I.

Introduction
a. A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen, is a play about Nora Helmer, a woman whose
lack of self-identity causes her to abandon her husband and children.
b. This, along with other characters interactions with her, suggests that the main
theme of this play is women’s subservient role in society.
II. Nora and Torvald’s Relationship
a. Torvald, Nora’s husband, is a wealthy banker who enjoys calling his wife “lark”,
implying the same helplessness in her as is in the bird.
b. His condescending, patronizing attitude towards her keeps her subservient to
him go the point where she can only gain his favor by submitting to him.
III. Nora and Krogstad’s deal
a. Nora’s big secret from Torvald is that he borrowed money from one of her
husband’s friends.
b. Nora knows this would hurt Torvald’s pride as a man, so she decides to keep it a
secret.
c. However, Krogstad knows that Nora will never tell her husband and he holds this
over her head, playing into Torvald’s perceived power over her as a woman.
IV. Krogstad and Mrs. Linde’s relationship
a. A less obvious, but very important relationship in the story that points back to
the theme is the relationship between Krogstad and Mrs. Linde.
b. Mrs. Linde was in love with Krogstad but married a richer man in order to
maintain her status. After her husband died, she realized that she had nothing to
live for, thus pointing back to the theme that women in this society generally
have no identity outside of a wealthy husband and her children.
c. Near the end of the play, Krogstad and Mrs. Linde decide to rekindle their
relationship, but for reasons related to Mrs. Linde’s desire to feel needed and
take care of children again.
V. Conclusion
a. The various relationships and interactions between the men and women in this
story suggest that women in this time (and in general) are expected to sacrifice
their own well-being and self-actualization for their husbands and children.
b. Nora’s departure, while abrupt and potentially damaging to her children,
symbolizes her search for her identity separate from her husband and children.
Paper 4

Feminism and Human Rights: An Analysis of the Themes in A Doll’s House

By Raven Driver

Many people would argue that women, while still lagging behind men in social status,
have much more to be thankful for now than in earlier times. However, Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s
House provides a perspective that, even if it is based in 19th century Denmark, could just as well
be a story from 21st century America. With it’s depiction of Nora and Torvald Helmer’s marriage
as well as her abrupt abandonment of her husband and children as the end, he makes a strong
statement in favor of advocating women’s rights. After thorough examination of the multiple
relationships between men and women in the play, I believe the main theme in A Doll’s House
is the self-sacrifice of women and their role in the home.
The main example of this theme in practice comes from the main character, Nora, and
her husband, Torvald. From first glance, it seems as if they have a perfect marriage and home,
with Torvald being the primary breadwinner and well-off, while Nora takes care of their
children. Immediately, however, we notice that the dialogue between the two is little more
than Torvald talking to her as if she is unable to think for herself. Nora, understanding her role
in the household, allows this, although even she cannot help disagreeing when Torvald suggests
that her frivolousness is hereditary. This sort of dialogue continues to become more
condescending in nature over the course of the play, and underscores exactly how Torvald
views her as a person. It is in Nora’s dialogue with Mrs. Linde, her long lost friend, that we see
Nora’s true feelings. We learn from their conversation that Nora has “something to be proud
and glad of”, which is saving her husband’s life, but at the cost of taking out a loan from one of
his friends.
This confession reveals much about Nora, namely that she only feels validated in the
fact that she saved her husband from dying, even if it was from means other than her own.
Mrs. Linde’s reaction is even more telling – she simply cannot fathom that Nora did something
that required that much effort. She goes on to assume that Nora could have gotten the money
from another man who was attracted to her, or from her father. Mrs. Linde then scolds her as if
she were like a child – much like the way Torvald speaks to her – underscoring, again, the way
women are viewed in society as unable to have agency outside of their husband, and to even
attempt to do something outside of his jurisdiction is considered frivolous.
Near the end of the play, when Torvald finally learns that Nora borrowed money to save
his life, he is immediately concerned with the public perception– “Now you have destroyed my
happiness….You have ruined all my future.” – instead of thanking his wife for saving his life. It is
also important to note Torvald’s change in how he describes his wife when he finds out her
secret as well – “All these eight years – she who was my joy and my pride – a hypocrite, a liar –
worse, worse – a criminal!”. At this point, Nora realizes that her marriage with Torvald is
nothing more than a social contract rather than a genuine love between them, and she resolves
to leave Torvald and the children, stating that the two never “exchanged a word on a serious
subject”. She even brings up Torvald’s own hypocrisy in deeming her unfit to care for their
children upon learning her secret, and then asking her why she is leaving them behind. Torvald
claims that the remark was made “in a moment of anger”, but Nora is already decided.
 Torvald, however, is not the only man who makes Nora out to be less than a person. Nils
Krogstad, the man that Nora borrowed money from, also plays into Nora’s oppression by
holding Nora’s debt to him over her head. He threatened to go to her husband and that it
would depend on her “what sort of a Christmas” her family would have. Throughout their
dialogue, it is clear that Krogstad intends to maintain power over her in order to gain some of
his own, accentuating the notion that men have no issue using women in order to maintain
their own social status. Much like Torvald, Krogstad talks to Nora as if she is expected to be
subservient to him, in a sense. In fact, the only condition that he maintains over repaying the
loan is that Nora’s father sign the document. Upon noticing that Nora forged her father’s
signature three days after his death, Krogstad evidently lost all credibility as a banker, and now
he requires Nora to petition her husband (the new manager of the bank Krogstad works at) to
restore his position. In essence, while Krogstad does not patronize Nora as Torvald does, he
does blackmail her using her husband as power over her, which is just as symbolic of women
being required to sacrifice themselves in order to maintain the social order. Nora fears for
Torvald figuring out her secret, yet she must convince him to hire Krogstad back. However,
because Torvald doesn’t take Nora seriously, he declines, and Nora is faced with having to
embarrass her husband, even if the alternative was to allow him to die.
The relationship between Krogstad and Mrs. Linde also provides more insight into the
theme. At first glance, this relationship may be a silver lining in contrast to Nora and Torvald’s
tumultuous end. Nonetheless, Mrs. Linde’s reason for leaving Krogstad (and then wanting to be
with him again by the end of the play) is a prime example of the theme – she admits to
Krogstad that she had to break his heart (they were lovers in the past) because she had to take
care of her family, stating that Krogstad’s “prospects seemed hopeless then”. Instead, she
marries a wealthy man. Years after her husband’s passing, Mrs. Linde finds herself without
purpose and looking for something to live for. Upon finding Krogstad again, she hopes to
rekindle their relationship – perhaps out of love, but she explicitly states that she “wants to be
a mother to someone” and that the both of them need each other. That Mrs. Linde truly felt
worthless without children and a husband suggests that in that society, a woman only had
purpose if she also had a husband and children. It is possible that she still truly loves him as she
once did when she was young, but her exact words imply that she needs to be attached to him
and his children in order for her to have an identity, which is the exact dilemma that Nora has.
They both are forced to rely their statuses as wives and mothers for their identity.
According to Sheri Metzger, when Nora leaves her marriage with Torvald, she “is
opening a door into the hidden world of the ideal Victorian marriage”. This is pertinent,
because Nora seems to have all a woman could ask for – a beautiful family, a loving husband,
and economic security. Under the mirage of security, however, Nora finds herself struggling
internally with the difference between how she sees herself, and how the world sees her as a
woman. Nora is clearly competent and is willing to do whatever it takes to care for her family,
but after Torvald’s rejection of her after finding out her secret, she seems to no longer care for
the image of a perfect wife, opting to find herself, regardless of the uncertainty she will face as
a woman in a male-dominated society. In having Nora abandon her children and husband, Ibsen
ends the play “without offering any solutions”, but he “offered possibilities” into how women
might find themselves in these situations (Metzger). These possibilities may frighten those who
believe in the traditional aspects of marriage – nonetheless, Ibsen makes a bold statement in
that he helps his audience realize that no social order is worth a person’s humanity. It just
happens in this case that women suffer from what was (is?) the traditional institution of
marriage, but this extends even further from women’s rights in marriage to a person’s right to
their own humanity. Nora had never been allowed to formulate her own opinions on anything,
as disagreeing with her husband or father usually ended in either man denigrating her
intelligence. Instead, they would make her out to be a helpless, ignorant person who could not
get along without the help of a man. This constant burden, culminating in Torvald discovering
her secret, leads Nora to leave on her own, ostensibly to find herself. While it is not guaranteed
that she would not face significant hardship, it is a message to women and men of the
importance of maintaining our humanity regardless of social constructs that may dictate
otherwise.
 Works Cited

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. Dover Thrift Edition. New York: Dover Publications, 1992.

Metzger, Sheri. "An overview of A Doll's House." Drama for Students, Gale. Literature Resource
Center, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1420002305/LitRC?u=tel_a_tbr&sid=LitRC&xid=0
0f2e210. Accessed 2 July 2018.