Gender Roles In A Doll's House
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The Role of Women and Gender Representation in A Doll's House
A Doll’s House is a three-act play that was written by Henrik Ibsen. It is a 19th-century play that takes place in Norway. The main characters featured in the play are Torvald Helmer and Nora (a married couple), Doctor Rank (a family friend), Mrs. Linde (Nora’s childhood friend) and Nils Krogstad (works at a bank) where Torvald is now the Director. The play is set in one location: Nora Helmer and Torvald’s city apartment and over a three-day period; Christmas Eve, then Christmas Day and finally Boxing Day. In 1879, when Henrik wrote the play, a married woman was not permitted to borrow money before getting permission from her husband, …show more content…
The 19th-century man was considered the head of the house or rather family. Thus, anything he wanted or said, was like a law and had to be one. Primarily, ladies had no say at all in the household despite being the ones that performed all the inner household duties. The author, Henrik Ibsen, brought out these discriminating acts using absurd exaggeration in a bid to make the social gender norm look more ludicrous; may I write to you, Nora? No- never. You must not. But I must send you–Nothing, nothing. I must help you if you need it. No, I say. I take nothing from strangers… Nora! Nora…” (118-119). All of Nora’s decisions and moves throughout the play were controlled by Torvald, especially financial decisions. This treatment made Nora feel like she had been imprisoned in her own home, which made her mental state to go very low. She makes a decision of leaving her husband and children to discover her true self and to find freedom. Joan Scott, her writings, claims that Nora’s decision to abandon her family was almost a minor issue that went unnoticed in the 19th century (Scott), and Henrik used this to his advantage while authoring the play. It was such a controversial practice that the audiences that were available during Henrik’s time would have been surprised by Nora’s move (which shows us further how Ibsen used the idea of an outrageous exaggeration to overwhelm the audience or reader through criticizing the unfair gender norms that were rampantly prejudiced against
Institution Affiliation
Course
Date
The Role of Women and Gender Representation in A Doll's House
A Doll’s House is a three-act play that was written by Henrik Ibsen. It is a 19th-century play that takes place in Norway. The main characters featured in the play are Torvald Helmer and Nora (a married couple), Doctor Rank (a family friend), Mrs. Linde (Nora’s childhood friend) and Nils Krogstad (works at a bank) where Torvald is now the Director. The play is set in one location: Nora Helmer and Torvald’s city apartment and over a three-day period; Christmas Eve, then Christmas Day and finally Boxing Day. In 1879, when Henrik wrote the play, a married woman was not permitted to borrow money before getting permission from her husband, …show more content…
The 19th-century man was considered the head of the house or rather family. Thus, anything he wanted or said, was like a law and had to be one. Primarily, ladies had no say at all in the household despite being the ones that performed all the inner household duties. The author, Henrik Ibsen, brought out these discriminating acts using absurd exaggeration in a bid to make the social gender norm look more ludicrous; may I write to you, Nora? No- never. You must not. But I must send you–Nothing, nothing. I must help you if you need it. No, I say. I take nothing from strangers… Nora! Nora…” (118-119). All of Nora’s decisions and moves throughout the play were controlled by Torvald, especially financial decisions. This treatment made Nora feel like she had been imprisoned in her own home, which made her mental state to go very low. She makes a decision of leaving her husband and children to discover her true self and to find freedom. Joan Scott, her writings, claims that Nora’s decision to abandon her family was almost a minor issue that went unnoticed in the 19th century (Scott), and Henrik used this to his advantage while authoring the play. It was such a controversial practice that the audiences that were available during Henrik’s time would have been surprised by Nora’s move (which shows us further how Ibsen used the idea of an outrageous exaggeration to overwhelm the audience or reader through criticizing the unfair gender norms that were rampantly prejudiced against