Doll House by H. Ibsen

¶ … DOLL'S HOUSE AND MORAL VIEWS

"A Doll's House" is one of the classical social plays of all time. Written by Henrik Ibsen, the plays deals with deep-rooted social issues and confronts long held views about morality. It seeks to challenge the idea of morality that people held in late nineteenth and early 20th centuries and exposes the double-standards embedded in moral views of the society in those days. In Doll's house, the author explains that every person has his sense of what is moral and what is not; and what may appear moral to one might appear something restraining and restrictive to someone else.

Nora and Torvald are the two central characters in the play. They are a married couple leading a traditional married life. Nora is a timid, submissive wife who believes that it is her moral duty to take care of her husband and children. In the process, she completely refuses to see herself as a human being with her own needs. Torvald has a huge role to play in defining these roles for husband and wife in the house. He is a typical male chauvinist who sees Nora as nothing but a woman whose sole duty is to fulfill her household duties. Nora has developed a childish, almost stupid view of morality. While on the one hand, she believes in being true to her role as a housewife, on the other, she has no sense of what real morality is when it comes to the practical world outside. She forges her father's signature to withdraw money from his account. Nora doesn't see this as an immoral act because apparently she did this to help out her husband. But forgery is a crime nonetheless and the fact that she was trying to help out someone she loves, doesn't make it any less a crime. The lines below clearly indicate Nora's inability to see her action as something illegal and thus immoral.

Nora [after a short pause, throws her head up and looks defiantly at him]. No, it was not. It was I that wrote papa's name.

Krogstad. Are you aware that is a dangerous confession?

Near the end of the play, after Torvald has discovered the truth about her wife's crime, he asks her about her sense of morality and that's where we see the lines that help us support the thesis. The author clearly shows that idea of morality differs from person to person:

Helmer. ... I suppose you have some moral sense? Or -- answer me -- am I to think you have none?

Nora. I assure you, Torvald, that is not an easy question to answer. I really don't know. The thing perplexes me altogether. I only know that you and I look at it in quite a different light. I am learning, too, that the law is quite another thing from what I supposed; but I find it impossible to convince myself that the law is right. According to it a woman has no right to spare her old dying father, or to save her husband's life. I can't believe that.

Torvald on the other hand is an immoral being of the worst kind. He is the type that puts up a moral facade for the world to see while have no moral regard for anything underneath. He hates Krogstad, the most despised man in the play, and doesn't want to give him a position in the bank not because he was a criminal or lacked moral sense as most believed but solely because they were once friends and he doesn't wish to stay friends with him anymore. He is very narrow-minded and thinks only of his own interest. He knows that people despise Krogstad and thus wouldn't want anything to do with him. His sense of morality is thus severely limited by self-interest. He plainly tells Nora:

Helmer: And I hear he is a good worker, too. But I knew him when we were boys. It was one of those rash friendships that so often prove an incubus in afterlife. I may as well tell you plainly, we were once on very intimate terms with one another. But this tactless fellow lays no restraint on himself when other people are present. On the contrary, he thinks it gives him the right to adopt a familiar tone with me, and every minute it is "I say, Helmer, old fellow!" And that sort of thing. I assure you it is extremely painful for me. He would make my position in the Bank intolerable.