Growing up through life we have played with dolls imaging the perfect life. The wife stays home taking care of the kids, cooks, and cleans the house. The husband goes to work and provides for his family. We have imbedded this idea into our minds as being normal. These are ideas based on the male dominance over the world. Over time we have distanced ourselves from this idea but in 1879, when the Doll House was written and performed, these rituals were widely practiced. Ibsen distorts this idea and shows us a new perspective on family behavior, bringing us away from the normal and showing us a side that usually is not expressed in public.
When the play starts we are given a sense that this family portrayal is considered to be an average household. Torvalds fascination with Nora's nicknames and her amusement with hiding macaroons give us the idea that they are madly in love and enjoy playing games to liven up their love life. However Torvald's insistence on calling Nora by diminutive names shows her dependence on him. The only time that Torvald calls Nora by her actual name is when he is scolding her. When he is greeting her or admiring her, however, he calls her by childish names such as "my little skylark" and "my squirrel"(377). By placing her within such a system of names, Torvald not only asserts his power over Nora but also humiliates her to a degree. Later we find that Nora uses Torvald's pet names in order to win his cooperation in an act of manipulation. She knows that in calling herself his "little bird," his "squirrel," (377) and his " sweet little lark,"(378) and thus conforming to his desired standards, he will more willingly give in to her wishes. She realizes that her husband does not see her as a person but rather as a beautiful possession, nothing more than a toy.
In addition to being something of a doll to Torvald, Nora is also like a child to him. In a sense, by keeping Nora dependent upon and subservient to him, Torvald plays the role of Nora's second father.
In A Dolls House, Nora's character is child-like and carefree. ... The setting of A Doll House takes place at Christmas time in a nicely implemented house. ... Symbolism in A Doll House is seen considerably throughout the play. The title of the play "A Doll House" symbolizes the level of maturity in the house. Nora symbolizes the "doll" in the house and the house itself is her playground. ...
Nora's Relationships The story "A Doll House" by Henrik Ibsen is about a young woman named Nora, who is trying to cope with a secret she has kept away from her husband, Torvald. ... In "A Doll House", Henrik Ibsen uses conflict to show Nora's subservient relationship with Torvald, Nora's Hostile relationship with Krogstad, and Nora's misunderstood relationship with Kristine. ... Torvald approaches Nora as if she was his doll telling her what to do and when to do things. ... In the "A Doll House", Henrik Ibsen uses conflict to show the unpredictable outcomes of Nora...
"Ibsen's ars dramatis centres on the way his heroines find that their doll's houses are turning, or have turned, into prisons."" ... In order to discuss the morphing of doll house' into prison' in A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler one must first examine what makes their domestic situations doll houses' in the first instance. ... Unsurprisingly the publication of A Doll's House greatly offended and upset Laura and has left Ibsen the title of being a greater artist than man'. ... Torvald is often criticised and blamed for creating the doll house howev...
The Dedicated Husband Torvald Helmer is the breadwinner and foundation for his household in Henrik Ibsen's play, A Doll House. His authoritative personality that holds the family together throughout the beginning of the play is what ends up tearing them apart in the end. His initial actions giv...
A DOLL"S HOUSE written by, Henrik Ibsen is recognized as a landmark contribution to modern theater. ... In Ibsen's play, A DOLL"S HOUSE, he says what can I not say. ... Being on of the most controversial part of the play, the end comes, and with it the doll's house tumbles down, and Nora discards her doll's dress, she shed her skin, as it were. ... When Nora closes behind her the door of her doll's house, she opens wide the gate of life for women, and proclaims the revolutionary message that only perfect freedom and communion make a true bond between man and woman, meet...
To what extent is "The Doll's house" a Modern story? "The doll's House" to a great extent is a modern short story. ... Like every modern short story "the Doll's House" is concerned with nuances of the characters rather than the construction of a fast paced plot. ... One of the epiphany's in this story was when Lil finally spoke in the end of the story, proving to us all she needed was affection and love to make her talk; the love Kezia showed them for barely a few minutes by showing them the doll's house made her speak, may it be a little. ... Many of the situations...
A Dolls House Gender. ... Men a shown to be more superior to women, but unaware the true person a women is in A Dolls House. ... The women of A Dolls House are portrayed as lower than man. ... This idea is stressed in the symbol of the title of the novel as A Dolls House. ... He believes that Nora is a doll and his house is her little toy house that he can furnish to try and keep her comfortable, but in the end it is still a false house and is artificial. ...
The ending pages of A Doll's House were very entertaining for me. A Doll's House seemed to lean towards using extreme drama and creating dramatic situations in order to capture the reader's attention. ... I could really sense the importance of being independent to this family in A Doll's House. ... A Doll's House stresses the significance of women during the 1800's. ...
The play A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen, is concerned with the conflict between social distinctions and duty. ... Together they have a cozy house, and three darling children. ... I've been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa's doll--child" (Ibsen). ... She decided that she has to leave a house. ... When Nora closes the door of the doll's house behind her, she opens a different door of new life for women. ...