Feminism and the Roles of Women in A Dolls House By Henrik Ibsen

Feminism and the Roles of Women

"A Doll's House", a play by Henrik Ibsen. In this play, Ibsen makes many hints
aboutthe roles of society and how the female gender was treated at the time.
From this play youcan observe what Ibsen believed about the roles of society,
equality between males andfemales, and the idea of feminism. "A Doll's House" is
actually a play where one can seehow things were at the time and what Ibsen
himself believed about the central issues. Nora Helmer, our main character,
strives to achieve the perfect ideal that is set beforeher by the contexts of her
society and her husband, Torvald. She is a direct contrast with theother female
characters presented in Ibsen's "A Dollhouse". Nora herself is trapped within the
"dollhouse" that is her physical home. Torvald, her husband, has built a
wonderful littlelife for his wonderful doll wife, and their wonderful dolly
children. Nora's eventual transformation comes later as she discovers her role in
the dollhouse society forced upon her and the desperate need to get out, at any
cost.While Nora is the main character and our protagonist, there are other
female charactersin the play (listed above). Anne Marie, the Helmers' nurse,
embodies everything that Nora isnot. She is a direct contrast to Nora Helmer.
Anne Marie was Nora's childhood nurse andeventually became her Emmy, Ivar,
and Bob's nurse later in Nora's life. In order to survive inthe society in which she
lives, Anne Marie very willingly gives up her only daughter for adoption simply
saying, "I was obliged to, if I wanted to be little Nora's nurse" (Roberts1209).
Anne Marie's "tragedy" as Nora calls it, is simply life as usual to the old nurse.
She accepts the role society has placed upon her within contest and is content
with two lettersfrom her daughter in her lifetime.This event is where one might
say that Nora and Anne Marie are similar, as well ascontrasting. While Anne
Marie accepts her position, so does Nora to an extent. WhenTorvald explains to
dear Nora that having a deceitful mother poisons the children, sheaccepts this as
truth, eventually deciding to leave her precious dollies. Just as Anne
Mariecomplacently accepts her position in society, Nora allows Torvald to
unknowingly chooseher place in life, thus showing a side of Nora that the reader
may not have gotten earlier.However, Nora's decision to leave Torvald and the
children is not a blind acceptance of whatsociety attempts to force upon her.
Nora Helmer makes a real transformation.Mrs. Linde enters the plot very early.
She is essentially an old childhood friend of Nora's who has come into town to
look for work. Mrs. Linde's husband passed away leavingher a widow and
eventually she is jobless.

Mrs. Christine Linde is a character that Ibsen uses to show that women can do
things without a man. After Mrs. Linde was widowed, she took care of her dying
mother and young brothers. It was because of her that her mother's lastyears on
Earth were quite easy and her brothers would have a bright future. Mrs. Linde
become somewhat of a "female helpmate" since she eventually helps Nora cover
the secretmoney she owes Krogstad. In the early conversations between Mrs.
Linde and Nora, Mrs.Linde alludes to the dollhouse theme by demeaning Nora's
simple way of life. Mrs. Lindeexplains,
"How kind you are Nora...for you know so little of the burdens and troubles of
life...My dear! Small household cares and that sort of thing!--You are a child,
Nora"
(Roberts 1197). When Nora hears this she is no less than outraged. She cannot
believe that

her dear old friend, Christine, is just like everyone else; no one takes Nora
seriously, and noon sees her as the individual she claims to be.Mrs. Linde helps
Nora in numerous ways. Nora confides in her about the secret loanfrom Krogstad
and later about his plans to ruin her life by exposing her lies to
Torvald.Eventually, Mrs. Linde tells Krogstad to let things be and let Nora and
Torvald settle thingson their own thus removing her title of "helpmate". It can be
argued though that this decision by Mrs. Linde is indeed helping Nora most of all,
because it is after this that Nora comes tothe realization that she lives in a
dollhouse created by Torvald, and Papa in the past. She has been suppressed and
simple her entire life and has allowed every man to define who she is.This
realization and desire to leave the situation is what makes this a feminist play.
Ibsen,knowingly or unknowingly, gave women, fictional and true, a voice.Emmy
is the only daughter of Nora and Torvald Helmer. While she, and the other
children are not prominent characters in the play itself, they are seen as symbols
of what Nora's life is and what she is defined by. In the beginning, she plays with
the children, buysthem gifts and showers them with affection, thus symbolizing
that in this stage of Nora's life,she is defined by her children. Nora, as well as the
majority of the women in her time periodwere who their family was. Their lives
were defined by the home they kept which wasactually most often kept up by
housemaids and servants, anyway, the children they bore andraised, and the
husbands they had managed to catch.At the beginning of Act Two when Anne
Marie is talking about leaving her daughter, Nora cannot understand how a
mother could do such a thing. Anne Marie then says one line

that resonates throughout the entire play and becomes a mantra for Nora later
when she isdeciding to leave the children. This sentence helps justify Nora's
departure.
Nora
: Do they ask much for me?
Anne
: You see, they are so accustomed to have their mamma with them.
Nora:
Yes, but, nurse, I shall not be able to be so much with them now as I was before.
Anne
: Oh well, young children easily get accustomed to anything.
Nora
: Do you think so? Do you think they would forget their mother if she went
awayaltogether?It is that last line of Anne Marie's that really hits home with Nora
later in the play. Itdoes appear so, however, that Nora begins contemplating the
concept in her last line.
Nora and Torvald Helmer
Nora's unique relationship with her husband appears at first to quite a loving
one.Indeed she loves Torvald, but it is really only because that's what she's
supposed to do.Women are to love their husbands. Torvald does not allow Nora
to prosper as her own self,as was the custom of the times.Torvald's use of what
resembles baby talk when talking to his wife suppresses Nora'sintense
intellectual desire; she is smothered under Torvald's defiance of respect. Torvald
saysin the very first scene, "Is that my little lark twittering out there?
”
This phrase sets up thecharacter and his relationship with his wife. While some
suggest it is the structure of the home itself that plays into the doll house effect,
most critics will argue that Torvald'sdemeaning nature taken with Nora is the
reason she leaves.
Nora's Final Escape: Self Accountability or Serious Selfishness
A long chain of events sets off the resistance shown by Nora. Once she begins
thinkingshe can escape to create a better life for herself, there is no changing her
mind. In the last fewscenes, the reader/audience should have noticed an intense
transformation occurring in Nora.She no longer identifies herself as Torvald's
little lark, or his baby squirrel. Nora feels she can better herself and leaving her
husband and children is the only way todo it. She has been freed through self
actualization, and escaping the dollhouse becomes her greatest triumph. In this
sense, Nora is indeed the epitome of the modern woman. In creating Nora's role
Ibsen was way ahead of the times. This play gave women a voice, a chance
tostand up for themselves no matter the cost and most modern women would
agree. While it isa common concept for today's women and girls to have the same
opportunities, it was not atall present in Ibsen's culture. This is why Nora is the
mother of the modern world woman.
Conclusion:
"A Doll's House" shows Ibsen's view on a variety of topics. Ibsen presents whathe
thinks about men and women's role in society, equality between genders, and
feminism."A Doll's House" is truly a modern classic and will be held as a model
for women's rights for years to come.

Bibliography:
John Stuart Mill, Esay: "The Subjection of Women
” Chapter 1
Krutch, Joseph Wood (1953). "Modernism" in Modern Drama, A Definition and
an Estimate(First ed.). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Ibsen, "Speech at the
Festival of the Norwegian Women's Rights League, Christiana", 26May 1898; in
Dukore (1974, 563)Ibsen, "Notes for a Modern Tragedy"; quoted by Meyer
(1967, 466); see also Innes (2000,79-81)Törnqvist, Egil. 1995. Ibsen, A Doll's
House. Plays in Performance ser. Cambridge:Cambridge UP

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