Role of Women in the Doll’s House

A doll's House by Ibsen reveals the underlying role of women during the time and the problems that arise from imbalance of power among men and women. Throughout the story, the main character Nora was treated like a child by her husband Torvald who has a habit of addressing Nora by her pet names which implies his personal convictions about her petite size and helpless condition. Norar's way of thinking and her outlook on life as a mother and wife are both entirely led by her husbandr's power over her. In the play, women were expected to be well-behaved and obedient to their husbands at all times, and men were expected to act manly and not to demonstrate traits that would normally be considered feminine. Nora feels the societal pressure to act a certain way and when their relationships starts to face difficulties, their roles and expectations start to become challenged. Therefore, Nora protested against social expectations as a mother, first by breaking the rule of marriage drawback, and later by forming a step to leave her husband and three children in order to educate herself and value herself independence. In the case of Nora, due to the unfairly male dominated society, not only is she in a position to be a provider for her children, but also due to the demeaning attitudes of her father and husband she has remained in a state of arrested development her whole life. Although both characters have three children, they do not share the same attitude or feelings toward each other. The way Torvalds treats Nora shows his selfish intentions. Norar's powerlessness was attractive to Torvald because he feel pleasure just by making her follow his commands at the expense of her dignity. He had to be in control especially when Nora is clueless about some fundamental maler's ability to deal properly with financial matters. Nora expected Torvald to take the blame for her mistake while he also makes it clear that his reputation is more significant than his love for her or his children when he mentioned, no man would sacrifice his honor for the one he loves (Ibsen, 1192). This also shows the drawbacks in their marriage and the consequences of not having open and trustful communications with each other. The play is not just a narrative but also about personal development and gendered patterns of power in patriarchal culture. According to the article Feminism, Theatre Criticism, and the Modern Drama written by DiCenzo who mentioned that, A mother in society is supposed to be serving her children and her husband to survive but in fact Nora was risking and sacrificing her life a lot more than him. In this story, Nora, Mrs. Linde, and the maid all hold sacrificial roles designated by the society they are in. Nora wears a mask, on the outside sher's respectful to her husband but on the inside she lacks recognition and love that Torvald wasnt eager to give. Norar's mask of the sacrificial housewife changed into one of a strong self-confident and independent women. Consequently, it presents how A Doll's House moves away from the romantic genre to a presentation of an objective reality. Torvald took advantage of Norar's weakness and childish actions as he continues to demean women. In act three, he told Nora in a frustrated tone that, Youve destroyed all my happiness. Youve ruined my future, I have to sink to such depths of agony all because of a thoughtless women (Ibsen, 1183). He treated her as an irresponsible child that he has to discipline for doing something wrong instead of behaving like a husband disappointed in his wifer's action. He continues talking to everyone during that time about the fact that women not being smart enough to do anything without a man. Nora was just sitting there and not putting any sort of fight because she believes the man has all the power in the house and Nora should just respect his choices. Moreover, he makes it clear that he does not appreciate much of womenr's abilities. In fact, he doesnt care about how Norar's action will impact her but only how it will impact him. According to the article The Doll House Backlash: Criticism, Feminism, and Ibsen by Templeton, Torvald lectured her on the matters of lying for less than three days. The article stated that both men and women share the same interests and that should be relevant in social determinations. It discussed the Norar's need to find a solution and described how the confrontation between Nora and Torvald made her develop her own choices. Norar's decision to leave her husband represents the breaking of the foundation of social expectations for women. Nora took a position equal to that of her husband rather than staying in the marriage. Ibsen illustrated that men and women should be equal partners in marriage with equal authorities and freedom. For instance, Nora tells Torvald at the end, You arranged everything according to your own taste, and so I got the same tastes as you or pretended to (Ibsen, 1195). She was ready to leave with her suitcase, abandons her ring, which was a symbol of her role in the marriage. Nora decided, I must try to educate myself and I must do that by myself (Ibsen, 1193). She doesnt refer to herself as just a woman or a man but just as a regular human because she wanted equality, which is contrary to the gender imbalance of having different levels of power in that time period. Ibsen used Mrs. Linde character to challenge traditional differences of society, while Nora was restricted in isolated space. Nora was inspired by Mrs. Linde and Mrs. Linde was an example to show that earning her own money and being independent was no harm. In conclusion, A Doll's House challenges mistaken beliefs about womenr's roles. Nora transformation from a doll, a possession whose goal was to make her husband feel pleasure, into a human being. Ibsen represents women as human beings with honors as well as faults. Nora is not just a doll with the duties of a wife but also has duties to herself, which caused her to leave her family. The ethical conflicts at the center of A Doll's House are among love and law, emotion and mind, feminine and masculine. Nora abandoned eight long years of marriage due to lack of respect and power because she was considered inferior by Torvald. Ibsen focused on the fate of marriage due to the equality of both spouses, the dominance of the husband, and the self-fulfillment of women.

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