A Doll's House Identity Essay

The story A Doll’s House, written by Henrik Ibsen, presents different scenes in which the main character Nora questions her identity, and is confronted with the realization of living under her husband’s shadow. Throughout the play, Nora interacts with her husband in different ways that help her understand that she needs to find her own interests and passions, as she has lived under the expectations of society during the 19th century. While experiencing the roles of the 19th century, Nora comes to understand that she is utterly dependent of her husband Torvald, and her role of being a wife. Furthermore, in a particular scene, Torvald confronts Nora and embraces his position in society in a way that makes her realize that her sense of self cannot be so tied to him, …show more content…
The personality and actions of Nora are been shaped by this model of life, and at the beginning of the play, she demonstrates conformity with her role of being a wife and mother, although her sense of self is being thwarted by these expectations. For instance, the play starts with Torvald giving a money saving lesson to his wife Nora, who wishes to spend money freely for Christmas. Nora speaks to her husband in a subordinate way, as he calls her for names like squirrel, little spendthrift, lark, but her own name. However, she conforms to the way her husband calls her and continues to play her “duties of subordination, as [in the 19th century] there must be the magistrate and the subject, one of whom is the superior and the other the inferior” (Beecher, 26). The inferior is the woman, whom has to allow her husband to “teach [her] and guide [her]”, always (Ibsen). These words come from Nora, who at the beginning of the story takes “voluntarily the submissive role” expected by the norms of the 19th century (Tannen,