in society and his passionate treatment of his wife and children are motivated, not by love and affection, but by an interest to maintain his status in society. Later, when his wife Nora pleads with him not to dismiss Krogstad, his true nature is revealed. He does not care in the least for the feelings of his wife. What he does care about is how society will look upon his continued association with the fallen Krogstad. The following passage in Act II reveals his real motives for dismissing Krogstad:
And I hear he is a good worker, too. But I knew him when we were boys. It was one of those rash friendships that so often prove an incubus in afterlife. I may as well tell you plainly, we were once...
Instead of needing his help and protection, Torvald finds out that it was only Nora's role playing and really she was capable of working and doing deceptive things. Torvald's response to the letter shows that he has very little self-awareness and really thought that the "role-plays" were reality. 5. Torvald believes that marriage and family are important, and that the man or husband is in control. Torvald thinks that men
He feels that Nora's freedom is not a reality since she couldn't possibly just leave her house and establish her own identity without money. "Nora needs money -- to put it more elegantly, it is economics which matters in the end. Freedom is certainly not something that can be bought for money. But it can be lost through lack of money." (Found in Schwarez) In short, whatever were the reasons
character Nora transformation Doll House play. Nora Helmer Nora Helmer is the archetypal housewife in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" and she initially seems perfectly happy with her position. She enjoys the way Torvald teases her and the fact that she is close to individuals who actually care for her. However, she slowly but surely demonstrates that she is much more than the innocent and unknowing individual that Torvald considers her
Doll's House Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's Housemade him the father of modern literature. His writing showed tragedy and drama in a new and rather modern way. Prior to an analysis of the story at hand, it is only relevant that the plot and main characters are discussed in detail. This story does not revolve around a whole bunch of characters and is based on only a few days. The story
" Otherwise, Nora's interest in who is employed at the bank -- Krogstad or Mrs. Lind -- would wholly ruin Torvald's carefully constructed social reality. This, essentially, is the only way in which a woman playing the feminine role is able to bend the rules; Nora can exert her influence, but only by emphasizing her helplessness. Throughout A Doll's House there is an interesting relationship between parents and their children. Recurrently,
Yet as Goldman notes, Nora "worships her husband, believes in him implicitly, and is sure that if ever her safety should be menaced, Torvald, her idol, her god, would perform the miracle" that would set her free. It turned out that Mrs. Linde would set in motion the miracle that would set Nora free. A woman was required to help another woman escape the dolls' house, an incredible affirmation
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