Bird Imagery In Henrik Ibsen's A Doll House

In the play “A Doll House”, Henrik Ibsen utilizes bird imagery to represent the characters in the play and the obstacles that hold them back in everyday life. Birds are amazing animals that have the ability to fly wherever they want, giving them absolute freedom. However, it’s still possible to place limitations on these creatures through the use of cages, and other forms of restriction. We as humans are similar to birds, as every individual has the potential to accomplish great things, however only few are able to perform such outstanding tasks. The rest were most likely held back in some way either by their laziness, or even external influences such as friends and family.

Oppression is the first theme that is shown through bird imagery. …show more content…
With Kristine, her cage was also her family. When she was young, her family was poor, and because of this she had to devote herself to raising her family and her brothers. In order to do so, she left her lover Krogstad and married a wealthy man. Though this obstacle had ruined her relationship with Krogstad, raising a family gave her a sense of purpose and essentially a home to return to. However, when her father passed away, and her brothers grew older, this home was taken away and she was “completely alone in the world, [and] so terribly lost and forsaken” (96). Now that her cage was gone, she had nowhere to return to and thus began to search for something to give her life meaning once again. This search for self, led her to her childhood friend Nora, and eventually her old lover …show more content…
Torvald is shown to be the owner of Nora through his use of pet names as previously mentioned, and he actually does quite a good job of taking care of his “little lark”. Not in an emotional way, by making sure that she’s happy and comfortable, but in a more superficial way concerning her appearance. This is made evident by all his efforts to keep his wife beautiful. He tells her to refrain from eating sweets as they’ll ruin her teeth, and he practices the tarantella dance with her many times to ensure that she can dance it perfectly. All of this is done so that Torvald can maintain respect from his colleagues, and his reputation, a trait that seems to have unrivaled importance to Torvald. His reputation is so dear to him in fact, that he wouldn’t even give it up in order to help out his precious “little songbird” when she’s in most need of his help. This is shown when he says, “there’s no one who gives up honor for love” (113). This statement emphasizes the reality of Torvald and Nora’s relationship and it shows that they aren’t the same as the couple they appear to be in front of others. Instead it’s more of a relationship between an owner and their pet. In exchange for shelter and food, the pet is there to ensure that the owner is happy, and in this case, Torvald is most happy when others see that he has a beautiful