“A Doll’s House” is one woman’s transition from a housewife with a bit of a defiant streak to complete independence over the course of a few days. Nora Helmer’s rebellion against her husband and movement towards modern womanhood starts out rather innocuously. When Nora is introduced to us, in the first act, she is simply a young woman who wishes to protect her husband and perhaps have the slightest bit of freedom for herself. However, as situations begin to deteriorate her disposition changes, as do her feelings toward the life she has made. Her attitude shifts somewhat gradually throughout the play until around the middle of the third act, when she is forced into a somewhat somber realization that she is unhappy in her marriage. It is after
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Yet, even in the first act, we can see Nora’s building rebellion in small acts, such as eating macaroons against her husband’s wishes. However, Nora’s want to be regarded as someone of value in her own right shines most brightly through the conversation she has with Kristine Linde. During this conversation the two speak of the hardships through which Mrs. Linde has endured, this is when Nora says that she too has “something to be proud of.”(Ibsen 1606) After making sure Torvald cannot hear her, she tells Mrs. Linde of the financial dealings she has made in order to save her husband’s life. In relating that she is proud of what she has done, she reveals that she longs to come out from Torvald’s shadow and contribute. As the first act continues, we are introduced Nils Krogstad, the man who leant Nora the funds necessary to save her husband. During a conversation with Krogstad, Nora intimates, perhaps inaccurately, that she has some influence over her husband, thus showing once more that it is important to her that she be seen as a contributor. In spite of her wish to be seen as her own person, she still has enough reverence for her husband, in the first act, to make clear in the aforementioned conversations that Torvald can never find out about her deal with …show more content…
Her predicament has not improved and she has become paranoid that Krogstad will be by at any minute to expose their little secret. In the space of a day since the first act, Nora has lost whatever optimism she had to begin with, going so far as to ask the nursemaid about how she could allow her “own child to be raised by strangers.”(Ibsen 1620) Thus, we begin to see Nora as a desperate woman willing to abandon her family or worse in order to restore order in her home and preserve her husband’s reputation. Meanwhile, Krogstad has indeed arrived at the Helmer home with a letter, for Torvald, detailing the pact he has with Nora. During the argument that ensues between Nora and Krogstad, she determines herself willing to commit suicide in order to avoid the shame that would be brought upon her family were her indiscretions made public. Later, as Torvald attempts to teach her the tarantella, she adds up that she has thirty-one hours till her dance, and therefore “Thirty-one hours to
Yet, even in the first act, we can see Nora’s building rebellion in small acts, such as eating macaroons against her husband’s wishes. However, Nora’s want to be regarded as someone of value in her own right shines most brightly through the conversation she has with Kristine Linde. During this conversation the two speak of the hardships through which Mrs. Linde has endured, this is when Nora says that she too has “something to be proud of.”(Ibsen 1606) After making sure Torvald cannot hear her, she tells Mrs. Linde of the financial dealings she has made in order to save her husband’s life. In relating that she is proud of what she has done, she reveals that she longs to come out from Torvald’s shadow and contribute. As the first act continues, we are introduced Nils Krogstad, the man who leant Nora the funds necessary to save her husband. During a conversation with Krogstad, Nora intimates, perhaps inaccurately, that she has some influence over her husband, thus showing once more that it is important to her that she be seen as a contributor. In spite of her wish to be seen as her own person, she still has enough reverence for her husband, in the first act, to make clear in the aforementioned conversations that Torvald can never find out about her deal with …show more content…
Her predicament has not improved and she has become paranoid that Krogstad will be by at any minute to expose their little secret. In the space of a day since the first act, Nora has lost whatever optimism she had to begin with, going so far as to ask the nursemaid about how she could allow her “own child to be raised by strangers.”(Ibsen 1620) Thus, we begin to see Nora as a desperate woman willing to abandon her family or worse in order to restore order in her home and preserve her husband’s reputation. Meanwhile, Krogstad has indeed arrived at the Helmer home with a letter, for Torvald, detailing the pact he has with Nora. During the argument that ensues between Nora and Krogstad, she determines herself willing to commit suicide in order to avoid the shame that would be brought upon her family were her indiscretions made public. Later, as Torvald attempts to teach her the tarantella, she adds up that she has thirty-one hours till her dance, and therefore “Thirty-one hours to