Dollhouse Overall Essays

The following are all my dollhouse essays regarding the play as a whole.

How does Ibsen present Nora Helmer in the play?

Analysis on Ibsen’s Nora Helmer

In his play A Doll’s House, Ibsen creates Nora to be a riveting protagonists who, throughout the course of the play, transforms from an archetypal housewife in 19th century Victorian Norway to an assertive, self-aware New Woman. As a dynamic character, Nora’s self-discovery and metamorphosis comes about with shifts in her personality, breaking away from the person her husband, Torvald, molds her into and establishes her real self. Traits such as “childlike” and “selfish” are not descriptions of Nora’s true character, but rather the interpretation Helmer assigns to her.

While the stage presence of Nora might seem childish at first, it is soon realized that this is a part of Nora’s “performance” for Torvald. Nora responds excitedly to Torvald’s constant infantilization, saying “Yes!” to his labeling her as “squirrel” “skylark” and “bird.” However, this is only done in Torvald’s presence, and almost always as a response (which becomes perfunctory as she gains awareness) to Torvald’s constructing her to be an animal, a pet and a child. This shows the nature of Nora’s “childish” aspect as assigned by Torvald instead of her own. Furthermore, Torvald calls Nora “little” 96 times throughout the entire play, further proving the attachment of a child’s identity to a woman that he should treat as a wife, an equal. Nora herself comes to the realization that her childlike performance for Torvald is not a part of her true self, at the final scene in Act 3: she “lived by doing tricks for him”, and is his “doll-wife” and her father’s “doll-child.” This estalishes that Nora has been infantalized and pushed into a social, personality construct her whole life, being denied opportunities to explore her identity. As a response to this, Nora becomes independent, outspoken and assertive during the course of the play when her cage, the society – represented metaphorically her husband Torvald – is not around her. This could be seen from her declaring herself to work “almost like a man” to her friend Linde, slowing her independence from and her increasingly assertive, commanding tone throughout Act 3, whereby her personality growth completes. This is further shown through the use of imperatives and modal verbs to Torvald (society) in Act 3: “sit down”, “don’t interrupt”, “you mustn’t” all show Nora as a confident, mature person who is able to take control in the relationship. In fact, by the end of the play Torvald and Nora’s father-and-child-like relationship is reversed: Torvald becomes the child with his “doll taken away” as Nora, taking control over herself, leaves the household. The reversal of their roles further show Nora’s growth in her individuality, independent and maturity in juxtaposition to Torvald’s pathetic naiveness, cementing Nora’s characterization of “childlike” as a mere facade.

While Nora’s actions at the end of the play may seen selfish, at first, they are in fact responsible and individualistic in retrospect. Far from being selfish, Nora plays a sacrificial role in the play, just as “hundreds and thousands” of Victorian woman have. In her poignant questioning to Krogstad, she sacrifices her honour for Torvald’s health: “Isn’t it a woman’s right to save her husband?” Nora’s actions of borrowing the money in secret was a desperate last straw to a devoted wife, further showing her selflessness. When the deed was uncovered, Nora was even willing to “take [her] own life” in order to preserve Torvald’s reputation, further showing her devotedness to her husband. Yet when all of those devotion are met with unforgiving verdicts of Nora’s mistake, by the selfish Torvald, screaming “I am saved!” without considering Nora at the end of the Krogstad crisis, Nora rightfully shows her individuality. Her “duty to herself” is “equally sacred” to her role as a mother and wife, taken into consideration her sacrifice towards the household and what she gains in return. This boust of self-awakening and her decision to leave the house is not, however, rooted in recklessness: her children are “in far better hands than [hers]”, – those of Anne-Mare, her own nanny’s – and Torvald is “legally freed from all duty to [her].” These subtle dialogues show Nora’s consideration for the household and the results of her actions, further establishing her character as a responsible and thoughtful New Woman.

With the progression from an infantalized puppet to an aware, individualist woman, Nora’s growth throughout the play has portrayed her as the very opposite of childlike and selfish. Instead, she is a responsible, assertive and mature person, who through her growth poses a question to the rigid Victorian Norwegian social construct.