Gender Roles And Social Norms In A Doll's House

Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll House, was written in 1879. During that time period gender roles and social norms were much different than they are today. This play is based on and formed around strict roles of females and males, as well as expectations from the time period such as keeping reputation and economic status levels. In the beginning acts of the play Torvald, the husband of Nora is seen as the authority in the household. Torvald is very concerned with his reputation and his status in the town. He has received a new job at the bank and he won’t let anything ruin it no matter what the costs. He was full of pride and thought highly of only himself. Nora on the other had was complete opposite. She did not have pride in the things she did …show more content…
Ann-Marie, the family broke social norms by giving up her own children in order to take a job and to work to earn money. Kristine, Nora’s childhood friend broke social norms when she came to the Helmers asking for assistance in getting a job, this was not heard of in the 19th century. Kristine also pursued a relationship that had no financial security. Dr. Rank, who was Torvalds best friend was not the common man we see looking back in the 1800’s. He did not follow the stereotypical gender role. Dr. Rank was very unconcerned about what others thought of him, and in this time period a man 's reputation was vital. This man Dr. Rank very different from Torvard who did not break any social norms or gender role stereotypes. He also knows he has to accept his fate and does not have a problem with it. The character that broke the most social norm stereotypes was of course, Nora. The first social norm we see Nora break is when she borrowed money from Dr.Rank and illegally forged a signature in order to help her husband. In the century of the play women were not allowed to borrow money as handling money was the man 's job. Nora was also very manipulative to Torvald and Krogstad which makes her come off as smarter than most housewives at the time. The biggest social norm that Nora broke was at the very end of the play when she finally stood up for herself and told her husband that she could not do …show more content…
From the very beginning she was stuck following the gender roles and social norms of the 19th Century and treated like a doll. Nora was treated like a doll her entire life, starting with her father. In the beginning of the play Nora did not know her true identity, only the identity that her husband gave her. Stereotypical social norms and gender roles completely took over Nora’s life and eventually forced her to leave her husband and kids in order to find herself. Nora can not be happy for herself when she has to be the perfect wife and meet all of society 's expectations. Nora gets to the point where she makes up false happiness during moments that should be happy, she has to mentally force happiness. At the end of the play Nora finally decided she had to leave her husband and children to find happiness. Although this may seem unthinkable to some, it was the only way Nora believed she could find her true identity. She couldn’t be treated like a doll anymore or forced to do