Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House depicts the concept of entrapment. Nora Helmer, the protagonist of the play, is confined in her domestic life where she lives with her naivety under the dominance of her husband Torvald Helmer. The detailed stage set metaphorically represents a perfectly pretty yet limited doll’s house where Nora lives like a doll, oblivious to the fact that this confinement is hindering her from further development in life.
Ibsen illustrates the Helmers’ house itself as a cage that imprisons Nora by employing static stage sets. The three acts of the play all take place in Helmer’s home. The fixed stage set provokes an imagery of a doll trapped in its doll house, which metaphorically portrays Nora’s physical entrapment in …show more content…
Ibsen utilizes the main door as a symbol of the power to force one to grow up, a link to the reality. Therefore, visitors who come through the door are people who have previously encountered the menacing reality of the world: Mrs Linde, Dr. Rank and Krogstad, all of whom have experienced the hardships of life. However, Nora, who Ibsen describes as a child by using a simile to underline her naivety, does not use the main entrance despite having it within her reach. She does not use it unless it is for “small household cares”, oblivious to the fact that the door will lead to the real world.”(Ibsen 12) The hostile world is right next to Nora, but she “knows so little of the burdens and troubles of life.”(Ibsen 12) Nora finally realizes she has been just a “doll, which [Torvald] would in future treat with doubly gentle care, because [she] was so brittle and fragile,” and she learns that her fantastic life in a doll’s house has been only an illusion that does not exist in the reality but only in her naïve view of the world. (Ibsen 70) The audience witnesses Nora’s enlightenment of how she recognizes the main door as the pathway to freedom with more identity. Nora finally leaves her house using the main door, shattering the audiences and Helmer’s hope that she might come back with “the sound of a door shutting.”(Ibsen 72) The firm sound of door shutting assures the audience that Nora is completely free from her confinement. The main door signifies the end of her entrapment, but also symbolizes beginning of her journey to become an independent woman. The 19th century Norwegian would condemn Nora’s decision to abandon her duty, but to Ibsen, Nora is a woman who finally grasped self-discovery for the first time questioning social conventions in Norwegian society. Through the usage of the main door, Ibsen enhances the message that the resolve for one’s confinement is always near, and all one has to do to break free is
Ibsen illustrates the Helmers’ house itself as a cage that imprisons Nora by employing static stage sets. The three acts of the play all take place in Helmer’s home. The fixed stage set provokes an imagery of a doll trapped in its doll house, which metaphorically portrays Nora’s physical entrapment in …show more content…
Ibsen utilizes the main door as a symbol of the power to force one to grow up, a link to the reality. Therefore, visitors who come through the door are people who have previously encountered the menacing reality of the world: Mrs Linde, Dr. Rank and Krogstad, all of whom have experienced the hardships of life. However, Nora, who Ibsen describes as a child by using a simile to underline her naivety, does not use the main entrance despite having it within her reach. She does not use it unless it is for “small household cares”, oblivious to the fact that the door will lead to the real world.”(Ibsen 12) The hostile world is right next to Nora, but she “knows so little of the burdens and troubles of life.”(Ibsen 12) Nora finally realizes she has been just a “doll, which [Torvald] would in future treat with doubly gentle care, because [she] was so brittle and fragile,” and she learns that her fantastic life in a doll’s house has been only an illusion that does not exist in the reality but only in her naïve view of the world. (Ibsen 70) The audience witnesses Nora’s enlightenment of how she recognizes the main door as the pathway to freedom with more identity. Nora finally leaves her house using the main door, shattering the audiences and Helmer’s hope that she might come back with “the sound of a door shutting.”(Ibsen 72) The firm sound of door shutting assures the audience that Nora is completely free from her confinement. The main door signifies the end of her entrapment, but also symbolizes beginning of her journey to become an independent woman. The 19th century Norwegian would condemn Nora’s decision to abandon her duty, but to Ibsen, Nora is a woman who finally grasped self-discovery for the first time questioning social conventions in Norwegian society. Through the usage of the main door, Ibsen enhances the message that the resolve for one’s confinement is always near, and all one has to do to break free is