FREE ESSAY ON DOLL HOUSE

DOLL HOUSE

The Doll House: Nora's Coming out Party 
Many of our choices and the things one does in a lifetime can be directly based on what
society perceives to be proper. The choices one makes based on society's views, may
sometimes have no logic to support them. These choices are sometimes chosen because
society would look down upon the person making the "wrong" decision. The values and
morals upheld by a society may directly affect how one acts. This is held true for the
character Nora in Henrik Ibsen's play "A Doll House". Nora is the 19th century middle
class wife of Torvald Helmer. She is a woman who is devoted to her husband and family.
Nora minds her husband Torvald as a child would a father, and Torvald in return treats
her as a child, or as his "doll". At the end of the play, Nora makes an epiphany
realizing the way she acts and how Torvald really feels towards her. The causes for
Nora's behavior can be attributed to her upbringing, society's views on what a woman's
role should be, and also Torvald, who also helps Nora in her epiphany. 
The primary cause that affected Nora's behavior as an adult, was Nora's upbringing.
Nora's father treated her as his "doll-child" (1186, "A Doll House"; all page references
refer to the class text The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature 5th ed.) Her
father told Nora all of his opinions, and in time these opinions became Nora's opinions
(1186). Torvald explains to Nora "Exactly the way your father was" (1144). Nora has in
essence become her father by not having a mind of her own. If her opinions differed, Nora
would hide them because her father would not have cared for them (1186). Nora was
sheltered from the world. Her father shaped Nora's ideas and gave her his knowledge of
how the world works
The treatment of Nora's father may have been a result from how society viewed women in
the 19th century, which is the second cause for Nora's behavior. Women were viewed as
property of their husbands or fathers. This is a reason why the treatment of Nora as a
"doll" by her father was not an issue. Nora was property of her father, and expected to
mind him, as a proper young lady should. Women didn't have any rights that were equal to
a man's. According to Ibsen, "...in practical life the woman is judged by man's law, as
though she were not a woman but a man" (1191, "Notes for A Doll House"). Men thought that
since a woman does not think or act like a man, then they are a lower being. Ibsen
states, "A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an
exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that
judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view" (1191, "Notes for A Doll House").
A man did not treat women's views as being of any worth. A woman in the 19th century is
"obligated to her husband-to follow my (a man's) wishes in everything and to strictly
obey my orders" (1194, "A Nineteenth-Century Husband's Letter to His Wife"). Also as a
woman, one was subservient to men for financial reasons. A woman making her way on her on
was a hard road to take. There were very few jobs and society viewed these women as
delinquent and crazy. 
With this background of the gender roles in the 19th century, one can use it to
understand Nora and why she acts the way she does in Ibsen's "A Doll House". It was
unheard of for a woman not to mind her husband or father. Nora is loyal to her husband
and family the way any 19th century wife would be. 
Nora's husband Torvald is another cause for Nora's behavior. Nora has been dependent on
men most of her life. The dependency was taken from her father and put upon her husband
Torvald once the two were married. Nora's relationship with Torvald can be characterized
as a form of "enslavement (or) master-slave, male-female, (and) sexual
objectification..."" (1196, "A Marxist Approach to A Doll House"). Nora gets into a
relationship where she is treated the same 
way her father treated her, as a "doll". She takes on the standard role of a 19th century
woman. Nora doesn't think for herself. She minds Torvald as if he was her father. Torvald
doesn't want her to eat any sweets, like macaroons. He expresses this when he says to
Nora, "Surely my sweet tooth hasn't been running a riot in town today, has she?" (1145,
"A Doll House"). Nora tells him, "No Torvald, I assure your, really-" (1145, "A Doll
House"). Nora tells her husband that she hasn't been eating macaroons when she really
has. She tries to hide things from Torvald, just as she did from her father when their
opinions conflicted. This shows that Torvald has the strict upper hand. Nora doesn't tell
Torvald about the macaroons because she believes Torvald may know what is best for her.
Nora also keeps her thoughts to herself because she was never taught to have her own
opinions and she believes in the society's view that a woman should mind her husband. 
Another example that causes Nora to obey her husband is in the way he talks down to her.
The talking down is expressed by the names in which Torvald refers to Nora. These names
consist of his "squirrel", "lark", and "spendthrift" (1143-44). The names Torvald calls
Nora are meant to be loving, but actually emphasize Nora's role as a woman in the 19th
century. Torvald also keeps Nora out of his money matters and business. This causes Nora
to be dependent on Torvald economically. The treatment of Nora by Torvald causes her to
mind Torvald, the way she always has. 
Torvald is the man to accredit Nora's epiphany to. The epiphany is caused by the uproar
he has towards the end of the play. Nora realizes what her life is about. Torvald finds
out that Nora had forged her father's signature and the results from it. He yells at Nora
saying, "Now you've wrecked all my happiness - ruined my whole future... I'll be swept
down miserably into the depths on account of a featherbrained woman" (1184). Torvald puts
Nora down by calling her, "a hypocrite, a liar - worse, worse - a criminal!" (1184).
Torvald goes on to criticize Nora by exclaiming, "How infinitely disgusting it all is!
The shame...I should have known. All of 
your father's flimsy values have come out in you. No religion, no morals, no sense of
duty- Oh, how I'm punished for letting him off! I did it for your sake, and you repay me
like this" (1184). After the letter arrives from Krogstad reporting that everything was
going to be fine, Torvald calms down. Torvald tells Nora, "I'm saved. Nora I'm saved"
(1184). Nora asks what about her. Torvald replies, "We're both saved", then goes on to
tell Nora that he has forgiven her. Nora realizes and tells Torvald "You never loved me.
You've only though it was fun to be in love with" (1186). She realizes that she is
Torvald's "play doll" just as she was towards her father. Nora says to Torvald "You
arranged everything to your own taste, and so I got the same taste as you - or pretended
to...Now when I look back, it seems as if I'd lived here like a beggar... I've lived by
doing tricks for you. But that's the way you wanted it. It's a great sin what you and
Papa did to me. You're to blame that nothing's become of me" (1186). 
Nora realizes she has no opinions of her own. She has just taken on the ones of the male
figure in her life. Her epiphany causes her to leave her husband and their children. Nora
decides she needs to finally "educate herself" (1187). She cannot take on the duties of a
wife and mother until she finds out who she is and what she really wants. "I have to
stand completely alone, if I'm ever going to discover myself and the world out there"
(1187). "I have to think over these things myself and try to understand them" (1187).
Nora has finally made a decision for herself. This is the beginning or the coming out
party for Nora. She is now free of Torvald's continuous "doll-like" treatment, and also
she is free of her own dependency on a male. 
Each of the events in Nora's life were direct causes to her behavior, and finally to her
epiphany. One thing led to another. First her father treated her as a "doll", then
Torvald treated her this way. Society's view of a woman's role in the 19th century caused
this treatment by Nora's father and Torvald. Nora's minding of Torvald and her father is
caused by her treatment. This epiphany Nora has is the best thing that could have
happened to her. Everything that happened in her life was a stepping stone or a direct
cause to her epiphany. She may have not 
have realized how she really behaved if Torvald never got upset with her. In a way he did
her a favor by treating her the way he did. Now Nora can live her life and find out who
she really is.