Similarities between Torvald Helmer and Nils Krogstad
Torvald is an executive who has received a promotion at his bank where he works with Krogstad. Over the storyline, Torvald admits to have studied with Krogstad in his childhood but they this does not make them friends (Ibsen 2010). In fact, in the play they are portrayed as different identities of men in the society. However, they do have similarities.
The first similarity is that the two men have a very shallow view of the society. All their efforts in the play are dictated by how they are viewed in the society. Torvald is a proud representative of the middle-class husband with a morality only driven by the ethics of the community. When he discovers that his wife borrowed a loan illegally from his nemesis Krogstad, his concern is not mainly whether his wife will be convicted of a crime, but whether his reputation will be tarnished by having wife with a criminal record. Shmoop Editorial Team (2008) argues that he is also annoyed because his perfect textbook lifestyle of the perfect little household that he has created with Nora might be destroyed because of her activities and is even willing to risk their happiness to pretend to the outside world that their marriage and household is perfect and intact. He throws a tantrum even though Nora risked everything to save his life.
Similarly, just like Torvald, Krogstad is quite shallow (Shmoop Editorial Team 2008). He blackmails Nora so that he could maintain his job and consequently have a good reputation for his children’s sake. Although Mr. Krogstad had committed several forgeries in the past, he wants to repair his reputation in the work place and in the society, since he believes that his reputation in the society is of greater importance that causing a poorhouse wife distress that may even make her to commits suicide.
Shmoop Editorial Team (2008) argues that both these main characters in the play result to evil deeds for their own personal gain. Krogstad on one hand pressures Nora to convince her husband to avoid sacking him from work. When Nora says that she does not have that kind of influence on her husband, he threatens to expose the forged signature that she used as a signatory note to secure the loan. This scares Nora very much and after much effort geared towards convincing her husband to retain Krogstad in his workforce, she threatens to commit suicide. The action she assumes will help her take the secret to the grave. Krogstad says that sacrifice to commit suicide will not help her in any way since her reputation will still be at his mercy. This is a very crude thought or even threat to entertain since it shows that Krogstad will stop at nothing to have what he desires (Bradford 2014). Finally, he reveals the secret of the borrowed loan even if he still knows that this will destroy Nora’s marriage.
Torvald also portrays his share of an evil character throughout the play. Even though Krogstad is the protagonist of the play, Torvald is much more evil and reckless in taking actions that may completely affect the lives of other people. For example, when he decides to fire Krogstad for having a poor moral standing that is not the main reason he wants to fire him. He wants to fire him because Krogstad is too familiar to Torvald. He also says that if he does not fire him, he will become the laughing stalk of their community.
Differences between Torvald Helmer and Nils Krogstad
Even though Krogstad and Torvald represent most men in the late nineteenth century, they have their differences as individuals. Torvald on one hand is portrayed in the play as the perfect progressive man in the society (Shmoop Editorial Team 2008). He has a nice job and is about to get a promotion. He also has a perfect family with three perfect children and a beautiful and submissive wife. In addition, his home is also beautiful and clean just as every other man in the society would like it. Furthermore, he has a moral standing and is disgusted by morally sick people like Kragstad. He feels that with his impeccable reputation it is his duty punish the immoral like Kragstad.
On the other hand, Kragstad’s life is not as perfect as his counterpart is. He had a bad marriage and his wife left him for a richer man. His is also about to lose his employment and has a bad reputation because of forgery at his workplace. To enable Nora to acquire the loan that enabled the trip to Italy, he consciously ignored moral standing that dictated women would not get loans without their husband’s permission (Bradford 2014). In addition to his work ethic issues, he is ready to blackmail Nora in order to retain his employment or even acquire a promotion.
Another difference between the two men is that the two men have very different ideas on the social conformity of women. Torvald in the first scene is seen playing around with his trophy wife Nora and telling her that she has the worst financial abilities since she loves overspending. Throughout the book, he sees her as his plaything, his doll that makes his perfect home and satisfies his somewhat perverse sexual desires (Bradford 2014). He also gives her more money to buy herself a present even after overspending in the Christmas shopping. In the play, he also says that women are responsible for the moral standing of their children while the men are only in charge of the financial obligations. (Bradford 2014) writes that Torvald does not seem to think women should result to much but being a perfect wife and mother.
Kragstad on the other hand has better respect for the financial capabilities of women. In the past, he knowingly gave Nora a loan without her husband’s permission although it would have appeared insubordinate for Torvald if he knew the truth (Bradford 2014). He also has been receiving payment from the main character Nora for seemingly several years without bothering if she were a woman. When he realized that he is about to lose his employment, he seeks Nora’s help through blackmail to convince his husband through other means to keep him in the bank. Finally, he listens to Mrs. Linde’s advice on forgiving Nora after she confesses her love for him. All over the play, he appears to respect women as much as men Shmoop Editorial Team (2008) argue. He also seems to think that women are capable of other responsibilities apart from playing wives and mothers for all their lives. Despite the protagonist role in the play, he represents change while Torvold represents the old-fashioned ideas about women in the society.
Are Torvald Helmer and Nils Krogstad character foils?
Torvald and Krogstad are foils to each other in the play A Doll’s House. Both men are lawyers by profession, have children, and committed certain crimes. However, despite the fact that most people hate Krogstad since he committed forgery to help his children, they love Torvold even though he committed a crime to fulfill his own personal gain. While Torvold lives in a picture perfect life with a perfect home, friends, and wife, Krogstand has had a difficult life, which includes being left by two women who left him for money. Urban (2013) argues that he resulted to blackmail and other unorthodox methods to survive since the world since he has been a victim of circumstances all his life. In addition, Torvold has a higher position at the bank while Krogstad is his subordinate despite their similar qualifications and shortcomings. While Krogstad is ideally the villain of the play due to Nora’s reaction whenever he is around, Torvald is the real villain. Urban (2013) argues this because he sees women as dolls and playthings, he is very narrow minded, and can hardly even show remorse when he realizes Dr. Rank is about to die.
What do Torvald Helmer and Nils Krogstad reveal about the roles of men in the late nineteenth century?
A Doll’s House was an effort by Henrik Ibsen to represent the perfect example of the normal lifestyle of the majority households in the nineteenth century. Sukhoterina (2011) states that women were taken as playthings that could only flourish under their husband or father wings. Nora states this after she realizes Torvald never loved her and only liked her because she made his life perfect. Women were expected to enable men’s life (Sukhoterina 2011). Their activities or other successes are measured by the masculinity of men. Women were also not expected to succeed in the workplace. As a result, Nora opted to hide in the attic and do some copy work in order to finance the loan that she had taken to save his life. It was also illegal for women to lake loans without their husband permission and it could be viewed as a social disgrace. Women were also programmed to think in a similar manner and that is why Nora bought her daughter a doll as a Christmas present while she bought her sons a pony, sword and a suit (Sukhoterina 2011).
In conclusion, women were held as very insubordinate beings compared to their male counterparts. At the end of the play, Nora decides to liberate herself from the social conformity of women in the nineteenth century by leaving her husband. This was something that was unaccepted and even unheard of during those times but she knew she had to make a choice. Finally, she decided to leave her husband so she could understand the world and live to appreciate herself better than she did before.
Works cited
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House, 2010. Pennsylvania State University.
Sukhoterina, Yelena. A Doll’s House explores gender roles of the 19th century, 2011. Web. 18 Jan. 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.thesouthend.wayne.edu/arts_and_entertainment/article_5d45dc8f-c240-5dfd-821f-058ef36972db.html
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Nils Krogstad in A Doll's House." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 18 Jan. 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.shmoop.com/dolls-house/nils-krogstad.html
Urban, William. L. parallels in A Doll’s House, 2013.
Bradford, Wade. "A Doll's House" Character Study: Nils Krogstad, 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2014. Retrieved from: http://plays.about.com/od/adollshouse/a/krogstad.htm
