A Psychoanalytical Perspective of a Dolls House
A Psychoanalytical Perspective of a Doll’s House
Justin Doughman Composition II/Literature
South University Online
A Psychoanalytical Perspective of “A Doll’s House” Nora Helmer is a young mother of three and an obedient house wife in, “A Doll’s House,” a play write written by Henrik Ibsen. Using the psychological perspective to dig deeper into Nora’s subconscious the reader finds that Nora yearns to be an independent women, free to make important choices of her own, because she has never been given the option to make real important choices throughout her life. When she lived with her father she just tried to appease him and when she married Mr. Helmer she found herself in a seemlier predicament. Prior to the beginning of the story Nora makes a decision to borrow money without her husband’s consent or knowledge which leads to Nora trying to cover it up in a web of deceit and lies that quickly spirals out of control.
The playwright takes place during the Christmas, and Nora walking in the living room with a caring armfuls of bags and has a porter carrying the Christmas tree in for her, giving the audience the impression that it is a cheerful atmosphere. Mr. Helmer starts talking to Nora as if she was a child right from the beginning of the act calling her names such as spend thrift and squirrel, when she ask if they could spend a little more for the holidays Torvald says “The same little featherbrain! Just suppose that I borrowed a thousand kroner today, and you spent it all on Christmas, and then on New Year’s Eve a roof tile fell on my head and killed me,” (Ibsen, 2011, Act 1, p. 556). This gives the audience that Mr. Helmer think of his can think like a rational adult, thus the reason he doesn’t seem to give her any adult responsibility’s such as Taking care of the kids, paying bills, or even keeping a mailbox key. The audience meets Mrs. Kristine Linde, Nora’s childhood friend
Justin Doughman Composition II/Literature
South University Online
A Psychoanalytical Perspective of “A Doll’s House” Nora Helmer is a young mother of three and an obedient house wife in, “A Doll’s House,” a play write written by Henrik Ibsen. Using the psychological perspective to dig deeper into Nora’s subconscious the reader finds that Nora yearns to be an independent women, free to make important choices of her own, because she has never been given the option to make real important choices throughout her life. When she lived with her father she just tried to appease him and when she married Mr. Helmer she found herself in a seemlier predicament. Prior to the beginning of the story Nora makes a decision to borrow money without her husband’s consent or knowledge which leads to Nora trying to cover it up in a web of deceit and lies that quickly spirals out of control.
The playwright takes place during the Christmas, and Nora walking in the living room with a caring armfuls of bags and has a porter carrying the Christmas tree in for her, giving the audience the impression that it is a cheerful atmosphere. Mr. Helmer starts talking to Nora as if she was a child right from the beginning of the act calling her names such as spend thrift and squirrel, when she ask if they could spend a little more for the holidays Torvald says “The same little featherbrain! Just suppose that I borrowed a thousand kroner today, and you spent it all on Christmas, and then on New Year’s Eve a roof tile fell on my head and killed me,” (Ibsen, 2011, Act 1, p. 556). This gives the audience that Mr. Helmer think of his can think like a rational adult, thus the reason he doesn’t seem to give her any adult responsibility’s such as Taking care of the kids, paying bills, or even keeping a mailbox key. The audience meets Mrs. Kristine Linde, Nora’s childhood friend
References: Ibsen, H. (2011). A doll’s house. In D.L. Pike and A.M. Acosta’s (Eds.) Literature: A world of writing stories, poems, plays, and essays [VitalSource digital version] (pp. 555-589). Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions