A Doll's House- Why Nora Shouldn't Leave
Nora Helmer Exposed:
Her Wrong Decision to Leave
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen was first performed in 1879 when European society strictly enforced male supremacy over women. The play consists of a middle class couple, Torvald and Nora Helmer, who seem to have the perfect marriage, three children, and a pending respectable income with the husband’s recent promotion to bank manager. Torvald treats Nora like a doll, manicuring and manipulating her looks and actions. Although his controlling demeanor is concealed by innocent nicknames and monetary allowances, the affects of his domination over his wife are eventually exposed. At the end of the play, Nora leaves in a haze of anguish after her husband fails to defend her when she is accused of legal fraud in a loan she had taken to save Torvald’s life. Some people say that Nora was right to leave and flee the control of her demeaning husband to seek her individuality, but many argue the contrary when considering what she left behind, what she could have demanded and changed at home, and what she would face as an independent woman defending herself in a 19th century, male biased society. Although some may assertively argue that Nora was right to leave her home, others suggest the she was not right to leave considering the abandonment of her children, the responsibility she could have demanded from her husband, and the prejudice against independent women in her society.
One of the major items favoring the stance that Nora Helmer was not right in leaving her home is the fact that she was not just leaving her husband, but her three young children also. When she announces her plans to leave, Torvald tells her she is neglecting her duties as a woman, which he says are to her husband and children (Ibsen 386). Although it can be agreed upon that her duty to her domineering husband at this point was inconsequential, her obligation to her children remained imperative. As their mother, she biologically shared a stronger
Her Wrong Decision to Leave
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen was first performed in 1879 when European society strictly enforced male supremacy over women. The play consists of a middle class couple, Torvald and Nora Helmer, who seem to have the perfect marriage, three children, and a pending respectable income with the husband’s recent promotion to bank manager. Torvald treats Nora like a doll, manicuring and manipulating her looks and actions. Although his controlling demeanor is concealed by innocent nicknames and monetary allowances, the affects of his domination over his wife are eventually exposed. At the end of the play, Nora leaves in a haze of anguish after her husband fails to defend her when she is accused of legal fraud in a loan she had taken to save Torvald’s life. Some people say that Nora was right to leave and flee the control of her demeaning husband to seek her individuality, but many argue the contrary when considering what she left behind, what she could have demanded and changed at home, and what she would face as an independent woman defending herself in a 19th century, male biased society. Although some may assertively argue that Nora was right to leave her home, others suggest the she was not right to leave considering the abandonment of her children, the responsibility she could have demanded from her husband, and the prejudice against independent women in her society.
One of the major items favoring the stance that Nora Helmer was not right in leaving her home is the fact that she was not just leaving her husband, but her three young children also. When she announces her plans to leave, Torvald tells her she is neglecting her duties as a woman, which he says are to her husband and children (Ibsen 386). Although it can be agreed upon that her duty to her domineering husband at this point was inconsequential, her obligation to her children remained imperative. As their mother, she biologically shared a stronger
Cited: Bebel, August. Women and Socialism. New York: Socialist Literature Company, 1879, EBook. Ibsen, Henrik. “A Doll’s House”. Literature and Ourselves: A Thematic Introduction for Readers and Writers. 6th ed. Ed. Gloria Mason Henderson, Anna Dunlap Higgins, Bill Day, and Sandra Stevenson Waller. New York: ABLongman, 2009. Print. Mørkhagen, Pernille Lønne. “The Position of Women in Norway.” explorethenorth.com. Pernille Lønne Mørkhagen, n.d. Web. 8 March 2011. Rosefeldt, Paul. “Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.” The Explicator 61.2 (Winter 2003): 84. 1 March 2011<http://lionreference.chadwyck.com/searchFulltext.do?id=R0167033&div…0&queryid=../session/1299005945_29527&area=abell&forward=critref_ft>