Power Shift in the Dollhouse
Changing and discovering who we are is what everyone does everyday, but can people and society influence shape who we are? A Doll’s House is a play written by Henrik Ibsen in 1879. The main character of the play is Nora, who goes through a big transformation, from being the obedient helpless wife, to deciding to leave and discover herself, freeing herself from the dollhouse she lives in to discover the woman she will become.
Nora’s behavior was a reflection of the way she was treated. In act I, The relationship between Nora and Torvald was very immature. Torvald calls her with repulsive affectionate terms that suggest that she is beautiful, stupid, and helpless, like little squirrel and featherhead. Nora did not doubt his words. Also, in that act, she was eating a macaroon, which her husband prohibited, and she ate without his knowledge. The power in their relationship was not balanced; the husband was very dominant to an extant where the wife was not treated like an adult woman.
In Act III, Nora had the realization that her life was a lie, her husband was not who she thought he was, and knew that she is more than a powerless doll. Then Nora started thinking about leaving. Nora said “I must try to educate …show more content…
When Nora decided to leave her husband he told her “Before all else you are a wife and a mother.” Some may look at a woman like Torvald, only a wife to a husband and the mother of that man’s children. Women are held responsible for taking care of their families, and often they are seen no more than that. “Can you understand your place in your own home?” Torvald has questioned Nora. If a man left his children he would not be blamed like how a woman would be. It is understood that a mother play a major role in raising her kids, but so does the father. It might look bad if a man left his family, but unreasonable if a woman did
Changing and discovering who we are is what everyone does everyday, but can people and society influence shape who we are? A Doll’s House is a play written by Henrik Ibsen in 1879. The main character of the play is Nora, who goes through a big transformation, from being the obedient helpless wife, to deciding to leave and discover herself, freeing herself from the dollhouse she lives in to discover the woman she will become.
Nora’s behavior was a reflection of the way she was treated. In act I, The relationship between Nora and Torvald was very immature. Torvald calls her with repulsive affectionate terms that suggest that she is beautiful, stupid, and helpless, like little squirrel and featherhead. Nora did not doubt his words. Also, in that act, she was eating a macaroon, which her husband prohibited, and she ate without his knowledge. The power in their relationship was not balanced; the husband was very dominant to an extant where the wife was not treated like an adult woman.
In Act III, Nora had the realization that her life was a lie, her husband was not who she thought he was, and knew that she is more than a powerless doll. Then Nora started thinking about leaving. Nora said “I must try to educate …show more content…
When Nora decided to leave her husband he told her “Before all else you are a wife and a mother.” Some may look at a woman like Torvald, only a wife to a husband and the mother of that man’s children. Women are held responsible for taking care of their families, and often they are seen no more than that. “Can you understand your place in your own home?” Torvald has questioned Nora. If a man left his children he would not be blamed like how a woman would be. It is understood that a mother play a major role in raising her kids, but so does the father. It might look bad if a man left his family, but unreasonable if a woman did