¶ … Doll's House (Henrik Ibsen)
The title of Ibsen's masterpiece -- A Doll's House -- doesn't lack meaning or symbolism; that is to say that the house in which Nora, the protagonist, lives is a house, which, for all intents and purposes, is one that has been constructed for the sole purpose of keeping her a kept woman (i.e. A doll in a doll's house). Like a play thing, Nora makes up dances to please her husband, wears seductive outfits and exists, for the most part, to entertain those around her. She is often whimsical and spontaneous -- downing five macaroons in a sitting if she feels like it. The poignancy of this play comes with Nora's realization that sometimes women think for themselves. This happens when Nora forges her father's signature, takes out a loan without asking her husband, Torvald, and then leaves him and her children in order to find herself. Becoming her own person is not possible for Nora if she is to live inside the confines...
Along those lines, the message of the play has long been speculated upon. Is it a feminist piece, or not? The answer to that question can be answered with an unequivocal 'yes.' Inside the house, Nora is forced to keep up her role as the good wife and the good mother. The roles of men and women in Victorian society are clearly presented. Men took care of all the
business, provided for their wives and children, and the wives found ways to busy themselves in ways that would not be disruptive to the men around them. Nora, therefore, acts like just this type of woman -- until she discovers that her
family is having financial problems, which is when she decides to step outside of her role and, as she believes, help out. Before this, Nora is the ideal wife whose only flaw is that she occasionally over-indulges in her macaroons -- a characteristic that is not unlike a child sneaking too many jelly beans.
Ibsen was making a statement with A Doll's…
