The play opens on the day before Christmas. Nora returns home from shopping; although her husband is anticipating a promotion and raise, he still chides her excessive spending. In response, Nora flirts, pouts, and cajoles her husband as a child might and indeed Torvald addresses her as he might a child. Later that same day Mrs. Linde comes for a visit. Nora has not seen her dear friend in a long time and they have a lot of catching up to do. Nora confides in Mrs. Linde about some money that she borrowed from krogstag, a man that works for her husband at the bank. Krogstag has a shady past yet he is trying so hard to make a better life for him and his sons. Mrs. Linde's then confides in Nora that she married a rich man so that she could take care of her sick mother and her brother. She tells Nora that he passed away three years ago and left her penniless and that she has came to her hoping that she would talk to her husband about getting her a job. Krogstad also comes by for a visit to tell Nora she needs to repay him sooner or he will be forced to tell her husband. Nora does get Mrs. Linde a job but later finds out that it was Krogstad's job and that her husband fired him. After Krogstad is dismissed from his post at the bank he comes back and demands Nora get him his job back. He explains to Nora that he knows she forged her fathers name on the note and that if she does not get his job back for him he will be forced to reveal this to her husband. Nora pleads with Torvald to reinstate Krogstad, but he refuses. She is frantic, imagining that once Krogstad reveals the truth, Torvald will himself assume the blame for the forgery and be ruined. After hearing that Trovald will not reinstate his job Krogstad slips a letter into the lock box explaining everything to Torvald.
Nora, is the beloved, adored wife of Torvald Helmer. He is an admirable man, rigidly honest, of high moral ideals, and as it seems passionately devoted to his wife and children. Nora considers herself fortunate to be married to such a wonderful man. Indeed, she worships her husband, believes in him and is sure that if ever her safety should be compromised, Torvald, would perform the miracle of miracles. When a woman loves as Nora does, nothing else matters; least of all, social, legal or moral considerations. Therefore, when her husband's falls ill, there is no question in Nora's mind for her to go behind her his back and forge her father's name to a note to borrow money in order to take her sick husband to Italy.
Nora is light-hearted and friendly woman and she does not seem to have an identity of her own. Her husband does not call her by her name but instead he calls her by pet names he has given her, squirrel, Sky-Lark song bird. He calls her these because of the way she is, she sings and dances like a bird and hides treats like a squirrel. This may not seem so bad, everyone seems to have pet names for there loved ones. In this case Nora struggles with her identity so much that she will even refer to herself with these pet names. Nora is treated like a child in her home being told she can not have sweets and treats, even though she has bore three children. She is patted on the head and looked down upon, she is not involved in the matters of the home except for when it comes to the children and the housekeeping, and she is not even allowed to check the mail. Her purpose in life is to be happy for her husband's sake, for the sake of the children; to sing, dance, and play with them. Nora does just that, for this is all she knows. Her husband seems to let her think she has some control over him but in fact he is very aware of everything she does except for her one true deceit.
When Nora first got introduced I thought of her as a materialistic person when Torvald asks what his precious "squirrel" wants for a Christmas present, Nora quickly asks him for money. Is it to buy frilly dresses and useless trinkets? Or does she spend it all on sweets that she stashes away for no one to find. We soon find out that what Nora does she does for her husband.
When Nora is confronted by Krogstad about going to her husband to tell him she is a forger and a liar she does not fear for herself, only for Torvald. She now knows the true ramifications of her actions, the loss of her husband, the public humiliation, and the possibility that she could go to jail. She would do anything to spare her husband the humility of what she has done. Nora has always tried to do the right thing, always living up to everyone's expectations of her. She was always treated like a child therefore she acts like a child, the relationship between Trovald and Nora is not unlike the relationship between father and daughter. Nora had an overbearing father who told her what to do, what to wear and what to think. She left his house for her husbands house were she was treated the exact same way except instead of a father she now had a husband and she had wifely obligations to fulfill. Nora was the kind of woman that does and says what she is told saying that she did not know who she was with the statement "Yes, it's true now, Torvald. When I lived at home with Papa, he told me all his opinions. He used to call me his doll-child, and he played with me the way I played with my dolls. Then I came into your house". She was taught to obey the wishes of the men in her life as with many women throughout history. With no mention of a mother one can assume that Nora had no idea how to be a wife or a mother. One might argue that Nora was a selfish lady acting like a child to get her own way. When things did not turn out the way she had planned she took the easy way out and left. Leaving sometimes is the hardest thing anyone can do, it takes courage to go out on your own to find out who you are and what your purpose in life is, especially when you have been told what to do, what to wear and how to act all of your life. She finds a deep down strength and courage in herself that leads her to want to find out what type of person she really is, and what she wants out of her life. She could not find out who she was under Torvald's roof, he would not allow it, in his mind a wife was supposed take care of the house and not have a mind of her own. He would give in to her petty whim for a time but when he was tired of it he would stop it. He had already told her she was not fit to be a mother and that they would no longer have the life together they once had stating that "we will live together as brother and sister". One can not take that statement back once it is said. Truths come out in the heat of an argument, we are sorry once we say them but there is no turning back the hands of time. Torvald would forever look at Nora, his squirrel with distrust and a foul taste from a lie that could not be forgiven. Trust is something we earn; it is not given to us on a silver platter or taken lightly. There was no trust left in this house, Torvald could not trust Nora not to lie again and Nora could not trust Torvald to love her unconditionally. She so badly wanted him to prove his love to her by taking the blame for something she did. He could not do this stating that "no man would sacrifice his honor for the one he loves" when in fact men through out history have sacrificed there honor for the women they loved. This shows Nora she was not loved but only another person living in a house to fulfill Torvalds needs. In a time when feminism was not even a word Nora dared to do the unthinkable and leave her husband and children to find out who she really was. She felt that she was not fit to raise her children she had only been teaching them to be mindless dolls, just as she was. One might find it hard to imagine how daring Nora Helmer was a hundred years ago. The theme of women's liberation makes this story seem almost contemporary.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Women are not play things. Women are not worldly. Women are not allowed to vote. Women are completely morally upright. Women are sexually chaste and submissive. Women are center and upholder of the household. Women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century were laden with these societal rules, especially in Victorian communities. According to Kyle Potter of Georgetown College, “women (of this period) measured any spiritual exercise by the extent to which it denied oneself personal comforts and pleasures.” Women were also the ones solely responsible for the raising of the children of the family. With all of this weight and responsibility, women were not even considered strong or independent enough to vote in elections or to work outside…
- 1731 Words
- 7 Pages
Better Essays -
Throughout time, scholars have wanted to understand American women’s history. Gender has played a role in shaping the behaviors and ideas within societies. The gender role that women played can be looked at in a historically specific manner. In the early 1500s through the late-nineteenth century, women have had a silenced place in society and within their home. This ideology silences real women’s voices under patriarchal structures. In the time period of Early America, women were silenced through various factors such as the laws and ideas created within marriage, views of women given by society, and…
- 2180 Words
- 9 Pages
Better Essays -
During the 1840’s and ‘50’s, women from both the North and the South had unwavering roles that they played in their societies. Northern society bustled into wealth and culture. The homes were made more luxurious, adorning many intricate patterns, lush fabrics and intense colors. Higher standards for living were put into perspective, and women were the cornerstones to hold them in place. Women in the North were under the direct authority of their husbands, although few freedoms were allowed. Families were dependent upon the husband as the sole income of the house; workingwomen were considered a lower-class standard and only did so out of necessity. Many women were uneducated past an elementary level and encouraged to marry young. In the household, women were the cogs in the great oiled machine of family life. Though their education did not advance academically, women were deemed the “domestic guardians” of the home. Women “learned to place a higher value on keeping a clean, comfortable, and well-appointed home; on entertaining; and on dressing elegantly and stylishly.” (Chapter 10, Page 258) Women even developed a special female culture revolving around romance novels and magazines featuring shopping, homemaking, and domestic concerns of the modern housewife.…
- 882 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Women in past western society have been seen as the unintelligent, powerless, and insignificant gender. Though something began to change between 1790 and 1860. Economically Women were now able to work, have money, and help their families; Domestically, there was the great admiration for women in the home now instead of just expecting their place to be there.…
- 622 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Life in the early Colonial times was very difficult for women because they provided for everyone’s needs by cleaning, cooking, making clothes, and teaching their children the Puritan way of life. The early women colonists didn’t have a voice and they were not permitted to express their ideas or interests. Colonial women were expected to be married by the age of twenty and were expected to have large numbers of children--eight children was the norm but the child mortality rate was extremely high. Approximately 5-6 children borne would die, prematurely, before they reached their teens. Women lived by the motto, “Let your Dress, your Conversation and the whole Business of your life be to please your husband and make him happy,” (1712 Spectator Magazine.) In addition, it was a male-dominated world where women were controlled and expected to follow the norm. But for some women, this expected lifestyle wasn’t…
- 1023 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
1. The first essay clearly shows the impact that an ideology of domesticity on women in New England in the 1830’s. The writer at first calls this time period a “paradox in the “progress” of women’s history in the United States”. During this time apparently two contradictory views on women’s relations to society clashed, unusually, those two being domesticity, which essentially limited women, giving them a “sex-specific” role that they must abide to, this mostly being present at the home with their husbands and whatever kids they may or may not have had at that time, and feminism, which essentially tried to remove this domesticity, trying to remove sex-specific limits on women’s opportunities and capacities, trying to get them an increased role in society, not be defined to the home, and not have any limits on what they could do, and most of all be equal to men. This is because in New England, women were victims who were subjects of the painful subordination that came as an add-on with marriage during this period, as well as in society. They also experienced a huge disadvantage in education and in the economy, as well as the denial of their access to official power in their own churches, and impotence in politics. Essentially, the wife at this time, was defined by her husband, and she in no way, shape, or form could have a role that was more significant than her husband, let alone even as much as her husband in the societies that were present, and that they were a part of during this time period, best demonstrated by New England in 1835. She couldn’t sue, contract, or execute a will on her own, and divorce may have been possible, but quite rare. In fact, the public life of women was just about minimal, and none of them voted. Looking back, it was actually worse then than in 1770, as thanks to universal white male suffrage that was present during this period, their roles in society became heavily conspicuous, and in the…
- 2145 Words
- 9 Pages
Powerful Essays -
In the early 1700’s the lives of men and women were very different. Social equality was not extended to the women in the household. Wealth, intelligence, and social status were not of importance when it came to be head of the household. They were taught that their husbands were above then and that it was a “wife’s duty” to “love and reverence them,” (Henretta 97).…
- 433 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Women in the late 1700s had practically no rights. In 18th century America, the men represented the family. Women couldn’t do practically anything without consulting their fathers, or if they were married, their husbands. Then, in the early 19th century, Republican Motherhood began to take a stronger place in American society. Republican Motherhood reinforced the idea that women, in their domestic sphere, were much separate from the public world of men, but also encouraged the education of women and heightened the importance and dignity of their traditional domestic role which had been missing from the previous image of women’s work. Republican Motherhood also gave women the role of promoting republicanism values. Women were to raise children to be strong patriots, self-sacrificing, and to always think of the greater good for the country. Christian ministers promoted the ideals of Republican Motherhood, deeming it an appropriate path for women as opposed to the more radical and public role promoted by such abolitionists as Mary Wollstonecraft and her contemporaries. Modesty and purity were naturally in women’s essence, giving them a singular ability to promote Christian values in their children. By the early 19th century towns and cities were providing new opportunities for girls and women and the education of women was seen as more important than before. Although women’s rights were greatly improved, women still did not obtain the right to vote, nor did they seem any closer to getting it. The Market Revolution led to factories and new inventions, like the typewriter, and women began to start working and providing for themselves. Although these were new job opportunities for women, many of the jobs were dangerous and the work places unsanitary. The impact of various ideas brought women to the western frontier during the era of Manifest Destiny. Many women went to the western front to find fortune and a new start. Women’s domestic skills…
- 2404 Words
- 10 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Before woman had any rights in this country, things were a lot different when it came for a woman to live its life to its fullest. In the essay, On the Equality of the Sexes by Judith Sargent Murray she talks about all of the problems that woman faced in the late 1700 through the 1800. Throughout the essay, Murray compares the woman’s and man’s right on the ability of imagination, reasoning, memories and judgments. One of the things that she strongly believed that all women were surrenders to use their imaginations and couldn’t live their lives.…
- 535 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Societies view on women and their place during Victorian Britain was that of a second class citizen. The view of the time was that women were to marry and to look after their husbands interests. “Women in the Victorian society had one main role in life, which was to marry and take part in their husbands’ interests and business,” (Felicia Appell, Victorian Ideals: The Influence of Society’s Ideals on Victorian Relationships) the idea that a women’s role is that of to serve her husband is a sexist view and does not allow for women to have much control over their own lives. Typically, women were also not allowed to be educated or gain knowledge outside of the home because it was a man’s world. Instead of proper education women before marriage would learn housewife skills such as weaving, cooking, washing, and cleaning. A woman was educated in these areas as it was seen that the home was the right place for her and not to concern herself with other matters. “Her place was in the home, on a veritable pedestal if one could be afforded, and emphatically not in the world of affairs” (Richard D. Altick). One of the popular ideas of…
- 651 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
“Women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights.” Famous words said by Hillary Clinton in her speech that was aimed at promoting women’s rights on September 5, 1995. Many activists, such as Clinton, Sojourner Truth, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, fought all of their life trying to gain women’s rights, because they knew that everyone deserves equality. Some of the rights that they fought for include the right to live free from violence, slavery, discrimination, and the right to vote, own property and earn a fair and equal wage. Women are entitled to all of these rights, yet across the world, some women and girls are denied these rights, simply because of their gender.…
- 813 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The lives of women in the nineteenth century were greatly shaped by an attitude that believed women should be domesticated, pure, pious, and submissive; true women focused their lives around the family and the home, influencing husbands and children by providing them a moral compass. These women, however, were shielded from the outside world and were neither influenced by nor a part of the politics and business taking place on the other side of their doors. The idea that women were meant for households, unable to complete demanding labor, developed into the idea of the “cult of true womanhood” and limited the interactions of women to their homes and families. However, strong conflicts arose between the traditional and untraditional idealists…
- 1031 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Although, there were a lot of things women had to go through if they were. You had to be married to do almost anything. For example, if you were not married, you couldn’t even get a bank account, and if you were married with a bank account you needed your husband’s permission to go in and out of it. Today, a woman can independently walk into a bank, and get her own bank account, without a husband or any man’s permission. I feel that it was pretty ridiculous that you needed your husband’s permission to go in a bank account with your name on it. But they felt that women were weak minded, and not able to make her own decisions. In the 1900s, women were not to have sex before marriage, and stepping outside of that marriage was illegal, only for women. It was also a struggle for a woman to file divorce, if a marriage ended it was her husband’s decision, not hers. If a woman got married or pregnant, she was to quit her job immediately and be a stay at home wife and mother. They looked at wives to cook, clean, and take care of the children and the home. Females today can stay at work until the week of their…
- 1527 Words
- 7 Pages
Good Essays -
gone.gLife in the 1800’s for a typical woman was filled with much adversity. During the early 1800’s women were considered their husbands’ “property” and inferior to men. In the bible, Eve, and Greek mythology, Pandora, brought evil into this world. This gave the overall impression that women were like children and not able to care for themselves (“Women’s History In America”). Wives were expected to obey their husbands’ every command; otherwise most were beaten and not protected by law. Women were not seen as responsible enough or qualified for work or making major financial decisions. They were not allowed to own property and the fathers had full custody of the children if the couple were to separate. Divorce was very uncommon during this time because women were almost unable to provide for themselves. As a child, women would stay home with their mothers and help with everything; this would eventually help them when they too had to do this for their husbands. Also, premarital pregnancy was greatly frowned upon. It was nearly impossible to provide and care for the baby during that time because they had no source of income. In society, women played the role of the housewife. The wife was left with the duties at home, raising the children, cooking and housework;…
- 1662 Words
- 7 Pages
Better Essays -
In the early 19th century, "married women could not sign contracts; they had no title to their own earnings to properties, even when it was their own inheritance or dowry... "(Flexner 7). Women had no rights and their place was in the home. They were expected to be subservient to their husbands. If a woman were outspoken, she was looked down upon. The first type of organization that women had were in their sewing circles- "Sporadic and incidental as these efforts were, they were the first instances we know of American Women working together towards a specified and - in other words, organizing" (13).…
- 1364 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays