This picture depicts the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly. This transformation takes place in 4 stages: resting stage, growth stage, transformation stage and leap stage. In the play “A doll’s house” written by Henrik Ibsen, the main character Nora also goes through transformations similar to the caterpillar and eventually reaching self-recognition, and I am going to analyze this similarity through the lens of feminist criticism.
The first and second stages of the transformation of a caterpillar are resting stage and growth stage, where a caterpillar starts to make a chrysalis or a cocoon where the caterpillar rests (resting stage). In this stage, the caterpillar starts to undergo minor changes in the chrysalis, its body structures …show more content…
This is the step for Nora to reach self-recognition, after Nora’s husband knows about Nora’s forgery of signature, Nora is expecting him to take on the responsibility for her, since she always believe that her husband will help her out in difficult situations, however, instead of helping her, he accuses and forbids Nora from being close to their children. At the point, Nora finally realize that she is just a entertainment of her husband. She is never happy in this house, all of the happiness she used to have is just a show put up by her to entertain her husband. After realizing this, she begins to seek self-independence and recognition by walking out of the “doll house” that she is kept in and breaking free from all the social standards of this patriarchal society, just like how the caterpillar breaks free from the chrysalis and embraces the world that it belongs in. This is shown through this quote : “I believe that before anything else I'm a human being -- just as much as you are... or at any rate I shall try to become one. I know quite well that most people would agree with you, Torvald, and that you have warrant for it in books; but I can't be satisfied any longer with what most people say, and with what's in books. I must think things out for myself and try to understand them.” (Ibsen 96) It shows that
The first and second stages of the transformation of a caterpillar are resting stage and growth stage, where a caterpillar starts to make a chrysalis or a cocoon where the caterpillar rests (resting stage). In this stage, the caterpillar starts to undergo minor changes in the chrysalis, its body structures …show more content…
This is the step for Nora to reach self-recognition, after Nora’s husband knows about Nora’s forgery of signature, Nora is expecting him to take on the responsibility for her, since she always believe that her husband will help her out in difficult situations, however, instead of helping her, he accuses and forbids Nora from being close to their children. At the point, Nora finally realize that she is just a entertainment of her husband. She is never happy in this house, all of the happiness she used to have is just a show put up by her to entertain her husband. After realizing this, she begins to seek self-independence and recognition by walking out of the “doll house” that she is kept in and breaking free from all the social standards of this patriarchal society, just like how the caterpillar breaks free from the chrysalis and embraces the world that it belongs in. This is shown through this quote : “I believe that before anything else I'm a human being -- just as much as you are... or at any rate I shall try to become one. I know quite well that most people would agree with you, Torvald, and that you have warrant for it in books; but I can't be satisfied any longer with what most people say, and with what's in books. I must think things out for myself and try to understand them.” (Ibsen 96) It shows that