Nora's Description Of Torvald example essay topic

A Doll's House, written by Henrik Ibsen, is a play that focuses on the way that women are seen, especially in the context of marriage and motherhood. Torvald, particularly, has a very clear and narrow definition of a woman's role. He believes that it is the sacred duty of a woman to be a good wife and mother. Moreover, he tells Nora that women are responsible for the morality of their children.? In essence, he sees women as both childlike, helpless beings detached from reality and influential moral forces responsible for the purity of the world through their influence in the home (Luce 360).? The perception of manliness is also discussed, though in a much more subtle way.

Nora's description of Torvald suggests that she is partially aware of the lies inherent in the male role as much as that of the female. Torvald's conception of manliness is based on the value of total independence. He abhors the idea of financial or moral independence on anyone. Katherine Rogers even goes to question if he is out of touch with reality. Nora Helmer is the main character of the play. She has never lived alone, going immediately from the care of her father to that of her husband.

She is inexperienced in the ways of the world as a result of this sheltering. Nora is impulsive and materialistic.? This play questions the extent to which these are mere masks that Nora uses to negotiate the patriarchal oppression she faces every day (Luce 365).? One major controversy that Nora faces is what she has done to save her husband's life. While Torvald was deathly ill in Italy, Nora was willing to do anything to save her husband's life, after all that is what a good wife would do. And so, Nora borrowed money, knowing that this was the only way that she could save her husband.

She had never told anyone before until she encountered her old friend, Christine Linde. It is after Nora tells Christine that the reader realizes that Nora plays games just to keep her husband happy. It is evident within one line, ? And, besides, how painful and humiliating would it be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything! It would upset our mutual relations altogether; our beautiful happy home would no longer be what it is now (Ibsen 13).? This goes to show that Nora feels that she must make her husband feel inferior, she could never tell him of her secret for many years because she knew that it would jeopardize her? happy? life.

Torvald is no help in making Nora not feel subordinate. He is very degrading upon her for he feels that in no way should she have her independence. It is her job to take care of his children and make sure that the public thinks everything is perfect. A prime example of this is when Nora pleads to Torvald to allow Krogstad to keep a position at the bank. She knows that her reputation relies on this.

But Torvald is very upfront about his dismissal; he feels that he would hate to appear to have been influenced by his wife.? Do you suppose that I am going to make myself ridiculous before my whole staff, to let people think I am a man to be swayed by all sorts of outside influence (Ibsen 35).?? You see I am man enough to take everything upon myself (Ibsen 35).? Nora is seen as Torvald's doll. The most evident example of this is in the preparation for the ball and the sacred dance.

Nora's ball dress symbolizes the character she plays in her marriage to Torvald. She is wearing it for him because it is his wish that she wear it. The dance she is doing is also for Torvald. This dance is called the Tarantella. It is folk dance from southern Italy that accelerates from its already quick tempo and alternates between major and minor keys.

In its constant fluctuation, it is like Nora's character. It serves as Nora's last chance to be Torvald's doll, to dance and amuse him. The tarantella is also known as a dance that is supposed to rid the dancer of the bite of the tarantula.? Applied to the play, its use suggests that Nora is trying to rid herself of the deadly poison of an outside force. Rather than alleviating the bite, though, the music and her life only continue to accelerate and spin out of control (Lavr in 48).? The most obvious degrading of women, however, is shown through the names in which Torvald uses for Nora.

Nora, as a symbol of women, is called a number of? pet? names by Torvald throughout the play. These include? little spendthrift, ?? little songbird, ?? squirrel, ?? little featherhead, ? little skylark, ?? little person, ? and? little woman.? Torvald is extremely consistent about using the modifier? little? before the names he calls Nora. These are all usually followed by the possessive? my, ? signaling Torvald's belief that Nora is his. The use and chosen names for Nora reveal that he does not see her as an equal by any means. Rather, ?

Nora is at times predictable and looked at as a silly doll, and at times a captivating and exotic pet or animal, all created for Torvald (Rogers 96).? Throughout the play Torvald continues to call Nora a number of different names, all diminutive in nature. As the play goes on the names tend to become more degrading such as, ? little rogue, ?? helpless little mortal, ?? child, ?? miserable creature, ?? a thoughtless woman, ?? blind, foolish woman, ? and? a heedless child.? By the end of the play Torvald seems confused as to what to think of Nora.

Is she a woman, a creature, or a small child? Claire Booth Luce believes that it is this uncertainty that is the basis of the discussion aspect of the act; the reader or playgoer is left to decide for him or herself.? But our home has been nothing but a playroom. I have been your play-wife, just as at home I was papa's doll-child; and here the children have been my dolls. I thought it great fun when you played with me, just as they thought it great fun when I played with them.

That is what our marriage has been Torvald.?? I must stand quite alone, if I am to understand myself and everything about me. It is for that reason that I cannot remain with you any longer (Ibsen 64).? And with that the play turned around. Who would have thought that a? little skylark? could stand up for herself and overcome a man's domineering power. To be completely honest I did not think that the play would end with Nora walking out on her responsibilities, in Torvald's eyes, being a mother and wife.

I thought that it was going to be another degrading play that showed women as the subordinate sex. But Ibsen came through. He showed that women were not dolls that anyone could play with. He made it clear that they are just as equal as men and that they too can be independent.

If Torvald had given Nora a fair chance at having an equal part in their relationship then maybe the dollhouse wouldn? t have fallen apart. In the beginning of the play Nora is overjoyed because of her husband's recent promotion. Over the course of the play, however she realizes that she does not know the meaning of happiness in Torvald's house. Nora emerges as a fully independent woman who rejects both the false union of her marriage and the burden of motherhood.