When people read Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” a great number of people sense that Nora abandoned her children when she left Helmer. A mother is seen as a prominent character in how the child grows up and the love of a mother is the greatest gift of all. However, looking deeper within the story, Ibsen exposes the role of the father in a household. Hemler, who is supposed to keep the family together, brings corruption into the home by controlling and driving Nora away, leaving the children abandoned. By using examples of each of the character’s fathers in his article, “Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House,’” Paul Rosefeldt allows the reader to take a glimpse into what a father can bring into the home: corruption and dysfunction.
A mother role in the household is very significant. While Nora …show more content…
Ibsen also revealed the role of each of the character’s fathers in their development. In Paul Rosefeldt’s article, he lists several specific ways the fathers affected the main characters. Mrs. Linde’s father left her and her family, and the result was her marrying a man she did not care for. She was forced to “seek a new father figure in a rich husband” (Rosefeldt). With the husband becoming bankrupt, Ibsen begins to defame the role of the father (Rosefeldt). Anne Marie bore an illegitimate child. The father’s absence “lies at the bottom of her plight” (Rosefeldt). Krogstad commits forgery in the story and tries to cover it up. Being a father is “connected with a moral disease that will infect and destroy the lives of the children” (Rosefeldt). Dr. Rank’s father had mistresses contracted syphilis, which Dr. Rank inherited. Helmer blames Nora’s behavior on her father. He comments that the deceitful behavior of her father has been passed down to her (Rosefeldt). In this plot, Ibsen depicts a society where laws belong to men, and a woman’s behavior will be judged at the man’s convenience. Fatherhood in this drama is corrupt and absent.
A mother role in the household is very significant. While Nora …show more content…
Ibsen also revealed the role of each of the character’s fathers in their development. In Paul Rosefeldt’s article, he lists several specific ways the fathers affected the main characters. Mrs. Linde’s father left her and her family, and the result was her marrying a man she did not care for. She was forced to “seek a new father figure in a rich husband” (Rosefeldt). With the husband becoming bankrupt, Ibsen begins to defame the role of the father (Rosefeldt). Anne Marie bore an illegitimate child. The father’s absence “lies at the bottom of her plight” (Rosefeldt). Krogstad commits forgery in the story and tries to cover it up. Being a father is “connected with a moral disease that will infect and destroy the lives of the children” (Rosefeldt). Dr. Rank’s father had mistresses contracted syphilis, which Dr. Rank inherited. Helmer blames Nora’s behavior on her father. He comments that the deceitful behavior of her father has been passed down to her (Rosefeldt). In this plot, Ibsen depicts a society where laws belong to men, and a woman’s behavior will be judged at the man’s convenience. Fatherhood in this drama is corrupt and absent.