A Doll's House Gender Roles Essay

A Doll’s House is a play written by Henrik Ibsen. It was written in the late 19th century in 1879. The play is a focus on the expectations society portrays regarding gender roles. It reflects the inequality between most men and women have in marriage. Ibsen regards marriage as two individuals respecting and supporting each others desire to fulfill their self worth, valuing each’s role in society. Ibsen shows the corruption in societies expectations, men and women should have marriages based on support and commitment to the spouse’s wants and needs to be an independent person. In the beginning of Act I Nora and Torvalds marriage is a representation of society’s expectations between a husband and wife. Throughout the scene Torvald uses nicknames such as “little lark” and “little squirrel” towards Nora. These nicknames make it seem like Nora is a child under her father’s rule. Nora responds to these nicknames, for it is the relationship her and Torvald have established as if she must …show more content…
At first she is threatened by the thought of hurting his reputation, she took the bond without his knowledge. Throughout the whole scene Nora is trying to distract him from finding out about the bond. Torvald treats Nora like a child and she uses this to her advantage to distract him. This shows how women are represented as objects when Torvald does not take her actions seriously. Their relationship is based off of Nora trying to value Torvalds place in society and she is trying to support his desire to fulfill himself in all aspects of life. As a woman in the 19th century this was the expectation, however by the end of act II Nora is realizing she is just an object. Torvald does not respect her independence as she does his. Due to society expectations this was the outcome of relationships between men and