“A Doll House” by Henrik Isben is play about the marriage of a husband and wife, Nora and Torvald Helmer. The opening scene tells us that it is Christmas Eve and Torvald is sort of mad at his wife for spending so much money on the presents this year, but he just received a new job at the bank and they can spend their money more freely now. A friend of Nora’s that she hasn’t seen in a few years shows up to their house and they talk for a while. Nora reveals a secret to her friend, telling her that she illegally borrowed money so Torvald and she could take their trip to Italy so Torvald would get over his illness. She told Torvald that the money came from her father, but she forged her father signature and says the debt is almost paid off. Krogstad, who works at the bank under Torvald, knows about this and blackmails Nora by telling her that he will reveal her secret is she doesn’t make sure is job at the bank is secured, because Torvald threatens to fire him.
Nora keeps this secret from Torvald for a long time and tries to talk him in to not firing Krogstad because she doesn’t want him to know. As she finally tells him, he flips out. Telling her that his reputation is in jeopardy and that she could be in big trouble if anyone every found out about this. Torvald says very mean things to Nora, calling her a hypocrite and a liar and tells her he doesn’t want her to raise his children. But soon after all of this is said, Krogstad’s mail to Torvald contains the forged signature and he is happy again. Torvald attempts to apologize to Nora and take back everything that he said. But something about the way Torvald snapped at her made her realize that they aren’t right for each other anyways. He treats her like a “doll” to be played with. Nora decides that the nanny can take care of the children. Torvald wants her to stay, but she says that she can’t and slams the door behind her, and leaves.
In my opinion both of them were wrong. Marriage is all about honesty and if they cannot be honest with one another then their marriage would never last. Torvald was wrong to snap at Nora that way, especially because the illegal crime that she committed was for him and he didn’t realize that. But Nora was also wrong to abandon her family at the end like she did. I could see her not wanting to be with Torvald anymore because she doesn’t want to be treated that way, but she shouldn’t just run out on her kids like that. A parent leaving their spouse because they don’t feel like they love them anymore is one thing, but saying you don’t want to have anything to do with the children is just flat out wrong and cold.
1 comment:
I agree that both Nora and Torvald were both wrong in different ways. But I believe Ibsen was trying to point out that there is need for all people to discover who they want to be and work hard to become that. When women are undermined they can be dishonest and this explains why Nora kept the secret.
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