Ibsen exposes the life experiences of his main female character Nora to show the way patriarchal societies deprive women their freedom by suppressing their views, treating them like children, and through repressive gender roles. Nora’s life and her relationship with her husband, Torvald, is a typical reflection of the importance of self-determination for women within the marriage institution. It is apparent that when a person’s freedom is limited either by choice or by chance, one is not able to establish a relationship based on equality with a partner or other people within the society. The author provides a narrative that reflects on the role of a wife in the nineteenth century society in Europe (Shapiro 99). The novel is reformist in the sense that it reveals the gender inequalities that existed within the Victorian society while at the same time trying to provide a solution through questioning the inequalities and prejudices that emanate from the societal gender roles while motivating women to seek a life of self-respect and freedom.
Throughout the novel Nora constantly tries to seek independence from discrimination, inequality, male dominance as well as the injustice that the patriarchal society seem to propagate. For instance, Torvald constantly treats Nora like a child and she initially seems to accept her role as a woman, a wife, and a mother. This aspect shows that Nora is trapped by her role in the family and the societal gender expectations. As a woman and a daughter, the society expects her to obey her father, as a wife, the society expects her to please and obey her husband without question, and as a mother, she is expected to stay at home and raise the children. In this regard, the society seems to perceive women as objects that males have to manipulate to satisfy themselves. Nora observes thus, “But our house has been nothing but a playroom. Here I have been your doll-wife as I used to be papa’s doll-child” (164). Her life revolves around the household, and this essentially means losing her freedom to explore anything else given that husbands have the responsibility of providing for their families. From the manner in which Nora loses her freedom, Dietrich concludes that Ibsen shows how the marriage institution can result into spiritual slavery because of false ideals and conventions (Dietrich 63).
Some of the instances where Torvald curtails Nora’s freedom include when he forbids her from having macaroons. Torvald’s apparent dominance over Nora gives an indication of how much he is in control of her life, which indicates the power imbalance that exists between the male and female genders within a patriarchal society. He provides further evidence that motherhood limits the freedom of women when Nora asks her husband what he thinks are her most sacred duties and he replies, “your duties to your husband and your children” (116). Consequently, when Nora states that those duties include the duty to herself as a human being, Torvald sees this as impossible because Nora is first “a wife and a mother” (117). This shows that Torvald only values Nora as his wife and the mother of his children and not as his equal. Dietrich considers the foregoing conversation as Ibsen’s way of enlightening the audience that men and women should be able to enjoy the same rights and individual privileges (Dietrich 61).
The aspect of lack of freedom is further reflected by the fact that Nora is not allowed to make her own opinion and her husband and her father shape her views and character expressly or impliedly. For instance, although her husband is struggling to provide for the family, the patriarchal society does not allow Nora to help. The only time that she attempts to help, she does so by lying to him. That is, when she receives a loan she lies to her husband that her father has advanced her the money. She also refuses to tell him the truth because she knows that he will feel ashamed and will end up paying the loan to avoid the embarrassment of the society, which means that he is also not as free to from the societal gender stereotypes. Ultimately, Hossain considers marriage as an institution where husbands are stereotyped as the dominant forces, protectors, providers and controllers (Hossain 139).
Nora observes that in her father’s home, she did not have the freedom to express her opinions rather her father made the decisions and her duty was only to follow his orders. That is, she was her father’s doll. Accordingly, after her marriage, her husband makes decisions for her so she is his doll. One way that the author reveals the perception of males regarding women in a patriarchal society is the instance where Torvald refers to Nora using pet names. In the initial stages when he refers to her as his, squirrel skipping around, his lark twittering, and his little bird. By referring to Nora in such adjectives, Torvald is depicting women as weak and in need of constant guidance from himself. The manner in which she accepts these names at the beginning shows that she conforms to the societal gender stereotypes. However, her perception changes gradually as she begins by challenging the authority of her husband by eating macaroons to the point where she leaves her matrimonial home in search for her independence. According to Hossain, Nora’s rebellion is justified, including her forgery and her lies because the male-dominated society has treated her as a doll (139). It is also noteworthy that she likes to work but she has to do it secretly because the societal traditions do not permit women to work for a living. It is obvious that her need to work is motivated by the fact that she no longer wants to depend on her husband for handouts. This shows that she is aware that her being dependent on her husband is one way that the society denies women their freedom because it gives the males a dominant position over women. In this regard, the narrative reveals that the financial needs and gender expectations have considerable influence on Nora’s life and women in general.
It is obvious that Nora is determined to gain her freedom by all means, even through suppressing her views. She does her duties faithfully with the hope that her husband will see her value, change his beliefs, and begin to consider her as an equal partner. This is apparent when she tells Dr. Rank and Mrs. Linde that she would like to say “damn!” to Torvald (28). This shows that she is ready and willing to defy societal gender expectations and look for her independence. However, when her husband appears, she is quick to keep quiet and tells Dr. Rank not to reveal what she just stated. It is amazing how she is so free to while talking to Dr. Rank, yet she freezes at the sight of her husband. Her behavior seems to portray marriage as an oppressive institution, which takes away the freedom of women given the rules that the society imposes on married women. She believes that money will be able to solve her predicament and this explains why she is eager to help provide for the family by taking out a loan. Consequently, her joy regarding her husband’s new managerial job is indication of how she believes wealth can bring gender equity by hoping that her husband will be able to see her as a human being first, before seeing her as his wife and a mother (Ghafourinia 425). Ultimately, Nora shows that she is determined to have her freedom by stating that she is first a human being.
In a bid to show how the women should fight for their freedom, Ibsen chooses to create a female protagonist who is willing to leave everything including her family in order to gain personal freedom. She takes the bold step to leave her family after realizing that she has been living a lie all her life. She has been blinded by the comfort she experiences within her family but once she realizes the truth, she decides that nothing will hold her back, not even her love for Torvald. It is inexplicable that the reality dawns on her when her husband chastises her for her lies. This realization causes her to make a radical decision that she may not be able to live with given that she does not have any support system by virtue of the fact that the society is patriarchal. Griffith notes that the plight of women in the Victorian society had to do with the separation of biological functions between the genders (164).
In the end, Nora’s patience with her husband and the society over her lack of freedom has run out. She is determined to confront Torvald and the society given that she has always obeyed their wishes but her position remains the same. She notes, “I have waited so patiently all these eight years; for of course, I saw clearly enough that miracles do not happen every day” (170). Clearly, she no longer wants to live in the shadows and wants an active life in the society, similar to her male counterparts. Here, Ibsen is communicating to the women that the society is not willing to change for them. Instead, women should take the first step of confronting the gender stereotypes by educating themselves and earning a different identity that will make the society realize that they have the same potential as the male members of the society. Ghafourinia considers Nora’s final act of leaving as a form of awakening for her and for the women in the Victorian society (428).
With regard to the foregoing, the novel the novel manages to expose the challenges that women face within the marriage institution in a patriarchal society. Nora’s life depicts the way the society deprives women their freedom, and how women have to resist the societal gender roles in order to assert their independence. Nora’s life throughout the novel reveals the lack of freedom for women in the institution of marriage as evidenced by Torvald’s treatment of her as if she were a child, the way he suppresses her views, her secrete borrowing, and the oppressive roles that she performs as a woman and as a wife.
Annotated Bibliography
Ghafourinia, Fatemeh and Leila Baradaran Jamili. “The Women’s Right in Henrik Ibsen’s A
Doll’s House”. Journal of Novel Applied Sciences. 2014. Web. 6 May 2016. http://jnasci.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/424-429.pdf
This academic paper presents information about the role of women within the patriarchal society that Henrik Ibsen portrays in A Doll’s House play. The author evaluates Ibsen as humanist while also showing the kind of feminism that he advocated in his plays. In particular, the author makes an analysis of how Ibsen’s play portrays women as wives and as mothers as well as how the invisible hand of masculinity within the male-dominated society determines their roles. Ultimately, the paper presents a study whose results indicate that a masculine society cannot satisfy the needs of women, especially with regard to freedom. The paper is a useful academic resource that draws from previous academic sources and is therefore useful in guiding a person towards a deeper understanding of how the society curtails individual freedom. As such, one can rightly trust the paper as an academic source to guide further studies.
Griffith, Gareth. Socialism and Superior Brains: Political Thought of Bernard Shaw. London:
Routledge. 1995. Web. 6 May 2016. https://cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/thought_and_writing/philosophy/socialism%20superior%20brains.pdf
This book provides a vivid account of how the division of functions based on gender affects the position of women within the society. Accordingly, the author is keen to reflect on the role of women within the marriage institution as presented in the case of Nora in the novel A Doll’s House. This information is vital in understanding a different perspective of Ibsen’s narrative. The fact that the author evaluates the themes that Ibsen presents in the novel while also considering the works of philosophers such as Karl Marks, this book provides different points of view regarding women position in the nineteenth century society in Europe. To that extent, the book is academic and one that informs future research regarding the subject of women freedom.
Shapiro, Ann. "The Slammed Door That Still Reverberates: Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House
(1879)". In Fisher, Jerilyn; Silber, Ellen S. Women In Literature: Reading Through The Lens Of Gender. Westport, CT: Greenwood. 2003. Web. 6 May 2016. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=U_tZM1mhQPMC&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&dq=Fisher,+Jerilyn.+%22The+Slammed+Door+That+Still+Reverberates%22.+In+Fisher,+Jerilyn%3B+Silber,+Ellen+S.Women+In+Literature:+Reading+Through+The+Lens+Of+Gender.&source=bl&ots=O8vW_194kU&sig=iHIiBhYiC8x_aZDRC-9aDzCHwEk&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Fisher%2C%20Jerilyn.%20%22The%20Slammed%20Door%20That%20Still%20Reverberates%22.%20In%20Fisher%2C%20Jerilyn%3B%20Silber%2C%20Ellen%20S.Women%20In%20Literature%3A%20Reading%20Through%20The%20Lens%20Of%20Gender.&f=false
This essay provides an important insight regarding the manner in which Nora and her husband, Torvald, willingly accept the roles that the society has set out for their respective genders. Accordingly, the essay provides a brief overview regarding the way Nora realizes that she is not able to express herself freely or even meet her personal needs unless her husband is able to provide for her. The author reveals why the play A Doll’s House has been able to attract so much attention and controversy within Europe, especially in Germany and England. By evaluating the manner in which Ibsen challenges the gender roles within the Victorian society, the essay enables one to have a better understanding of the play and its significance in changing the gendered mindset. The essay provides an academically credible source given the fact that the author provides support for the assertions from other academic sources.
Work Cited
Dietrich, John. “A Doll’s House”: Shall Women Be Free? The Humanist Pulpit 12(4). N.d. Web.
6 May 2016. http://www.firstunitarian.org/FUSArchives/files/original/b1eb464bd6ca69c601d4f73786f0f5dd.pdf
Ghafourinia, Fatemeh and Leila Baradaran Jamili. “The Women’s Right in Henrik Ibsen’s A
Doll’s House”. Journal of Novel Applied Sciences. 2014. Web. 6 May 2016. http://jnasci.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/424-429.pdf
Griffith, Gareth. Socialism and Superior Brains: Political Thought of Bernard Shaw. London:
Routledge. 1995. Web. 6 May 2016. https://cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/thought_and_writing/philosophy/socialism%20superior%20brains.pdf
Hossain, Amir. “Re-thinking A Doll’s House: A study of Post-feminism.” Journal of Education
Research and Behavioral Sciences 3(6), pp. 137-142. Aug. 2014. Web. 8 May 2016. http://apexjournal.org/jerbs/archive/2014/Aug/fulltext/Hossain.pdf
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House. Trans. William Archer. Dhaka: Friends Book Corner, 2009. Print.
Shapiro, Ann. "The Slammed Door That Still Reverberates: Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House
(1879)". In Fisher, Jerilyn; Silber, Ellen S. Women In Literature: Reading Through The Lens Of Gender. Westport, CT: Greenwood. 2003. Web. 6 May 2016. https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=U_tZM1mhQPMC&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&dq=Fisher,+Jerilyn.+%22The+Slammed+Door+That+Still+Reverberates%22.+In+Fisher,+Jerilyn%3B+Silber,+Ellen+S.Women+In+Literature:+Reading+Through+The+Lens+Of+Gender.&source=bl&ots=O8vW_194kU&sig=iHIiBhYiC8x_aZDRC-9aDzCHwEk&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Fisher%2C%20Jerilyn.%20%22The%20Slammed%20Door%20That%20Still%20Reverberates%22.%20In%20Fisher%2C%20Jerilyn%3B%20Silber%2C%20Ellen%20S.Women%20In%20Literature%3A%20Reading%20Through%20The%20Lens%20Of%20Gender.&f=false
