A Doll's House, Textual Analysis
Textual Analysis of ‘A Doll’s House’ Act III, pp. 96-104
Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ shows a woman turning her back on her husband and her children at the end. It was quite a novelty for a play of the Victorian era to have such an ending for it challenges the society and its norm. In the third act, the protagonist Nora decides to abandon her husband Torvald and her children after seeing her husband’s reaction to a letter, revealing that Nora committed a crime to save her husband’s life. She does not think that her action is a crime because her motivation was love and she thought Torvald would appreciate this. When she realises that he does not she questions her concept of life and her marriage. The following essay will discuss how atypical Nora’s decision is by referring to the historical context. Furthermore, their marriage and their reasons for ending up as strangers to each other will be analysed. Additionally, the essay will examine the reasons behind Nora’s decision to leave her children, even though this was seen as immoral during the Victorian period. Finally, the idea of the alternative ending of the play will be reviewed as well as how the original version could be interpreted.
Torvald tries to convince Nora of staying by reminding her of her duties towards her husband and her children. Thinking about the traditional role allocation during the Victorian era, this reaction to her announcement to leave is easily comprehensible. But the problem at this point is that he seems to be too overwhelmed with the proceedings to realise that Nora ‘can’t accept that such laws can be right’ and is willing to put society into question. Therefore his efforts in reminding her of her duties do not work because she does not believe in the system any longer. To understand how atypical her decision for that time is, it is necessary to see this in a historical context. During the Victorian era, the woman’s ‘status was totally dependent upon the economic
Henrik Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ shows a woman turning her back on her husband and her children at the end. It was quite a novelty for a play of the Victorian era to have such an ending for it challenges the society and its norm. In the third act, the protagonist Nora decides to abandon her husband Torvald and her children after seeing her husband’s reaction to a letter, revealing that Nora committed a crime to save her husband’s life. She does not think that her action is a crime because her motivation was love and she thought Torvald would appreciate this. When she realises that he does not she questions her concept of life and her marriage. The following essay will discuss how atypical Nora’s decision is by referring to the historical context. Furthermore, their marriage and their reasons for ending up as strangers to each other will be analysed. Additionally, the essay will examine the reasons behind Nora’s decision to leave her children, even though this was seen as immoral during the Victorian period. Finally, the idea of the alternative ending of the play will be reviewed as well as how the original version could be interpreted.
Torvald tries to convince Nora of staying by reminding her of her duties towards her husband and her children. Thinking about the traditional role allocation during the Victorian era, this reaction to her announcement to leave is easily comprehensible. But the problem at this point is that he seems to be too overwhelmed with the proceedings to realise that Nora ‘can’t accept that such laws can be right’ and is willing to put society into question. Therefore his efforts in reminding her of her duties do not work because she does not believe in the system any longer. To understand how atypical her decision for that time is, it is necessary to see this in a historical context. During the Victorian era, the woman’s ‘status was totally dependent upon the economic