In reading Ibsen's A Doll's House today,
one may find it hard to imagine how daring it seemed at the time it was written
one hundred years ago. Its theme, the
emancipation of a woman, makes it seem almost contemporary.
In Act I, there are many clues that hint
at the kind of marriage Nora and Torvald have.
It seems that Nora is a doll controlled by Torvald. She relies on him for everything, from
movements to thoughts, much like a puppet who is dependent on its puppet master
for all of its actions. The most obvious
example of Torvald's physical control over Nora is his reteaching her the
tarantella. Nora pretends that she needs
Torvald to teach her every move in order to relearn the dance. The reader knows this is an act, and it shows
her submissiveness to Torvald.
After he
teaches her the dance, he proclaims "When I saw you turn and sway in the
tarantella--my blood was pounding till I couldn't stand it" showing how he
is more interested in Nora physically than emotionally. When Nora responds by saying "Go away,
Torvald! Leave me alone. I don't want all this", Torvald asks
"Aren't I your husband?". By
saying this, he is implying that one of Nora's duties as his wife is to
physically pleasure him at his command.
Torvald also does not trust Nora with money, which exemplifies Torvald's
treating Nora as a child. On the rare
occasion when Torvald gives Nora some money, he is concerned that she will
waste it on candy and pastry; in modern
times, this would be comparable to Macauly Culkin being given money, then
buying things that "would rot his mind and his body" in the movie
Home Alone. Nora's duties, in general, are restricted to caring
for the children, doing housework, and working on her needlepoint. A problem with her responsibilities is that
her most important obligation is to please Torvald, making her role similar to
that of a slave.
Many of Ibsen's works are problem plays in
which he leaves the conclusion up to the reader. The problem in A Doll's House lies not only
with Torvald, but with the entire Victorian society. Females were confined in every way
imaginable. When Torvald does not
immediately offer to help Nora after Krogstad threatens to expose her, Nora
realizes that there is a problem. By
waiting until after he discovers that his social status will suffer no harm,
Torvald reveals his true feelings which put appearance, both social and
physical, ahead of the wife whom he says
he loves. This revelation is what
prompts Nora to walk out on Torvald.
When Torvald tries to reconcile with Nora, she explains to him how she
had been treated like a child all her life; her father had treated her much the
same way Torvald does. Both male
superiority figures not only denied her the right to think and act the way she
wished, but limited her happiness. Nora
describes her feelings as "always merry, never happy." When Nora finally slams the door and leaves,
she is not only slamming it on Torvald, but also on everything else that has
happened in her past which curtailed her growth into a mature woman.
In today's society, many women are in a
situation similar to Nora's. Although
many people have accepted women as being equal, there are still people in
modern America who are doing their best to suppress the feminist
revolution. People ranging from
conservative radio-show hosts who complain about "flaming
femi-nazis," to women who use their "feminine charm" to
accomplish what they want are what is holding the female gender back. Both of these mindsets are expressed in A
Doll's House. Torvald is an example of
today's stereotypical man, who is only interested in his appearance and the
amount of control he has over a person, and does not care about the feelings of
others. Nora, on the other hand, is a
typical example of the woman who
plays to a man's
desires. She makes Torvald think he is
much smarter and stronger than he actually is.
However, when Nora slams the door, and Torvald is no longer exposed to
her manipulative nature, he realizes what true love and equality are, and that
they cannot be achieved with people like Nora and himself together. If everyone in the modern world were to view
males and females as completely equal, and if neither men nor women used the
power that society gives them based on their sex, then, and only then, could
true equality exist in our world.
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