How Does Nora's Attitude Change Throughout The Play

Improved Essays
The unappetizing aspects of society Ibsen viewed during his time culminate in the character of Torvald. Seemingly possessing fine characteristics on the surface, he quickly reveals the superficial and nonauthentic aspects of his heart. While desiring honor, respect, and care, he fails to deliver any of these things to his wife. Although he appears to believe in universal values, such as morality and duty, his derogatory treatment towards Nora and lack of empathy contradict the words from his lips (105). As early as the first lines of the play, the viewer sees his child-like and stereotypical perception of Nora, instead of viewing her as an independent and respectable woman (46). Furthermore, he completely condemns his wife after discovering the hidden letter from Krogstad, instead of acknowledging even the slightest amount of gratitude or thankfulness for her …show more content…
Having been married for a lengthy amount of time, Nora tries to express how she wants to be treated, but Torvald ignores her. Despite this, she diligently works on paying off her loan and almost finishes doing so. Thus, she sacrifices hidden time and energy for the mutual benefit of their relationship. Near the end of the crisis with Krogstad, she hopes fervently that her husband will not react negatively, but his outburst suddenly leads to an awakening. After all the pitiful treatment given by her husband, his failure to recognize her portion of their relationship leads her to begin walking away immediately (107). Although leaving her children with a single parent can be questioned as wrong, the reader understands why she finally leaves Torvald at the end. Having had patience for perhaps longer than expected given the circumstances, Nora does not hesitate when she makes her fateful decision. Because of her actions, Nora proves she can clearly discern the right time to wait and to

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Nora has no thought that Torvald would love her no matter what, she believes that just knowing what she did for him would ruin their marriage. Sometimes people believe that the lies they tell are for the sake of another, and that if one reveals the truth, it will pillage the foundation of the relationship. However, many times it is how long they hid their lie which destroys the relationship in the…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Torvald sees Nora as an incapable woman and much less so a spendthrift when in fact she can work and even understands the importance of money. This shows that Nora always had a different side to her but it was always hidden behind the facade she creates in front of Torvald. Nora feels trapped around Torvald as she was always treated like a child by him. When she was able to borrow money without any man’s consent when Torvald was ill, it became her “secret, which has been [her] joy and pride…” (27) showing that she was always proud of her accomplishment despite manipulating Krogstad and her father in the process. By doing so, Nora becomes a step closer into finding her true capabilities and learning what she felt was missing throughout her whole marriage, love and freedom.…

    • 1222 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Putting her duties as a woman come first, she leaves her husband. “As I am now, I am no wife for you.” Nora says. I’d say good job, Nora shouldn’t have to put up with being a doll and allowing Torvald to control…

    • 1063 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this scene Torvald says to Nora “I shall not allow you to bring up the children; I dare not trust them to you” (Ibsen). By doing this Torvald was essentially putting him in the role of taking care of the children and he completely stripped his wife from her womanhood. By Torvald doing this sudden act, he eventually destroyed the foundation of the family which led Nora to realize she could be treated better elsewhere. She didn’t need Torvald anymore. Even though Torvald does not realize it, he ignored the expected male role by destroying the identity of the family and changing what his role in the family would be in the…

    • 2107 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While Nora was stalling Torvald by distracting him, she was too “out of control” to the husband, and that told us about the oppression of women in past. Torvald’s respond to Dr. Rank contains strong tone of which he sees Nora as just doll meant to be controlled by its master and not have its own personality. In meanwhile, Nora’s friend was able to compromise with Krogstad and he sent another letter to recall his previous document but it would arrive little…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nora is a very playful person around her children. She is depicted as childish, and Torvald treats her like a child because of it. Nora, finally, realizes what Torvald is doing, and she is not happy that she is useless in the family. The relationship between Torvald and Nora starts to fall apart. Nora's relationship with her kids definitely causes a strain in her and Torvald's relationship because Torvald looks at Nora as if she is a child and incapable of anything.…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While Nora understands this, she is “still very like a child” as she resists change despite the flaws of her marriage. But she also desires freedom which requires tearing their relationship further. She is too anxious about the consequences to actively chase this freedom. Instead, she carries on wearing her dress to please Torvald and hide the truth. She merely hopes “a wonderful thing will happen” - Torvald will bear the burden of her foolish decision and they can preserve their artificial euphoria.…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This causes Nora to think she needs to leave her husband. She comes up with the plan to kill herself. She thinks this plan will save the families reputation. This plan is hinted at when she sees her husband reading Krogstad’s letter. She cries out, “"Never to see him again.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In relating that she is proud of what she has done, she reveals that she longs to come out from Torvald’s shadow and contribute. As the first act continues, we are introduced Nils Krogstad, the man who leant Nora the funds necessary to save her husband. During a conversation with Krogstad, Nora intimates, perhaps inaccurately, that she has some influence over her husband, thus showing once more that it is important to her that she be seen as a contributor. In spite of her wish to be seen as her own person, she still has enough reverence for her husband, in the first act, to make clear in the aforementioned conversations that Torvald can never find out about her deal with…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Nora's Trip To Torvald

    • 249 Words
    • 1 Pages

    The Victorian era was a restrictive society that promoted patriarchy, hence showing the social construct of roles and relationships. Ibsen endorses his belief that his restrictive society must stop overlooking women and promote equality in relationships. ‘’Did she visit the sweetie shop?’’ ‘’No Torvald. I promise’’.…

    • 249 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She asserts “I am no wife for you” and that due to his hubris, Torvald has now “had his doll taken away from you.” She goes on to then explain to Torvald that “I set you free from all your obligations” in regards to the end of their marriage. This is a drastic change from the traits Nora displayed in the beginning of the play where she was dependent on Torvald for all things. She has now liberated herself from his grasp and the play ends with her leaving, never to be spoken to again. Nora’s dramatic shift in confidence and character is spurred on by her realization that she does not depend on Torvald on as deep a level as she once thought and that she is able function as an independent woman.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    But rather than the endearing classics one may expect from the era such as ‘sweetheart’ or ‘darling,’ he likens her to animals. In the very first line he calls her ‘skylark” and later Torvald calls her a play bird. While, on the surface this may not seem like something out of the ordinary, it symbolizes a lack of respect that Torvald has for Nora. Errol Durbach agrees in “A Doll 's House: Ibsen 's Myth of Transformation” that, “Torvald’s first line in the play, simultaneously loving and demeaning, a mixture of genuine pleasure and irritating cuteness on hearing Nora return to their love nest: “Is that my little sky-lark chirruping out there?”…

    • 1084 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is evident that she is indeed a strong woman that has sacrificed much to help her family, something that she is proud of as stated with the lines, “Now I will show you that I too have something to be proud and glad of. It was I who saved Torvald’s life” (Ibsen, 10). These lines show that Nora isn’t completely a ditz, as many characters in the play would think, but is in fact, quite a capable young woman who will do what is necessary to protect her family. Seeing this hint that she in actually quite capable is something that makes her final transition at the end more…

    • 1148 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In a dominate world lead by men, Nora Krogstad did have much of a choice about what she did, what she bought, or even what she ate. Nora, being a women in the 1879’s had no clue just how trapped she was by the men in her life. After eight long years, Nora’s realization that she was living an unhappy and plastic life, she was able to prove that with the little power women had, she was able to overcome her fears. Nora proves to be living a life dominated by multiple male presence by how often she tells lies, how she acts around men versus women, and how she treats her children. It is obvious that Nora enjoys things that Torvald does not approve of.…

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Even if not for Torvald, there is possibility for her to return for her children. Furthermore, Nora may feel a sense of freedom then, but outside, society still has the same view against women. The marriage of Torvald and Nora has been dysfunctional from the start. Neither of them realized it until it was too late, which is what brought them to such a regrettable finale. Nora, though not treated as equal by her husband, did not notice it.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays