Examples Of Equality In A Doll's House By Henrik Ibsen

Equality is something that one should receive without having to ask for. In today’s day and age, we preach ‘equality for all’, a great movement trying to spread equality around the world. However, in the 1800’s things were different; equality or anything for that matter was given with the permission of a woman’s father if unmarried or her husband. In Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House, Ibsen elucidates an issue that wasn’t commonly spoken of in the 1800’s. Ibsen draws light to the many women that suffered tremendously because of the discriminatory duties placed upon them. The play A Doll’s House, tells a tale about a married couple with children that are satisfactory and happy together, or so it is perceived. In the period this play was written …show more content…
More so in a relationship between a husband and wife as they join to become one. Yet this crucial element was evidently missing from Torvald’s and Nora’s relationship. Many speculate that their relationship resembled a father-daughter relationship greater than the one between a husband and his wife. “Surely you can understand that being with Torvald is a little like being with papa" (47). Nora had always been in a relationship where a man controlled her as a child; first with her father and then with Torvald. Torvald even referred to his wife as a child, “The child [Nora] shall have her way” (56). There was no equality in their relationship, Nora was always treated as Torvald’s little doll-daughter rather than his wife. In addition to their relationship being like a father-daughter relationship, their relationship was also built maintaining a veneer of male dominance. “How painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald […] to know that he owed me anything! It would upset our mutual relations altogether" (14). Through Torvald’s demeaning words towards his wife, Nora began to believe that Torvald’s dominance over her was an important entity that needed to be protected. Furthermore, through the odd relationship they had and the dominance held over the other, Nora leaving was a good decision as she is finally free from being under the thumb of a man as she had been for most of her …show more content…
Nora for much of the play, demonstrated how childlike she can be as she was always treated as a man’s doll. Nora demonstrated her child-like behaviors whilst conversing with the nurse about the children, “if my little ones had no other mother, I’m sure you’d – oh what nonsense I’m talking. Go in and see them –. Now I have to – you’ll see tomorrow how beautiful I will look (55). While having a serious conversation regarding the future of her children, Nora got distracted by frivolous things such as her looks. However later in the play, upon realization of how fake her life was she began to understand that the state she was in, is not one a mother should be in. Nora knew that she had nothing to offer her kids as for much of her life, she was treated as a child. Nora treated her children as dolls, considering it was all she knew to do (75). Furthermore, as any other mother, Nora wishes the best for her children. It breaks her heart, but she knows that she is not the best thing for her children. Upon revelation to Torvald of her intentions of leaving, Nora tells Torvald that she has other duties just as sacred as her duties to her children; duties to herself (76). Nora was no longer the women that first opened the door to the stage, with this decision to leave Torvald, Nora took the first step in becoming an adult that is confident in herself and her ability to be a