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In today’s society, especially starting from the 1900s and 2000s, with freedom and basic privileges, it is natural to overlook how notably far our society has advanced. Compared to the previous centuries there is a huge shift when it comes to equality of rights people have, primarily women. If we closely pay attention to the events that took place in the past, what we see is very surprising. Women are very poorly represented in A Doll’s House and are simply looked at as being preprogrammed to feel dependent on men. Men are represented as being the dominant figures. Men were looked at as the ones overseeing cash and coordinating families.
A Doll’s House is a powerful three-act play by Henrik Ibsen taking place in the 1800’s demonstrating the awakening of a middle-class spouse and mother. In the 1800s, the majority of American women of European origin lived in the same manner as those of their counterparts. They were lawfully and socially submissive to men and confined within a patriarchal house. Women were not viewed as human beings, they were viewed as property. Before getting married, they were owned by their fathers, after marriage, they were owned by their husbands; just like Nora. “He called me his doll-child, and he played with me just as I used to play with my dolls. And when I came to live with you–I mean that I was simply transferred from Papa’s hands into yours. You arranged everything according to your taste, and so I got the same tastes as you–or else I pretended to, I am not quite sure which–I think sometimes the one and sometimes the other.” She is influenced by the norms of this toxic patriarchal society and gender roles within a marriage, in the last act quoted above, she finally awakens to the reality of her situation and how little control and role she has in her marriage. Limited by the rules of a patriarchal society, 18th-century women sought pleasure from the little things in life.
Currently, in the present time, the husband and wife role is closer in balance, but there are still underlying issues and power dynamics in these roles. For example, while a lot of women work outside the home and are making money, they are expected to still do wifely duties such as cooking, cleaning, and being a mother. While men are still in the leading role, they are some leniency when it comes to being a stay-at-home father though the stigma of being emasculated is still present. The big difference is that women in leadership roles are changing the definition of gender roles, and they have given women overall a voice and are present in higher positions in the 1800s when this story took place.
In this story, the main characters are a married couple, Nora and Torvald. Nora falls into the stereotypical housewife role, in the book we see Nora introduced as a victim of her husband-governed society. She plays the role of a submissive wife and mother. Ibsen shows Nora’s internal battle with herself and her consummate role as a woman during the time this play took place. Throughout the play, Nora grapples with her wish to be an engaged member of society and control her own life. She makes decisions that transform her stander role and the lives of those that she cares about, in this circumstance, her father and her spouse.
On the other hand, Torvald is introduced as the antagonist of the story. Torvald does not respect Nora as an individual human being, simply because she is a woman. He deems that Nora would fail outside without his guidance. He is very toxic towards Nora and checks almost all aspects of her world. Within the first act, he continually refers to her by pet names such as “squirrel,” (Ibsen 33) “featherbrain,”(Ibsen 53) “my little singing bird,”(Ibsen 1075) even as far as calling her a pet directly, “My pretty little pet.”. In the First act, Nora is begging Torvald for money and he is resentful;¨You can’t deny it, my dear little Nora. (Puts his arm around her waist.) It’s a sweet little spendthrift, but she uses up a deal of money. One would hardly believe how expensive such little people are!¨ (Ibsen 120). The relationship Torvald has with Nora implies she is a child in his eyes, continuously calling her “little” and “mine”. He criticizes her as ‘my little spendthrift.’ It is obvious that since he makes the money in the marriage, it is up to him to manage how it should be spent.
This is the point in the story at which Nora’s valued image of their relationship is shattered, and she, in the end, breaks from the gender role she has carried throughout this entire play. Nora’s fabrication uncovered Torvald’s center of unadulterated egomania and self-centeredness. When Nora explains her liveliness by saying, “I’ve loved you above all else in the world,” Torvald counters, “Don’t come here with your pathetic evasions” (Ibsen 177). Nora’s confidence in her marriage is crushed when he doesn’t reciprocate the perfect love she accepted they had shared. Torvald tells Nora she can’t do as she pleases, however, this time around Nora doesn’t listen. She breaks the weak helpless role of being under his control. She finally recognizes her impulse for playing her submissive gender role which was built on the idea of love; love that her husband never had for her. She recognizes her sharing in participating in her toxic gender role “I’ve lived by doing tricks for you, Torvald. But that was how you wanted it… The two of you are to blame for the fact that nothing has come of me” (Ibsen 182). Nora chooses to leave Torvald right there and then, she also abandons her children and house. Leaving the role of being a mother or housewife to be her individual with no label, to evolve her humanity.
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