Dolls house

A detailed Summary of Dolls house

The play A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen, is concerned with the conflict between social lie and duty. This play is about women's need for independence and her obligations to family and society. We can easily recognize sacrifice and guiltlessness in the play. You can follow a theme thought the play by looking at Nora -- the heroine of the play.

Who is Nora Helmer? She is the beloved wife of Torvald Helmer. They have a very nice, cozy house, and they have three kids. They have been married for eight years. They have lovely friends. Torvald was just promoted for a higher position in the bank. Isn't it a lovely picture? That what we see in the beginning of the play. But when Torvald started to talk, we can feel that something is wrong with this picture.

"My little songbird," "my little squirrel," and even "my little featherbrain" - that is what Torvald calls his wife. He treats Nora as a child. He thinks that she is stupid, and she is needed to be controlled. He controls her housekeeping budget and how much she can spend on certain purchases. He doesn't know, and he doesn't want to know that Nora, herself, can earn some money. Instead, he expects her always be dependent on his salary.

"... our home has been nothing but a play-room. I've been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa's doll--child" (Ibsen 976). Nora realizes how much she has been wronged, that she is only a doll for Helmer. She also says to him, "You have never loved me. You only thought it amusing to be in love with me." She decided that she has to leave a house. She wants to become independent. When Helmer reminds her about her "holiest duties" as mother and wife, she tells him that, "I have another duty equally sacred" (Ibsen 977). The woman wants to be independent, not only to be recognized as a mother and wife.

Once Nora recognized the truth about her marriage, she understood that she can no longer stay in the "strange man's house" (Ibsen 979). Is there anything more humiliating to a woman than to live with a stranger, and have children with him? The lie of the marriage institution decrees that she shall continue to do so, and the social conception of duty insists that for the sake of that lie she need be nothing else than a plaything, a doll, an unknown.

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. Literature and the Writing Process. Ed: Elizabeth McMahan. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1999. 931-980

ble to realize only after eight years that she lives with a hypocrite. After he discovered that Nora forgered her father's signature on the loan bond, he nullifies their marriage. He doesn't care that Nora did this because she loves him very much, and she did this to save his life. He is the man of "honor," "Nora, I would gladly work for your sake. But no man can be expected to sac

Some common words found in the essay are:
Torvald Helmer, Nora Nora's, Krogstad Krogstad, Henrik Ibsen, Nora Helmer, Jersey Prentice-Hall, doll's house, , Doll's House, women's freedom, nora helmer, mother wife, play torvald, torvald doesn't, family society, ibsen 979,

Approximate Word count = 1077
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous