Henrik Ibsen’s a Doll’s House Literary Analysis

Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House As time passes, societal norms change. With each era, these societal norms create expectations for people and the way they interact with one another. The expectations placed by society create rifts and disconnects between marital partners. During Ibsen’s A Doll House, the societal norm is for the man to be the head of the household on all matters. These norms impact marriages negatively when the spouses do not fit the mold they are expected to. Ibsen uses the interactions various characters such as Krogstat, her children, their nanny and Tovalt have between Nora to show how societal norms effect relationships and marriages negatively. Nora’s interactions with Krogstad vary throughout the play. In the beginning, Nora was fearful of Krogstad and the knowledge of the secret he held. As the play progresses, Nora’s fear turns into confidence and awakens her to see the truth about her marriage. Society holds genders to different standards than one another. Nora’s societal role is to raise her children and be a subservient wife to her husband. Nora unknowingly steps outside of her role to save her husband and is bound to secrecy due to the expectations society placed on women. During this age women are not supposed to borrow money. Taking out loans is left to the men, who pose as the head of the household, to decide and do on their own without consultation from their wives. Nora’s fear of Krogstad telling her husband their secret is displayed when Krogstad visits. Ibsen writes:
N: (Stepping toward him, tense, her voice a whisper): You? What is it? Why do you want to speak to my husband?
K: Bank business – after a fashion. I have a small job in the investment bank, and I hear now your husband is going to be our chief –
N: In other words, it’s –
K: Just dry business, Mrs. Helmer. Nothing but that.
N: Yes, then please be good enough to step into the study. (She nods indifferently, as she sees him out by the hall door, then returns and begins stirring up the stove.) (Ibsen 1675-6)
Nora tries to hold onto her secret and keep the balance within her marriage but Krogstad’s presence threatens that balance. Critic Guo Yuehua writes:
Under Torvald 's masculine power, Nora is deprived of her identity and dignity and has to be conformable to her husband 's ideology. She must keep secrets from Torvald, such as eating macaroons and borrowing the money from Krogstad, as she knows clearly that Torvald wouldn 't bear to see his wife engaged in any deceitful actions, which, to him, are the source of all the evils at home that would poison his children, because "Almost everyone who has gone to the bad early in life has had a deceitful mother"(qtd. in Yuehua)
The societal norm for this era is that women are subservient to men and that men make the decisions for the household. By unknowingly defying this norm, women put themselves in a position for judgment and cruelty placed upon them by the societal ranks. If by chance the husband were to find out about such a defiance by their wife, they would have grounds to divorce them and subject them to a life of being withdrawn from the comforts offered by the higher levels of society. Fear turns to confidence once a decision has been made regarding one’s circumstance. Nora’s fear of the secret and Krogstad revealing that secret to Torvald is no longer an issue for Nora. She feels confident that Torvald will react a particular way and she has a plan to divert his suspected plan of action. Herik Ibsen writes:
N: Well?
Mrs. L: Left town.
N: I could see by your face.
Mrs. L: He’ll be home tomorrow evening. I wrote him a note.
N: You shouldn’t have. Don’t try to stop anything now. After all, it’s a wonderful joy, this waiting for a miracle.
Mrs. L: What is it you’re waiting for?
N: Oh, you can’t understand that. Go in to them. I’ll be along in a moment.
(MRS. LINDE goes into the dining room. NORA stands a short while as if composing herself; then she looks at her watch.)
N: Five. Seven hours to midnight. Twenty-four hours to the midnight after, and then the tarantella’s done. Seven and twenty-four? Thirty-one hours to live. (Ibsen 1701)
This critic writes, “It is against conventional middle-class values that Nora rebels. Of course, she has been made to believe that she was happy, that she was an ideal wife, and that her husband loves her, and she was living with the belief that an ideal husband like hers would, if the necessity arose, sacrifice his life to save her reputation” (Goonetilleke). Despite the social standards of marriages, many women feel as though their husbands care for them beyond the expectations placed on them by society and will stand up for their wives no matter what the cost. When a threat is presented, the fear of that threat is turned into confidence that the husband, the knight in shining armor, will be there to defend their wives honor and reputation. While some men do stand up for their wives no matter the social cost, many will not and did not take the blame and fall from society due to their wives mishaps and misfortunes. Many would cave under pressure, creating a rift in their marriages by disappointing their wives. The expectations placed on marriages place the men in awkward positions and create a deteriorating circumstance with in the marriage. A woman’s place in society is to abide by her husband and raise their children. To raise children in the proper fashion, a woman must be honorable and loyal to her husband. If she is not, she is no longer considered fit to raise her children without tainting them with her sinful ways. This is shown in the play as Nora’s interactions with her children change as she realizes her mistakes. Nora’s interaction with her children at the beginning of this play is caring, loving and playful. By the end of the play, social standards have seeped their way into her head and she no longer feels fit to be around the children for fear of infecting the children with her disgraceful behavior. A woman’s natural role in her life is to be a mother to her children and raise them the way she feels morally bound to. During the nineteenth century, many women raised their children alongside a nanny. Nora’s role during the beginning of the play was one of a loving and playful mother. Ibsen writes:
(In a ripple of small talk the company moves out into the hall; children’s voices are heard outside on the steps.)
N: There they are! There they are! (She runs to open the door. The children come in with their nurse, ANNE-MARIE.) Come in, come in! (Bends down and kisses them) Oh, you darlings-! Look at them, Kristine. Aren’t they lovely!
R: No loitering in the draft here.
H: Come, Mrs. Linde – this place is unbearable now for anyone but mothers.
(DR. RANK, HELMER, and MRS. LINDE go down the stairs. ANNE-MARIE goes into the living room with the children. NORA follows, after closing the hall door.)
N: How fresh and strong you look. Oh, such red cheeks you have! Like apples and roses. (The children interrupt her throughout the following.) And it was so much fun? That’s wonderful. Really? You pulled both Emmy and Bob on the sled? Imagine, sweet little doll baby! No, don’t bother, Anne-Marie – I’ll undress them myself. Oh yes, let me. It’s such fun. Go in and rest; you look half frozen. There’s hot coffee waiting for you on the stove. (The nurse goes into the room to the left. NORA takes the children’s winter things off, throwing them about, while the children talk to her all at once.) Is that so? A big dog chased you? But it didn’t bite? No, dogs never bite little, lovely doll babies. Don’t peek in the packages, Ivar! What is it? Yes, wouldn’t you like to know. No, no, it’s an ugly something. Well? Shall we play? What shall we play? Hide-and-seek? Yes, let’s play hide-and-seek. Bob must hide first. I must? Yes, let me hide first. (Laughing and shouting, she and the children play in and out of the living room and the adjoining room to the right. At last NORA hides under the table. The children come storming in, search, but cannot find her, then hear her muffled laughter, dash over to the table, lift the cloth and find her. Wild shouting. She creeps forwards as if to scare them. More shouts. Meanwhile, a knock at the hall door; no one has noticed it. Now the door half opens, and KROGSTAD appears. He waits a moment; the game goes on.) (Ibsen 1679)
S.H. Siddall writes:
Nineteenth century Norway, like Victorian England, was often more formal in parent-child behaviour. Indeed, the presence of a nanny as substitute for mother was far more frequent then than now. Nora’s playfulness would seem a little unconventional. Is she being herself when allowed to be a child with her children? Or does it cover an anxiety about her identity and relationships? (Siddall)
While mothers were expected to raise their children, they were not expected to be playful and childish with them. The mothers and nannies raised the children alongside one another. As long as the mother is perceived as suitable and not going to influence the children negatively, they are encouraged to assist the nanny in raising their children. When a parent is no longer accepted into society, it is assumed that the parent would be a negative influence on their children and would poison them with their dishonorable ways. Once Nora discovers how disgraceful her behavior was, she plots to remove herself from her children and begins to limit her time with the children while she is in the home. Nora decides that the nanny is much more suitable to raise her children than she is. Henrik Ibsen writes:
N: Oh worse things could happen – How are the children?
A: The poor mites are playing with their Christmas presents, but –
N: Do they ask for me much?
A: They’re so used to having Mama around, you know.
N: Yes, but Anne-Marie, I can’t be together with them as much as I was.
A: Well, small children get used to anything.
N: You think so? Do you think they’d forget their mother if she was gone for good?
A: Oh, mercy – gone for good! (Ibsen 1686)
As Critic Terry Otten writes, “He defines Nora 's conflict. Wanting to be a proper doll wife, she discovers she ‘must’ reject her spurious persona. Ibsen set out to show her ‘Mental conflict ... she loses faith in her moral right and ability to bring up her children’ (Otten). Women who have done wrong, usually do not feel guilty just for themselves and the act they have committed but for the wrong they have done to the repercussions the family, especially the children could endure. With being a tainted individual, they would not want their wrongdoings to influence their children later in their lives. During the nineteenth century, women and men were not equal. Men were believed to be more intelligent, rational and better suited to handle business than women. A woman’s place in life was to abide by her father until she found a suitable husband to abide by. Some women find great pleasure in this lifestyle at first but as time passes they start to feel resentful towards their husbands for not considering them as equal parts in the family and marriage. These social standards cause friction between the man and wife and possibly cause many women to venture out on their own to see who they really are outside of their father, husband and children. Nora’s relationship with Torvald is very much like this. She is happy in the beginning of the play, believing that Torvald would do anything to protect her and her children. At the end of the play, Nora realizes that Torvald does not love her as his equal and that she is just his little plaything that he commands and showers with love when he feels like it. During this era, women are expected by society to conform to their standards of abiding by their fathers or husbands. Most women do and are quite content in such a lifestyle. Ibsen writes:
H (from the study): Is that my little lark twittering out there?
N (busy opening some packages): Yes, it is.
H: Is that my squirrel rummaging around?
N: Yes!
H: When did my squirrel get in?
N: Just now. (Putting the macaroon bag in her pocket and wiping her mouth) Do come in, Torvald, and see what I’ve bought.
H: Can’t be disturbed. (After a moment he opens the door and peers in, pen in hand.) Bought, you say? All that there? Has the little spendthrift been out throwing away money again? (Ibsen 1667)
Critic Christine Kiebuzinska writes:
Throughout Ibsen 's play, we see Torvald carefully creating the terms and appropriate postures of his fictive world out of the moral maxims on debt, responsibility, the telling of lies, the aesthetic differences between knitting and embroidery, and even on eating macaroons. Nora in turn has become an accomplished actress in sustaining her fiction of youthfulness and irresponsibility by acting out the prettifying, self-deluding fiction of innocence for the eight years of their marriage. (Kiebuzinska)
Women do as best as they can to appease their husbands, and when they can no longer stand being restricted from such mundane things like macaroons, they find ways to hide what they are doing behind their husbands’ backs. A lot of the time, such little things do not seem as though they are being as deceitful as the husbands may think if the wives were to be found out. This eventually could cause resentment. The wives begin to resent the husbands for being their keeper. Women begin to dislike the idea of being considered less of an adult by being ruled over by their husbands. Nora’s relationship with Torvald changes drastically during the final act of the play. Many women have great expectations of their husbands, to which very few men actually live up to. Henrik Ibsen writes:
H (striding about): Oh, what an awful awakening! In all these eight years – she who was my pride and joy – a hypocrite, a liar – worse, worse – a criminal! How infinitely disgusting it all is! The shame! (NORA says nothing and goes on looking straight at him. He stops in front of her.) I should have suspected something of the kind. I should have known. All your father’s flimsy values – Be still! All your father’s flimsy values have come out in you. No religion, no morals, no sense of duty – Oh, how I’m punished for letting him off! I did it for your sake, and you repay me like this.
N: Yes, like this.
H: Now you’ve wrecked all my happiness – ruined my whole future. Oh, it’s awful to think of. I’m in a cheap little grafter’s hands; he can do anything he wants with me, ask for anything, play with me like a puppet – and I can’t breathe a word. I’ll be swept down miserably into the depths on account of a featherbrained woman.….
N: I have to stand completely alone, if I’m ever going to discover myself and the world out there. So I can’t go on living with you.
H (Jumping up): Nora, Nora!
N: I want to leave right away. Kristine should put me up for the night –
H: You’re insane! You’ve no right! I forbid you!
N: From here on, there’s no use forbidding me anything. I’ll take with me whatever is mine. I don’t want a think from you, either now or later.
H: What kind of madness is this!
N: Tomorrow I’m going home – I mean, home where I came from. It’ll be easier up there to find something to do.
H: Oh, you blind, incompetent child!
N: I must learn to be competent, Torvald. (Ibsen 1709, 1712-3)
Critic Sheri Metzger writes:
Because Torvald views his public persona as more important that his private, he is unable to understand or appreciate the suffering of his wife. His reaction to the threat of public exposure is centered on himself. It is his social stature, his professional image, and not his private life which concern him most. For Nora to emerge as an individual she must reject the life that society mandates. To do so, she must assume control over her life; yet in the nineteenth century, women had no power. (Metzger)
Most women expect their husbands to protect them above all else and to put themselves in harms way if necessary to shield their wife. When that is not what the man does when danger presents itself to his wife, the wife is surprised by the man she calls her husband. She realizes that he is not the man she has built in her head and that she really has no idea who this man is. This causes friction between the man and wife, occasionally causing one spouse to leave the other. The expectations placed on relationships by society create friction and discontentment with in marriages. Many people who live their lives to please the masses tend to forget to please the one person who they claim is the most important in their lives. Henrik Ibsen displays this behavior in A Doll’s House. This is portrayed throughout the play by using the interactions that Nora has with various characters. Nora’s interactions with Krogstad show how she turns fear into confidence. Her interactions with her children and the nanny gradually lessen as the play goes on. The most important interactions of the play are of Nora and Torvald. Nora goes from a subservient wife and mother to a strong willed woman on a journey to discover herself.

Works Cited
Goonetillek, D.C.R.A. “A Doll’s House: Overview.” Reference Guide to World Literature. Ed. Lesley Henderson. 2nd Ed. New York: St. James Press. 1995. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 July 2013

Ibsen, Henrik. “A Doll’s House.” Diyanni, Robert. Literature Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama. 6th Ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 1666-1716. Print.

Kiebuzinska, Christine. "Elfriede Jelinek 's Nora Project: Or what Happens when Nora Meets the Capitalists." Modern Drama 41.1 (1998): 134-45. ProQuest. Web. 7 July 2013.

Metzger, Sheri. "An overview of A Doll 's House." Drama for Students. Detroit: Gale. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 July 2013.

Otten, Terry. "How Old is Dr. Rank?" Modern Drama 41.4 (1998): 509-22. ProQuest. Web. 5 July 2013.

Siddall, S.H. “Humanities Insights: Henrik Ibsen: A Doll 's House.” Penrith, GBR: Humanities-Ebooks, LLP, 2008. 18. Ebrary. Web. 5 July 2013.

Yuehua, Guo. “Gender Struggle Over Ideological Power in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House/LA LUTTE DES SEXES SUR LE POUVOIR IDEOLOGIQUE DANS MAISON DE POUPEE D’IBSEN.” Canadian Social Science 5.1. 2009. 79-87. ProQuest. Web. 2 July 2013.

Cited: Goonetillek, D.C.R.A. “A Doll’s House: Overview.” Reference Guide to World Literature. Ed. Lesley Henderson. 2nd Ed. New York: St. James Press. 1995. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 July 2013 Ibsen, Henrik. “A Doll’s House.” Diyanni, Robert. Literature Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama. 6th Ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 1666-1716. Print. Kiebuzinska, Christine. "Elfriede Jelinek 's Nora Project: Or what Happens when Nora Meets the Capitalists." Modern Drama 41.1 (1998): 134-45. ProQuest. Web. 7 July 2013. Metzger, Sheri. "An overview of A Doll 's House." Drama for Students. Detroit: Gale. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 July 2013. Otten, Terry. "How Old is Dr. Rank?" Modern Drama 41.4 (1998): 509-22. ProQuest. Web. 5 July 2013. Siddall, S.H. “Humanities Insights: Henrik Ibsen: A Doll 's House.” Penrith, GBR: Humanities-Ebooks, LLP, 2008. 18. Ebrary. Web. 5 July 2013. Yuehua, Guo. “Gender Struggle Over Ideological Power in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House/LA LUTTE DES SEXES SUR LE POUVOIR IDEOLOGIQUE DANS MAISON DE POUPEE D’IBSEN.” Canadian Social Science 5.1. 2009. 79-87. ProQuest. Web. 2 July 2013.