Opaleye Oluwasayo World Lit Paper 1
Henrik Ibsen manipulates the concept of strength and weakness, power and helplessness that awaken Nora.
Unbalanced relationships viewed through the symbolism of a doll’s house, shows the dominating vs. Dominated relationship between characters. Torvald dominates over Nora through the name calling. He considers himself superior to Nora when he says “Now, now my little song-bird mustn’t be so crestfallen. Well? Is the squirrel sulking?” (149), after he says this, he offers her money to pacify her, this just further proves that he thinks lowly of his wife. He also asks her “when did the squirrel get home?” (148) Nora constantly represents a weak figure, a dominated person.
Not only does Nora get dominated …show more content…
Nora deceives Torvald about the loan, and what she needs it for, hiding her strength. Nora figures that her husband wouldn’t like it if he finds out his wife saved his life because of his pride, but she also knows the kind of man she has as a husband, a kind of man that cannot stand being close to anyone with a behavioral deficiency. She acknowledges this when she says “Good heaven no, how could I? When he’s so strict about that sort of thing… Besides, Torvald has his pride…” (161).
Nora’s devotion to her husband knows no bounds, she sacrifices everything which others see as being rash and so she asks, “Is it rash to save your husband’s life?” Although she risks everything to save her husband, that qualifies as her greatest strength because nobody could picture Nora as a selfless independent woman, especially Torvald. Her devotion to Torvald becomes her weakness also.
Nora assigns herself a fictitious role as her husband’s pet. Torvald calls Nora demeaning names and Nora gladly accepts them and takes it upon herself to become her husband’s pet. She says things like, “Ah, if you only knew what expenses we skylarks and squirrels have Torvald.” (151) and “Your skylark will sing all over the house- up and down the scale…” (187). Nora plays the role of a mother, a wife and now a pet. Nora basically …show more content…
Relationships between characters do not look like the reality, appearance manipulates reality. Nora’s marriage to Torvald appears to be sweet and loving but the appearance tells a different story from the reality. It fools Nora to really think that her home was a love filled, happy home. Appearance doesn’t only manipulate reality but also manipulates the characters into believing what they subconsciously make themselves believe. When appearance blinds Nora, she says, “What nonsense! … But… No, it isn’t possible… I did it for love!” (176), but when reality hits her, her statement changes to, “You’ve never loved me, you’ve only found it pleasant to be in love with me.” (225). She figures that her marriage to Torvald explicitly defines a father/daughter relationship, like she just changed ownership from her father to Torvald.
Dr. Rank’s relationship with Nora appears to be plutonic and Storge but turns out to be Eros. Dr. Rank’s feelings for Nora proves to be a dramatic irony, considering the fact that the readers knew how he felt but Nora didn’t have a clue. Miss Linde also had some
suspicions about it and when she asks Nora, she says, “Ah, that was Dr. Rank- but he doesn’t come here professionally, he’s our best friend…” (156) but she finally sees the façade when he says, “to have loved you as deeply as anyone else was that horrid?”(195).
Ibsen focuses on the power struggle between the dominated and dominated, puppet
Henrik Ibsen manipulates the concept of strength and weakness, power and helplessness that awaken Nora.
Unbalanced relationships viewed through the symbolism of a doll’s house, shows the dominating vs. Dominated relationship between characters. Torvald dominates over Nora through the name calling. He considers himself superior to Nora when he says “Now, now my little song-bird mustn’t be so crestfallen. Well? Is the squirrel sulking?” (149), after he says this, he offers her money to pacify her, this just further proves that he thinks lowly of his wife. He also asks her “when did the squirrel get home?” (148) Nora constantly represents a weak figure, a dominated person.
Not only does Nora get dominated …show more content…
Nora deceives Torvald about the loan, and what she needs it for, hiding her strength. Nora figures that her husband wouldn’t like it if he finds out his wife saved his life because of his pride, but she also knows the kind of man she has as a husband, a kind of man that cannot stand being close to anyone with a behavioral deficiency. She acknowledges this when she says “Good heaven no, how could I? When he’s so strict about that sort of thing… Besides, Torvald has his pride…” (161).
Nora’s devotion to her husband knows no bounds, she sacrifices everything which others see as being rash and so she asks, “Is it rash to save your husband’s life?” Although she risks everything to save her husband, that qualifies as her greatest strength because nobody could picture Nora as a selfless independent woman, especially Torvald. Her devotion to Torvald becomes her weakness also.
Nora assigns herself a fictitious role as her husband’s pet. Torvald calls Nora demeaning names and Nora gladly accepts them and takes it upon herself to become her husband’s pet. She says things like, “Ah, if you only knew what expenses we skylarks and squirrels have Torvald.” (151) and “Your skylark will sing all over the house- up and down the scale…” (187). Nora plays the role of a mother, a wife and now a pet. Nora basically …show more content…
Relationships between characters do not look like the reality, appearance manipulates reality. Nora’s marriage to Torvald appears to be sweet and loving but the appearance tells a different story from the reality. It fools Nora to really think that her home was a love filled, happy home. Appearance doesn’t only manipulate reality but also manipulates the characters into believing what they subconsciously make themselves believe. When appearance blinds Nora, she says, “What nonsense! … But… No, it isn’t possible… I did it for love!” (176), but when reality hits her, her statement changes to, “You’ve never loved me, you’ve only found it pleasant to be in love with me.” (225). She figures that her marriage to Torvald explicitly defines a father/daughter relationship, like she just changed ownership from her father to Torvald.
Dr. Rank’s relationship with Nora appears to be plutonic and Storge but turns out to be Eros. Dr. Rank’s feelings for Nora proves to be a dramatic irony, considering the fact that the readers knew how he felt but Nora didn’t have a clue. Miss Linde also had some
suspicions about it and when she asks Nora, she says, “Ah, that was Dr. Rank- but he doesn’t come here professionally, he’s our best friend…” (156) but she finally sees the façade when he says, “to have loved you as deeply as anyone else was that horrid?”(195).
Ibsen focuses on the power struggle between the dominated and dominated, puppet