Essay On Torvald As A Foil In A Doll's House

Henrik Ibsen play, “A Doll House” is considered to be one of the most controversial plays written in the setting of the Victoria age. He characterized his character to follow and to challenge the norms of society at the same time and to play off of each other. They both became lawyers, married and then got jobs at a bank instead of following a more legal career. This is where their immediate similarities end. A foil is a character which illuminates the positive and negative qualities of a main character. Krogstad does this for Torvald because they have many of the same experiences and skills but they respond very differently to situation. Krogstad highlights Torvalds’s selfishness and cold heart. When faced with financial difficulties, Krogstad committed a crime in order to get out from under them. He acknowledged his crime and worked very hard to redeem himself in the eyes of the society. However, Torvald would not forgive Krogstad for his past mistakes and fired him. Although Krogstad appears to be a bad person, he is more concerned for his children unlike Torvald who only worries about his appearance. In response, Krogstad threatened to tell Torvald that Nora, Torvald's wife, committed a similar crime. He changed his mind about blackmail when he found love, but he was too late. When Torvald discovered that Nora committed a
similar crime to Krogstad's, he was unforgiving with her too. The fact that Nora committed her crime in order to prevent Torvald's death was unimportant to him. Motives do not matter to Torvald. When threatened with blackmail, he goes into a rage that his wife has disgraced him. He has no real loyalty to Nora; she is what might be considered his "trophy wife." There was no instinct, as Nora had hoped, that Torvald would offer to take or share the blame as Nora committed her crime for his sake. Essentially, Torvald's relationship with Krogstad highlights Torvald's inability to forgive and his unwillingness to endure hardship for the sake of love.
Unlike Torvald, Krogstad has the inner strength to admit his mistake, to forego his vengeance, put aside his anger, and make a fresh start.
Clearly, it is Krogstad who is the stronger and, ultimately, more admirable than Torvald. Torvald however, does live in this “perfect” world in his eyes, while the audience believes that Krogstad does not view his life like that because he seeks out revenge on Nora until he finds love which changes his whole perspective about life. In conclusion, both men do have similarities and differences but it is important to understand how Ibsen tried to portray each character for the specific plot that he wrote
out.