A Doll's House

Henrik Ibsen

۳۲

Setting: = The play takes place in Norway in the late ۱۹th century. The entire play is set in one location, the city apartment of Torvald and Nora Helmer, a married couple. = The action of the play takes place over three days: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. = The main characters in the play are Nora and Torvald Helmer, Mrs Linde (Noraʼs childhood friend), Doctor Rank (a family friend) and Nils Krogstad (an employee at the bank of which Torvald has recently been made Director). Plot: The play opens on Christmas Eve. Nora returns home with a Christmas tree and presents for her three children. Her husband Torvald is at work in his study, but soon comes out into the living room to see what she’s bought. He chides Nora for being a squanderer and spending all their money; Nora responds by saying that surely they can let themselves go a little bit this year, now that he has been appointed Director of the bank and will be earning a good salary. They talk more about money; Nora says that all she wants for Christmas is money, so that she can buy herself something with it later; she also suggests that they borrow some money until Torvald receives his first pay packet, however Torvald rejects this suggestion as he doesn’t agree with borrowing money. The couple is very affectionate and

playful together; Torvald calls Nora his songbird, his lark and his squirrel, and teases her about her sweet tooth. Noraʼs friend Mrs. Kristine Linde arrives, who Nora hasn’t seen for ten years. She became a widow three years ago and has now arrived in the city to look for work. Nora doesn’t recognize her immediately, but soon promises to ask Torvald if there is any work for Mrs. Linde in the bank. Nora confides in Mrs. Linde, telling her that several years ago Torvald was dangerously ill, but that she saved his life by raising a large sum of money to pay for a rehabilitative trip to Italy. However she refuses to tell Mrs. Linde where she got the money from. Doctor Rank enters, and Nora introduces him to Mrs, Linde. The three of them joke and eat some macaroons that Nora bought in town and has been hiding from Torvald (he has banned her from eating sweets as he says they will rot her teeth). Torvald returns and Nora asks him if he can find a position in the bank for Mrs. Linde. He agrees to try and help her and offers to walk her down the street so she can look for some lodgings. Torvald, Mrs. Linde and Doctor Rank leave the apartment. Once they have left, Nils Krogstad, an employee at the bank, enters. He explains that the front door was left ajar and so he let himself in. It soon becomes clear that it was Krogstad who lent Nora the money she needed for the trip to Italy. Krogstad says that Torvald is planning to dismiss him from his position at the bank, and asks Nora to persuade him not to. Nora says that she has no influence over her husband, but then Krogstad attempts to blackmail her. He reveals that Nora forged her father’s signature on the IOU for the loan (as a woman cannot borrow without her husband’s consent), and threatens to make tell Torvald if he loses his job. When Torvald returns home, Nora tries to convince him not to dismiss Krogstad, but he refuses and becomes angry. The next day, Mrs. Linde returns to help Nora mend her costume for a fancy dress ball she and Torvald are going to the next night. Nora is extremely worried about the money she owes, but still won’t reveal who lent it to her. When Torvald comes home, Mrs. Linde takes the sewing into the kitchen, and Nora once again tries to persuade him to let Krogstad keep his job. Torvald says that Krogstad is morally corrupt (he was also guilty of forging a signature several years ago) and so impossible to work with. He immediately writes Krogstad’s dismissal letter and asks the maid to deliver

it by hand. Doctor Rank arrives and Nora and he talk, while Torvald works in his study. Nora flirts with Doctor Rank and is about to ask him to help her with the Krogstad situation, when suddenly Doctor Rank confesses that he is in love with her. He is dying of tuberculosis of the spine and says that he has to tell her how he feels about her before he dies. Nora is now unable to confide in him and changes the subject. Doctor Rank goes into Torvaldʼs study and then Krogstad arrives. He has received the dismissal letter and has written a letter in response to Torvald, telling him all about the illegal loan and threatening to make the news public unless he is reinstated in the bank in a higher position. As he leaves he drops the letter into the letterbox through the front door. Nora then confides in Mrs. Linde, who says she will go and speak to Krogstad and demand that he asks for the letter back unread. She tells Nora to distract Torvald in the meantime. Nora asks Torvald to help her to practice the Tarantella dance she is going to perform at the ball the next evening, she dances badly in order to distract him and insists that he can’t open the letterbox until after the ball the next night, which he agrees to. The next evening, Mrs. Linde meets Krogstad at the Helmersʼ apartment, while the couple is at the ball upstairs. We learn that they used to be in a relationship together many years ago, which they now decide to rekindle, and Krogstad offers to retract his letter. However Mrs. Linde decides that the truth must be revealed to Torvald, so instead Krogstad writes another letter apologizing to the Helmers for any upset he has caused them. Krogstad leaves and the Helmers return home from the ball. Torvald is rather drunk, and as soon as Mrs. Linde leaves he tries to seduce Nora. They are interrupted by Doctor Rank, who has also been at the ball and calls in on his way home to say goodnight to them. He reveals to Nora that he does not have long left to live and on his way out he leaves two visitor cards marked with a black cross, a signal that he will not see them again and will now shut himself in his apartment to die. After Doctor Rank leaves, Torvald opens the letterbox. First, he finds the visiting cards from his friend Doctor Rank, and the couple is upset by the bad news. He then finds Krogstadʼs letter. Torvald is furious at Nora, he calls her a hypocrite, a liar and a criminal and says that she is not fit to look

after the children. He says that she has ruined his happiness and destroyed his life. He then finds the second letter from Krogstad, in which he has apologized and returned Noraʼs IOU. Torvald is overjoyed that he is now ʻsavedʼ. He says that he has forgiven Nora, that he understands why she did what she did, and that her female helplessness now makes her twice as attractive to him. Nora goes off to change out of her fancy dress costume and returns in her outdoor clothes. She makes Torvald sit down and explains to him that she is leaving him, as he is not the man she thought he was. She explains that she has lived in Torvaldʼs house as his ʻdoll wifeʼ for eight years, and that now she wants to discover who she really is and develop as an individual. Torvald tries to persuade her stay, saying that first and foremost she is a wife and mother, reminding her of her family and religious duties. Nora replies that first and foremost she is a human being, or that as least, she should try to become one. Nora leaves the house and Torvald is left alone in the room, shouting after her. The front door slams. CHARACTERS = NORA HELMER Nora is the protagonist in the play. Married to Torvald, she is a young wife and mother of three children who seems to lead quite a comfortable, happy life. At the beginning of the play, Nora appears to be very playful, naïve and childlike. Torvald calls her his “squirrel” and “skylark” and she responds affectionately to this. She also appears to be obsessed by money; a spendthrift who is constantly squandering all the money her husband gives her. As the play progresses, we learn that Nora is not as carefree and naïve as she initially seems, but a determined and hardworking young woman who was willing to break the law in order to save her husband’s life. She possesses capacities beyond the normal limits of a ۱۹th century wife and mother; she enjoys working and earning money “like a man” and shows independence of thought in her actions. Her description of her years of secret labour undertaken to pay off her debt shows her fierce determination and ambition.

At the end of the play, Nora comes to the stark realization that Torvald is not the man she thought he was and that their whole marriage has been a game; she has lived like his “doll-wife” in their real-life “doll’s house”. She has pretended to be someone she is not, in order to fulfill the role that society has expected of her. Nora takes the controversial decision to leave her husband and children to make her own way in the world, rejecting the idea of the ideal family life and society’s expectations of her. TORVALD HELMER Torvald has been married to Nora for eight years. He is a lawyer who has recently been appointed Director of an investment bank. In many ways Torvald is a typical middle-class husband of the time. He and Nora appear to have a happy, loving marriage and he is very affectionate to her. Torvald treats Nora like a pet; he rewards her with gifts of money and tells her off for squandering it. He is also very controlling, forbidding her from eating sweet things and instructing her almost like a father would a child. Torvald has a strong sense of morals. We learn that as a barrister he refused to involve himself with any cases that he didn’t believe to be morally sound, and he frequently moralizes on subjects such as debt and the role of parents. He also refers to God and religion in the last scene of the play. However as the play progresses we learn that Torvaldʼs morality is actually more concerned with pride, social appearances and being respected by others, rather than being a deep rooted belief in right and wrong. For example, as soon as he learns that Krogstad won’t publicize Noraʼs crime he is quite content to cover it up. He reveals himself to be a hypocrite and childishly petty, very conscious of other people’s perceptions of him and of his standing in the community. We also learn that Torvald appreciates beauty and has an aversion to anything ugly or distasteful. This includes sickness – Dr. Rank says that he doesn’t wish Torvald to visit him on his deathbed for this very reason. Although through most of the play Torvald seems to hold the power in his relationship with Nora, at the end of the play this changes and it is she who has the upper hand. His girl becomes a woman and he is unable to cope with this, telling her that “first and foremost” she is “a wife and mother”. When

Nora finally leaves him he becomes a pathetic figure who attracts our sympathy. NILS KROGSTAD Nils Krogstad is a solicitor who holds a small position at the bank. It is he who lends the money to Nora, and attempts to blackmail her to keep his job. He is the antagonist in the play, but not necessarily a villain. Krogstad has reasonable motives for behaving as he does: he is a widower who needs to keep his job at the bank in order to provide for his children. Unlike Torvald, who seems to desire respect for selfish reasons, Krogstad desires it for his family’s sake. Like Nora, Krogstad also forged a signature once, and society has saddled him with the stigma of being a criminal and prohibited him from moving beyond his past. Dr. Rank refers to him as “morally diseased” and Torvald refers to him “poisoning his children” with lies and deception. Only Mrs. Linde is able to see the potential good in him, saying that she believes him to be a victim of his circumstances. She says that if they had stayed together all those years ago then he may have become a different person, and indeed it is the rekindling of their former relationship that brings about the change in his actions towards the Helmers and leads to him apologizing to them for the troubles he has caused them. Krogstadʼs ability to make this apology is a redeeming feature of his character, brought about by his love for Mrs. Linde. MRS KRISTINE LINDE Kristine Linde is Nora’s school friend. She is a widow who arrives in town to look for work, having heard of Torvaldʼs new appointment at the bank. When she arrives Nora and she haven’t seen each other for almost ten years. Kristine is a practical, down-to-earth woman, who married for financial security rather than love, in order that she could support her sick mother and two younger brothers. Since her husband died three years ago she has had to work to survive. Her working out of necessity provides a contrast to Noraʼs accounts of the pleasure she felt in working and earning money “like a man”. Her account of her life of poverty also underscores the privileged nature of the life that Nora leads.

Kristineʼs story is also an example of the recurring theme of self-sacrifice in the play. She sacrificed her relationship with Krogstad many years ago for the sake of her mother and brothers. She then dedicated her life towards caring for her sick mother, in contrast to Nora who did not go to visit her father when he was on his deathbed. Kristine therefore serves as a direct comparison for the character of Nora in many ways. Similarly, her relationship with Krogstad provides a point of comparison with Nora and Torvaldʼs. As Nora and Torvaldʼs relationship disintegrates, Kristine and Krogstad manage to rebuild theirs. DR. RANK Dr. Rank is Torvaldʼs oldest friend, who calls in on the family every day. He is a medical doctor who is now dying of tuberculosis of the spine. It is implied that this is a hereditary venereal disease, passed on to him by his father, who Nora refers to as “a terrible man who kept mistresses and so on”. This is an example of another recurring theme in the play, the sins of parents being revisited on their children. Dr. Rank is unfairly paying the price for his father’s promiscuity. Unlike Torvald and Nora, Dr. Rank openly admits to the diseased nature of his life, however like Torvald, he also attempts to keep up appearances, maintaining an exterior of wellbeing right up until his last appearance in the play. His illness also serves as the physical counterpart of the supposed moral illness of Krogstad. Dr. Rank is in love with Nora. They have a close relationship - she refers to him as her “best friend” – and she appears to be more comfortable around him than she is around Torvald. The character of Dr. Rank therefore also serves a contrast to the more serious, disciplinarian character of Torvald. ANNE-MARIE Anne-Marie is nanny to the Helmersʼ three children, so has lived with the family for many years. She was also Nora’s own nanny before that, coming to work in Noraʼs father’s house to bring up Nora when her mother died. She had to give up her own illegitimate child in order to take the job. Thus,

she shares with Nora and Mrs. Linde the act of sacrificing her own happiness out of economic necessity. THEMES THE SACRIFICIAL ROLE OF WOMEN The role of women, and in particular the sacrificial role of women, is a major theme throughout the play. All three women in the play have made some kind of personal sacrifice in their lives in order to fulfill the roles which society expects of them. Nora appears at the beginning of the play to lead a happy, fulfilled life; but as the play progresses, the personal sacrifices she has made to fulfill the expected role of ۱۹th century wife and mother become more and more apparent. As the “doll” of the title she has sacrificed all her own opinions, thoughts and ideas and adopted Torvaldʼs views as her own. In order to save Torvaldʼs life she made personal sacrifices, saving every bit of money she had and working all hours of the night to repay Krogstad. And at the end of the play she sacrifices her home, family and children for the sake of her own self-discovery. Mrs. Linde sacrificed her relationship with Krogstad and her potential happiness, in order to marry a wealthy man who could support her mother and brothers. This was her responsibility as a ۱۹th century daughter. After her husband’s death she continued to make personal sacrifices for the sake of her family, taking on any work she could to support them financially. Anne-Marie had an illegitimate child, who she was forced to give up in order totake the position as nanny to the young Nora. She sacrificed motherhood for a respectable job, which was all too common for young unmarried mothers in the ۱۹th century. PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY There is a strong sense throughout the play of the importance of parental and filial responsibility, and of the effect that the actions of parents have upon their children.

Torvald talks about a parent’s immorality being passed on to the children like a disease. He says that “almost all juvenile delinquents have immoral mothers” and also speaks about Krogstad poisoning his own children with lies and immorality. Dr. Rank literally does have a disease which has been passed on to him by his father, and which is said to have been caused by his father’s depravity. He talks about the unfairness of this, of the sins of the father being revisited on the son. Nora is referred to as being like her father, having inherited a lot of his qualities. It is also of note that she never had a mother, with Anne-Marie fulfilling the maternal role in her life. While Anne-Marie was forced to give away her own child to take on the role of Nora’s nanny, in contrast Nora chooses to leave her own children at the end of the play. Mrs. Lindeʼs life, for the most part, has been dominated by her sick mother. She has fulfilled her filial responsibility by dedicating her life to care for her mother, at the expense of her own personal happiness. Her mother’s illness has directly affected the life she has led and the personal decisions she has made. MONEY AND DEBT From the very beginning of the play money is a central theme. In the very first scene, Nora gives the porter one krone, telling him to “keep the change”, thus indicating a relaxed attitude to money and spending. The next scene with Torvald almost entirely revolves around the subjects of money, spending and borrowing, with Nora portrayed as a spendthrift. Torvald has very strong views on borrowing and debt. He says that “a home which is shackled by loans and debt becomes a prison” (which ironically it does for Nora, who doesn’t leave the building again until the end of the play). We then learn about Nora’s debt to Krogstad, which is the central plot of the play, the incident around which all the action revolves. Krogstad is a moneylender, and money (or lack of it) has had a major effect on his life. We learn that Mrs. Linde ended her relationship with him many

years ago because of his lack of financial security, choosing to marry a richer man instead. Throughout his life Krogstad has been poor, struggling to support his family, and it is this dependency on financial income that leads him to blackmail Nora in an attempt to keep his job at the bank. Mrs Lindeʼs life has also been directly affected by money, or lack of it. Her late husband’s business collapsed, leaving her with nothing to live on, and since then she has had to work hard to survive. Dr. Rank is the only main character who appears to be comfortable financially, having inherited money from his late father. However, although he is financially comfortable he is terminally ill, referring to his body as being “bankrupt”. HISTORICAL & SOCIAL CONTEXT Written by Henrik Ibsen in ۱۸۷۹, A Doll’s House shocked and divided critics across Europe with its depiction of a woman struggling to survive in a man’s world, and Nora’s rejection of the “ideal” family life. After the first stage production in Copenhagen in ۱۸۷۹, the opinions of audiences were also divided. The play caused an immediate sensation, sparking debate and controversy. So much so, that invitations to social gatherings at the time would often include the note: “You are requested not to mention Ibsen’s Doll’s House!”. FEMINISM AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS In ۱۸۷۹, when Ibsen wrote A Doll’s House, a wife was not legally permitted to borrow money without her husband’s consent. On her wedding day, a woman transitioned from living under the authority of her father to under that of her husband. Ibsen based the play on the true story of a woman named Laura Kieler, who like Nora, illegally borrowed a sum of money to save her husband’s life. However unlike Nora, Lauraʼs fraud was

discovered; she then had her children taken away from her and was committed to a mental asylum. The issue of women's rights was already very prominent in Norway several years before Ibsen focused on the issue, and women had been the force behind several changes, with the women’s rights organizations gaining momentum throughout the ۱۹th century. Poverty had already forced women into the workplace early in the nineteenth century, and the Norwegian government had passed laws protecting and governing women's employment nearly five decades before Ibsen's play. By the middle of the century Norwegian women were granted the same legal protection as that provided to men. Women were permitted inheritance rights and were too successful in petitioning for the right to a university education only three years after the first performance of A Doll's House. But many of the protections provided to women were aimed at the lower economic classes. Employment opportunities for women were limited to low paying domestic jobs, teaching, or clerical work. Middle class women, such as Nora, noticed few of these new advantages. It was the institution of marriage itself that restricted the freedom of middle class women. Universal suffrage was eventually achieved in ۱۹۱۳, making Norway the first country in Europe to have equal voting rights for men and women. MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE The ۱۹th century family was organized along traditional patriarchal lines. The patriarchal ideal was supported and reinforced by a social structure wherein women had little overt political or economic power, wherein they were economically, socially, and psychologically dependent on men and especially on the institutions of marriage and motherhood. The ideal of bourgeois respectability prevailed in the nineteenth century, but it never went unchallenged, and by the time Ibsen wrote his own challenge to it, towards the end of the century, a new era of crisis and uncertainty regarding all things conventional had already begun. The position of women was an especially volatile issue because the patriarchal ideology underlay the entire social, political, and economic structure. If women were to have autonomy, then the whole structure of society would have to be re-imagined and the world would have to be

remade. It was an apocalyptic idea that thrilled many intellectuals but terrified the ruling and middle classes, so that each move in the direction of women's suffrage, revised marriage laws and advances in women's education felt like the end of the world. The last decades of the nineteenth century had already begun to feel like the end of the world, anyway. The Western world was about to enter a period of unprecedented change; social, political, economic, cultural, and scientific revolutions. No one knew exactly what was coming, but a great many looked toward it with a mixture of hope and dread. When Nora slams the door of her doll's-house, shutting herself out of the only world she has known and stepping into a future that is unknown and therefore both promising and threatening, the sound resonates with the apocalyptic tremors of Ibsen's time.

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The Portrayal of Nora in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House: An Emancipation of

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The Portrayal of Nora in Henrik Ibsen’s

A Doll’s House: An Emancipation of Women

Mr. Jotiram Janardan Gaikwad

Teacher Fellow, Dept of English, Shivaji University, Kolhapur Assistant Professor, St. Xavier’s College – Autonomous, Mumbai

URL: http://www.literatorsociety.org/jels/2455-393X-21.pdf

Introduction

Henrik Ibsen, a renowned Norwegian playwright, has elevated theatre from mere entertainment to a forum for exposing social problems introducing the spirit of realism and naturalism in drama. He has made serious drama a mirror of his age by placing the themes and situations of contemporary life on stage in plays like Catillina (1850), Love’s Comedy (1862), The Pretenders (1864), League of Youth (1869), Emperor Galelian (1873), Pillars of the Society (1877), A Doll’s House (1879), Ghosts (1881), An Enemy of the People (1882), and The Wild Duck (1884). Though he has written a tragedy, satire, and national, philosophical and historical drama, he is well-known for realistic social drama in general and A Doll’s House in particular.

A Doll’s House is a realistic portrayal of woman’s assertion to her independence and individuality. In this play, Ibsen depicts the struggle of heroine, Nora Helmer, to liberate herself from the family and societal bonds. The play shows Nora’s progressive growth from a very dependent house-wife and a caring mother to a woman enlightened. It is a struggle of Nora for woman’s emancipation.

Nora – Dependent House-Wife

Nora is a protagonist of the play A Doll’s House and the entire play moves around her. She is sensitive, sensible, and completely unaware of her own worth until the

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last act of the play. She initially appears flighty and excitable. Though she is a perfect wife, she is a "singing lark," "little squirrel," and "little spendthrift" to her husband. She hides her thoughts and actions from her husband even though there is no real benefit. She forges her father's signature for a loan, and lies her husband about the source of money, the household accounts, and odd jobs she takes to earn extra money. She is viewed as an object, a toy, a child, but never an equal. Her problem is that she is totally dependent on her husband and deceives herself till the end of the play.

She is good in nature and friendly in relationships. She shares her secret with Mrs. Linde and helps her to get a job in bank, she maintains good relations with Dr. Rank though she knows he secretly loves her. It was possible for her to avail loan from Dr. Rank but she gives up the thought of taking money from him as it would exploit her feeling. There is a scene of an innocent flirting she does with Dr. Rank, using her womanly gestures, but when her fidelity is in question she mends herself quickly.

Nora – Independent Women

As the play progresses, we learn that Nora is not as a carefree and naive as she is in the beginning, rather she is a determined and hardworking young woman willing to break the laws to save the life of her husband. She is more than the 19th century wife and mother, enjoys working and earning money “like a man”, and shows independence of thought in her actions, and fierce determination and ambition to pay off debts. At the end of the play, when she realizes that her husband is not the man she thought, she takes the controversial decision to leave her husband and children to make her own way in the world, rejecting the idea of the ideal family life and the expectations of society.

From the beginning onwards, like woman of the nineteenth century Europe, Nora patiently puts her efforts and attempts to maintain peaceful life accepting all customs and rules established by the male dominated society, but when it goes beyond her capacity to bear the circumstances, very firmly she leaves husband’s house to make herself free from the shackles of the society upholding the principles of freedom and equality. Her journey from a very dependent wife to an independent enlightened woman transforms Nora into a very bold, intellectual and firm to fight against society and its institutions for her own identity, status, equality, freedom.

Nora –Intellectual, Bold and Firm in Actions

Nora has shown as a doll-wife, who maintains secrecy of her deeds, and doesn’t have an intellectual capacity to make distinction between good and bad, right and wrong, but in reality she is intellectual, bold, and firm in her actions.

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When her husband asks question after reading a letter, she accepts the reality and replies by saying, “It is true. I have loved you beyond all else in the world.” (106) though her husband points out what she had done is wrong, Nora accepting very intellectually asserts that it doesn’t matter to her what world says. For Nora, saving the life of her husband is most important than the societal laws.

After realization, very firmly she tells her husband “I do not love any longer” (118) or “I am no wife for you” (120), as she doesn’t love her husband and she is leaving house. Being an independent woman, she is bold to say directly to her husband, “I can't spend the night in a strange man's house.” (121) or “I take nothing from strangers.” (122). Even when her husband tries to interrupt her, she instructed him by saying, “No, don’t interrupt. Only listen to what I say.” (112)

Thus, the intellectual, bold and firm Nora fights for her own identity, status, equality and freedom.

Nora – In Search of Identity

After spending a life of non-entity and a mere commodity in the house, Nora decides to overcome the situation and search a place where she would be no more a doll but a personality of her own. The process of realization brings question to Nora who I am:

“I think that before all else I am a human being, just as much as you are-or, at least, I will try to become one. I know that most people agree with you, Torvald, and that they say so in books. But henceforth I can't be satisfied with what most people say, and what is in • books. I must think things out for myself and try to get clear about them.” (117)

Nora insists on her husband in particular and society in general for considering her existence, the existence of woman, as a human being. Though, she knows to get the support from society is difficult, she is strong in her assertion.

The realization of who I am gave a new understanding about self hence she says, “I must try to educate myself. You are not the man to help me in that” (115) and “I have never felt so much clearness and certainty as to-night” (118).

Nora is totally transformed after the realization. The meek dependent wife changed into an independent individual, who is very conscious about her own identity. No pleading or requests of her husband, even a social decorum, weakens her decision to leave her home in search of her own ‘self’, in search of identity, which she does.

Nora – On Status of Women

The women were never free; either she was the property of father or husband, and expected that she should adjust her ideas, views, opinions and tastes with them. Nora, right from the beginning has shown a conventional wife who leads life as per

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the directions, expectations of her husband. This has been shown through the words of Torvald, who calls her ‘Skylark’, ‘Squirrel’, and ‘little darling wife’ etc. Even, she allows husband to treat her like a ‘property’ and ‘possession’, because she has a belief that only husband can protect wife in all circumstances. But when she realizes it was not the love but man’s pride to take woman as his possessions, she says, “I have had great injustice done me, Torvald, first by my father and then by you (113)”. And, after blaming father and husband for injustice, she further states that how she was treated by both at home:

“While I was at home with father, he used to tell me all his opinions, and I held the same opinions. If I had others I concealed them, because he would not have liked it. He used to call me his doll child, and play with me as I played with my dolls. Then I came to live in your house -- … I mean I passed from father's hands into your. You settled everything according to your taste; and I got the same tastes as you; or I pretended to -I don't know which - both ways perhaps. When I look back on it now, I seem to have been living here like a beggar, from hand to mouth. I lived by performing tricks for yon, Torvald. But you would have it so. You and father have done me a great wrong. It is your fault that my life has been wasted.” (114)

Nora asserts that either it is a father or husband there is no change in their attitude towards women, both of them never allowed women to be free. She is under the control of father before the marriage or husband after the marriage. She had a great hope from her husband but when she realized like father her husband has a same desire to control woman as an object, her eyes opened and she liberates herself from the clutches of the male dominated society to get firsthand experience of life and to discover her own right to live as a responsible member of society.

Nora – On Woman’s Sacrifice

Nora, like the nineteenth century wife, has sacrificed all her own opinions, thoughts and ideas and adopted her husband Torvald’s views as her own. She being a devoted wife took a loan from a man like Krogstad by forging the sign of her father in order to save the life of her ailing husband. Though she had adopted unlawful means to avail the loan, she is innocent about her act till Krogstad makes her to realize from the eyes of the law. Nora has tried to pay the installments on regular basis even by cutting her own expenses and undertaking some work. She neither makes a show, nor informs all to husband, but keeps secret and feels proud about it. She has a great faith in her husband and expects that he would support her at crucial time and stand behind her like a firm rock. But, when her husband stands contrary to her expectations, she exposes husband’s hypocrite behaviour saying:

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“I have waited so patiently all these eight years; for of course, I saw clearly enough that miracles do not happen every day. When this crushing blow threatened me, I said myself confidently, "Now comes the miracle." When Krogstad's letter lay in the box, it never occurred to me that you would think of submitting to that man's conditions. I was convinced that you would say to him ... “Make it known to all the world," and that then - … Then I firmly believed that you would come forward, take everything upon yourself, and say, “I am the guilty one." (119)

Nora, stating sacrifices done by the wife for the sake of husband in a hope to see the change one day in his behavour, exposes her husband in particular and society in general for their hypocrisy. And when she realized, there is no possibility of miracle or to see the change in her husband, she decides to leave him, his house and social taboos.

Nora – On Status of Women after Marriage

As stated earlier, Nora being a conventional wife, right from the beginning onwards leads life as per the directions and expectations of her husband adjusting her ideas, views, opinions and tastes with him as a doll wife, “Here I have been your doll wife, just as at home I used to be papa's doll child” (114), and an object of fun and entertainment, “I thought it fun when you played with me, just as the children did when I played with them. That has been our marriage, Torvald.” (115) However, as exposed by Nora, after the marriage, woman was treated as a doll or an object of entertainment.

The success of marriage depends upon the communication and understanding between wife and husband, but this was not a part of the society to which Nora belongs. This reality is exposed by Nora, saying “You don't understand me; and I have never understood you-till tonight” (112), and “It's not so late yet. Sit down, Torvald; you and I have much to say to each other … Sit down. It will take some time; I have much to talk over with you” (112). Therefore, she declared the institution of marriage is based on the lack of communication and understanding.

The marriage concept is based on love and seriousness in relationships between wife and husband. But, Nora’s married life is based on the false concept of love, “You have never loved me! You only thought it amusing to be in love with me” (113), and on the non-serious relationship, “We have been married eight years. Does it not strike you that this is the first time we two, you and I, man and wife, have talked together seriously” (113).

Nora states that the marriage institution, which considers woman as a doll wife, is based on lack of communication and understanding, false concept of love, and

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non-serious relationship between wife and husband. Nora, at last overthrows the marriage system as it rejects equality and freedom to women as a wife.

Nora – On Morality

On the moral ground, Nora makes question to societal morals when she is informed that forging her father's signature to save her husband's life is a criminal act. She believes that the most heroic action of her life is taking loan on her own to save the life of her husband. She argues that how her sacrifices to save her husband’s life could be an unforgivable crime in the eyes of society:

“I hear, too, that the laws are different from what I thought; but I can’t believe that they are right. It appears that a woman has no right to spare her dying father, or to save her husband's life. I don’t believe that.” (118)

Nora states that the existing laws are in favour of male and deprive the rights of women. So, by asking, what is the use of such laws if they don’t allow women to save the life of her most loving person, she challenges existing laws by saying, “I must make up my mind which is right – society or I”. (118)

The woman was expected to fulfill her duties towards husband and children, but society never thought about duties of woman towards herself. After realization, Nora asserts her duties towards herself saying, “I have other duties equally sacred … my duties towards myself” (116). So, Nora asserts to the society if not you, I must think about myself.

On the issue of sacrificing the life, Nora exposed the double standards of society, pointing to the reply of Helmer who says, “no man sacrifices his honour, even for one he loves” (120). This shows the ego and attitude of man towards women. So, Nora attacks on socially formulated boundaries raising a simple question “Millions of women have done so” (120), then why not men.

Nora is against to the established wrong practices on the moral ground and expects a change, a change in both, man and woman. Though she demands a change, she knows to bring the change in man needs a miracle, “Both of us would have to change so that ---- Oh, Torvald, I no longer believe in miracles.” (123)

The most of the moral codes of conduct that deprive the rights of women are governed and controlled by the religious practices. So, Nora raises question asking what we know about the religion:

“I don't know properly what religion is … I know nothing but what our clergyman told me when I was confirmed. He explained that religion was this and that. When I get away from here and standalone I will look into that matter too. I will see whether what he taught me is true, or, at any rate, whether it is true for me.” (117)

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Nora’s assertion is we come to know our religion from the clergyman and he taught religion to us from his point of view, so how could we say what he taught is right or wrong. Hence, she thinks it is a time to understand religious practices from our point of view. Thus, she puts a question to morality.

Nora’s disclosure of the false concept of morality, pointing out discrimination of law, refusing rights to woman, denying her duties towards herself, showing the man’s attitude towards woman’s sacrifices and lack of understanding about the religion demonstrates the real nature of morality in particular and society in general.

Conclusion

Nora, being an individual feminine personality within the confines of a stereotyped society, strives to become a self-motivated to save the life of her husband without thinking what is right for law. She is finally confused on what is right and what is wrong, and realized that she cannot live with a husband who cannot dissociate himself from the laws of society. Though she is defeated in her marital life, she is victorious as an individual. Death of a wife and mother gives birth to Nora as a new modern woman.

Thus, Nora’s transformation from a very dependent wife to an independent woman is a struggle in search of her own identity, is a struggle for woman’s emancipation.

Works cited

Behnam L. (2007). A Note on Ibsen and Nora’s Doll Life. Tehran: Jahan-e-Ketab.

Chandler, Frank (1939). Aspects of Modern Drama. Delhi: The Macmillan Company.

Gassner, John (1964). Ideas in the Drama New York & London: Columbia University Press.

Henrick Ibsen. A Doll’s House. Translated William Archer. London: T. Fisher Unwin.

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Nora as a Doll in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House By Michael C. Wiseman ۲۰۱۰, VOL. ۲ NO. ۰۳ | PG. ۱/۱ ۱۱۲

In Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, Nora Helmer spends most of her on-stage time as a doll: a vapid, passive character with little personality of her own. Her whole life is a construct of societal norms and the expectations of others. Until she comes to the realization that her life is a sham, she spends her whole life in a dream world. In this dream world, Nora does not take life seriously, an attitude that led to many of the plot’s complications.

Until her change, Nora is very childlike and whimsical. Her first act on stage is her paying the delivery body. Though his service only costs ٥۰-p., she gives him a hundred. Though an additional ٥۰-p. is not a significant amount of money, the casual way in which she gives it to him is indicative of her fiscal irresponsibility (Cummings). She hands him the hundred and before he can thank her, she decides in the middle of the transaction that she is not patient enough to wait for change. The fact that this seemingly mundane occurrence is presented as the first action on stage showcases the reckless attitude implied.

Fiscal irresponsibility is a prominent factor in the advancement of the plot. It is Nora’s fiscal irresponsibility that catalyzes the situation in which Nora's childlike expectations of Torvald are shattered. The conflict of the story is driven by Nora’s forging of loan documents to raise money for an expensive trip to Italy; Krogstad, who had processed the loan, tries to blackmail Nora over the fact that she forged the documents. Another aspect of the crime, which was not elaborated on so much, is that even if the documents were not forged, Nora did not have any means to repay the loan anyway.

Nora could be excused for trusting Krogstad not to blackmail her, but not recognizing that the loan would have to be repaid is inexcusable. Though at one point we are led to believe that whenever Nora would pry money away from Torvald, she would reserve half of it to repay the debt, when Krogstad confronts her, she confesses that she is not, in fact, in possession of the remaining balance.

An important aspect of a dream world is the suspension of cause and effect. Nora’s lackadaisical approach is very prominent throughout the story. One example of her disregard for others is when she blames Mrs. Linde۱ for smuggling forbidden macaroons into the house. Though she is just trying to hide her indiscretions, she does not care whom she hurts in the process.

Another aspect of the dream world is the acquisition of material possessions; Nora is always trying to make herself happy by buying things: dresses, toys, candy etc., rather than doing anything meaningful with her life. She has never spent serious time with her husband of nearly a decade, and is always dumping her children on the nurse rather than bonding with them herself. This practice may have been common at the time the play was written, but Ibsen is clearly not ashamed of bold social criticism (Chandler ۳۳۳).

In her dream world, Nora takes a back seat approach to life and becomes like an object, reacting to other’s expectations rather than advancing herself. As a result of her passivity, Torvald is very possessive of, frequently adding the “my” modifier to all the pet names he calls her. In the original Riksmål۲ (Boel), there are many monetary idioms, lost in translation, that advance the concept of Nora’s objectness.

In one line, Torvald calls her “[his] dearest property”; Mrs. Linde states that she will save Nora “at any price”, as if she could be bought (Drake ۳۲). Though she is infatuated with the acquisition of possessions, she herself is a possession of Torvald.

When Torvald enters the scene, Nora's childlike behavior becomes more patent. Torvald calls her pet names "little lark", "little squirrel", and "Little Miss Extravagant". Nora is being treated like a cute little girl and she happily accepts the epithets. Torvald finds himself having to restrain Nora with rules, much as a father would have to inhibit a child, forbidding her from pursuing candy and other temporal pleasures. (Kashan) When the play was first performed in English (in Milwaukee), it was titled "The Child Wife" (Templeton ۱۱۳).

The maturity level Nora exhibits demonstrates that the relationship between Torvald and Nora is more like father and daughter than husband and wife. (Ford) She whines at Torvald۳, exhibits poor judgment٤, does not care about the consequences of her actions٥, and immaturely shuts her ears to unpleasant thoughts, placing her hand on her mouth and exclaiming, "Oh! Don't say such things!" when Torvald presents a hypothetical tragedy.

The father-daughter relationship is referred to later when Nora confronts Torvald in the final act. She makes this connection that life with her father was like life with Torvald. Nora’s father would force his beliefs on her and she would comply with them lest she upset him; she would bury her personal belief under Papa’s. According to Nora, Torvald was guilty of the same things. In addition to his insistence on her wearing the fish girl costume is his frustration over her inability to grasp the tarantella. The costume and dance are part of Torvald's fantasy of gazing upon Nora from across the room at a party and pretending that she is something exotic. Torvald made Nora take on a foreign identity; Torvald used her as a doll.

On the subject of the costume party, Dr. Rank suggested that Nora go as herself and that he be invisible. Under the surface, Rank is suggesting that Nora should not be a doll. With an invisible chaperon, Nora would not be dominated by a figure placing an identity over her. If this interpretation is Rank’s intended meaning, it would corroborate Nora’s judgment of his character when she explains how she always feels at ease around Dr. Rank because he does not have any expectations or demands of her.

At the end of the play, the doll symbolism becomes very powerful. Nora imagines that Torvald will two dimensionally remain morally upright and, on principle, defend Nora's honor and not allow Krogstad to blackmail the Helmers. Nora imagines that Torvald would sacrifice his own reputation and future to save her, but Torvald tells her that he would not make the sacrifice, shattering Nora's dream world.

At this point it becomes clear to Nora that “[she] had been living all these years with a strange man, and [she] had born him three children”. This realization forces Nora into the real world and she ceases to be a doll. At the end of the above statement, she adds “Oh, I cannot bear to think of it!” which echoes her childlike shutting out of unpleasant thoughts.

It is not only that Torvald would not sacrifice himself for her that opens Nora’s eyes to reality. She did not understand that though Torvald loved her, he loved her as a thing - a status symbol (Lord ۲٥). Nora serves as a wife and mother, but not as an equal to Torvald. Torvald planned to cope with the scandal resulting from blackmail by stripping Nora of her spousal and motherly duties, but would keep her in the house for appearance sake. If Nora, with her reputation tainted as a criminal, would poison the minds of the Helmer children, she would be useless as a mother to them (Metzger).

The next thing Nora does is change out of her fancy dress. Torvald bought this dress for Nora to wear at a costume party because he wanted her to appear as a "Neapolitan fish girl". As one would put clothes on a doll, Torvald dresses Nora. When she sheds this dress, she is shedding a trapping of her doll-like existence (Cummings).

In the past, Nora was always a passive child-like possession who followed Torvald's orders, but now she is an independent adult and is able to dominate Torvald, who is used to playing with dolls. In comparison with the "real" Nora, Torvald is the doll. Nora seats Torvald at the table and explains her situation to him. She does not let him speak until she has finished what she

wants to say. At the table, Torvald is still wearing the clothes he wore to the fancy dress party.

Like the fish girl outfit, these clothes are artificial; they are a costume and at the table, Torvald is put in a role where the costume is not appropriate and his "dollness" becomes apparent. He is like a G.I. Joe action figure at a little girl's tea party and he cannot cope with the situation. The incongruity of his outfit with the setting reveals that Torvald is false. He then realizes that what he thought was Nora was not, that his world was a sham, and that he is nothing more than a doll in a pretend world.

When Nora comes to the realization that her character was little more than a composite of societal and others’ expectations, she recognizes that the strong, staunch, principled Torvald she thought she was married to was only a character formed out of her own expectations. Their marriage was a doll marriage: he a doll husband, she a "doll wife”, and their children destined to be “doll children”.

In regard to the children, Nora realizes that if she continues the pattern of instilling societal norms on her children, they too will fall into the trap of dollhood. In the first scene, Nora is revealed to have bought a doll for her daughter who is so young that she is expected to break the toy in a short time; the tradition of doll playing starts at an early age.

Nora, having grown up as a manipulated tool of others, is under the impression that manipulation of others is a societal norm. Though she is usually passive, she can be seen to use others, even when the manipulation is of no benefit to her. A prime example of this is when she tells Dr. Rank that it was Mrs. Linde who brought forbidden pastry into the house. Telling the truth in this situation would not make Dr. Rank think significantly less of her, but she compulsively blames Mrs. Linde, which lowers her standing with Kristine.

Since Nora is willing to perform extraneous manipulation, even when it harms her, we can see her addiction to it (Young ۷٤). Other examples of manipulation are having a nanny take care of her children, having Mrs. Linde repair her dress, behaving seductively around Dr. Rank, whining at Torvald to get money, and most importantly convincing Krogstad to overlook the similarity between her penmanship and her "father's".

One critic brings up the three uses of the word “wonderful” in the play. Each use heralds a conflict between Nora's dreamworld and reality. The first clash is when Nora realizes that her rebellious actions are outside the pale of societal norms: an objective shock. The second, a subjective shock, comes in the second act when Nora realizes that she is deeper than her childish and whimsical facade. The final, the “metaphysical” shock is when Nora realizes that her entire world is a complete sham; at the end of the play, Torvald, who is still a doll, is left wondering what “the most wonderful thing” is (Johnston ۱٤۲).

One can think of each illusion as a wall of Nora's dollhouse; each time Nora recognizes the incongruity between reality and her doll house, a wall is torn down. At the start of the play, the house has three walls (the fourth wall being open to the audience), and at the end of the play, all the walls have been razed, leaving Nora free.

The stage itself is a good metaphor for a dollhouse. It may have the appearance of a ۱۹th century Norwegian home, but a missing a wall grants the audience omniscience of the private lives of the characters. Would Nora have sneaked macaroons if she knew a crowd of people were watching her? The playwright can do whatever he wants to with the characters on stage; they are his dolls, but when Nora leaves Torvald, she also leaves the stage. Off stage, what was once Nora is now an actress. When Nora the character was going through the motions of her sham life, she was like an actress filling a role by adopting a prefabricated personality not her own, thrust upon her by others.

References Cummings, Michael J.. "A Doll's House - a Study Guide ." Cummings Study Guides. ۲۰۰۳. ۷ Jul ۲۰۰۹ http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/DollHouse.html

Chandler, Frank W. Aspects of Modern Drama. London: MacMillan Co., ۱۹۱٤

Boel, Herman. "Norwegian." The Language Database. ۲۰۰۸. Herman Boel. ۷ Jul ۲۰۰۹ http://www.hermanboel.eu/language-database/lg_norwegian.htm

Drake, David B.”Ibsen’s A Doll House.” Explicator, ٥۳.۱ (۱۹۹٤): ۳۲-۳٤

Kashdan, Joanne G. "A Doll's House." Masterplots. Rev. ۲nd ed. Salem P, ۱۹۹٦. MagillOnLiterature Plus. EBSCOHost. Victoria College/University of Houston Victoria Library, Victoria, TX.۰٥July ۲۰۰۹ http://search.epnet.com.

Templeton, Joan. Ibsen's Women. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ,۱۹۹۷

Ford, Karen. “Social Constraints and Painful Growth in A DOLL’s HOUSE” Screen Education ۳۷ (۲۰۰٥): ۱٥-٥٦۸

Lord, Henrietta F. and Henrick Ibsen. The Doll's House. New York: D. Appleton & Co., ۱۸۹٤.

Metzger, Sherri. "A Doll's House (Criticism)". Answers.com. July ٥, ۲۰۰۹ http://www.answers.com/topic/a-doll-s-house-play-۸

Young, Robin. Time’s Disinherited Children. Norwich: Norvick Press, ۱۹۸۹

Johnston, Brian. Text and Supertext in Ibsen's Drama. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, ۱۹۸۹.

Endnotes

۱. Mrs. Linde and Dr. Rank are the only characters who are recorded in the dramatis personae with titles. They are also the only characters who are not doll like.

۲. A Danish-Norwegian dialect that Ibsen wrote in. ۳. Evidenced when she whines "But we can waste just a little bit, can't

we? Just a teeny bit?” ٤. Evidenced when she says "If something so terrible happened, I

wouldn’t care" ٥. Evidenced when she says "who cares about them, I don’t know them”