What Is The Role Of Women In The 1800's

You must submit to your husband, you must let him talk first and wait to put your input in until he has gotten settled in the house, and you must be ready for whatever his needs are; the roles of women in the 1800’s. In the play A Doll’s House author Henrik Ibsen wrote about a married couple named Nora and Torvald their relationship from the start had readers very uncomfortable and feeling emotions towards their dynamics. Nora shows that she has a secret side by going behind Torvalds back and getting a loan, in doing so forging her dad's signature which in turn puts them secretly in debt that only Nora knows about. Through the play one goes through a whirlwind of how this secret plays out in the lives of other characters and how Torvald finding out about this lie shows his other side. Nora is very submissive to Torvald and Torvald loves his doll Nora. In this play Ibsen’s writing is very rebellious for the 1800’s, by showing Nora
walking out on her husband and children, showing Nora inappropriately flirting with one of her husband's greatest friends, and portraying Nora as different from the normal abiding women of the 1800’s. Torvald sees Nora as his precious jewel, she is like another trophy on his mantel by having the job, the perfect kids, and then Nora his perfect doll which is his cherry on top. Ibsen utilizes nicknames, stage directions, and secrets to show Nora as Torvalds possession.
Ibsen utilizes nicknames to show Nora as Torvalds possession. Throughout the play Torvald calls Nora many different nicknames that are very demeaning they bring many emotions out of the reader. In the first few lines of act one of A Doll’s House, Torvald says, “ What do they call my pretty little pet when it runs away with all the money” (4). Showing just how much Torvald doesn't care to call his wife Nora by her first name or even just a personal pronoun. Torvald used the words pretty little pet and “it” being extremely demeaning to Nora, but also Nora goes along with the names which Ibsen used to show how women were in the 1800’s. Torvald also called Nora nicknames that made her seem childlike which showed a different view of possession by depicting her as to small and young to be without him. In the fifteenth line of the first act of A Doll’s House Torvald says “ What a funny little one you are just like your father, Always on the look-out for money” (5). Ibsen was able to show how Torvald likes to call Nora things like little one to make her feel like a child that is not much without him by her side and not able to live without him. Making the reader see how she is his little possession he loves having by his side.
In addition Ibsen utilizes stage directions to show Nora as Torvalds possession.
Through the stage directions one is able to see more in depth into what the characters are doing at any point of the play. In the opening line of A Doll’s House, Nora is “toying with his coat buttons, and without looking at him” (4). Showing how Nora is doll like, and does childish acts towards Torvald; she is toying with his buttons like a little baby messing with anything on their parents. Doing it to show how submissive she is to Torvald especially when he has something she wants or needs. Torvald also does actions portray to the reader that he feels Nora is his possession. Act one of A Doll’s House, Torvald “wagging his finger at her” (5). Through wagging his finger he puts Nora lower than him and perceives her as a child again. Torvald is doing something that shows him shaming his doll; that does everything he says. Also shows him play a game we're he can make Nora feel bad or regretful if she had done something wrong and get the truth out of
Nora.
Furthermore Ibsen utilizes secrets to show Nora as Torvalds possession. This play is based off of a huge secret that Nora keeps form Torvald, but Nora has a few other minor secrets that Torvald does know about. In act one of A Doll’s House, Torvald says “My little sweet-tooth surely didn’t forget herself in town today” (5). Torvald is hinting at her craving of macarons secret but wants his doll to say if she did or did not by telling the truth. Torvald is showing how he feels Nora is his possession by phrasing a question that automatically is trying to make her feel bad, by asking the question with a negative negotiation that's setting her up for failure. Noras secret love of macarons allows for the reader to see more in depth into how Nora is his possession. In Act One of A Doll’s House, Nora says “ You must believe me!...I would never dream of doing anything you didn't want me to” (5). Nora shows the side of her we're she is seen by the reader as a possession she is talking to Torvald with a very submissive scared voicing. She is answering Torvalds questions of if she ate the macaroons, and through her answer showing she is his little doll that Torvald sees her as and addresses her as such. She wants him to know so bad that she would never do such a thing in the fear that he would get incredibly angry at her disobedience of his rules. Showing the power that Torvald has over Nora and how that power gets to Nora even when she has bursts of wanting to bend the rules.
Ibsen utilizes nicknames, stage directions, and secrets to show Nora as Torvalds possession. Though women had a certain ruling to abide by in the 1800’s that showed the men as the head and coming in first always to the wife. Ibsen shows a new side of what a women could do through the role of Nora, and also at the same time shows what women goes through in society by showing how she is a possession of Torvalds. Ibsen was able to make a game changing play that at the time was unheard of and started to change the thoughts of women. Torvald showed the power that he had of Nora, and how she was his possession but at the same time Nora slowly was coming into her own and did unheard of things by the end of the play that we're seen as unbelievable in the 1800’s.