Discuss the aptness if the title
The title of the play ‘A Dolls House’ is fitting, as one of the themes of the play is the treatment of Nora, Nora has been described as the doll and Helmer as the doll master. Ibsen lets us apply this metaphor of a dolls house to the rest of the play, and it is seen how the Helmer household is similar to a game involving a child at play, the child being the doll master and the toy being a doll, their marriage is based on false principle imposed by Torvald in his role as the representative of a masculine society. In the first scene of the play, the setting is described so that the audience will visualise what society would expect to see symbolising feminine existence in a ‘dolls house’.
During the period in which Ibsen wrote the play, society was dominated by male figures, women took the more nurturing role and so had no concept of business. Nora is naive and this stems from treatment from Helmer, and, previously by her father. Nora is shown to recognise’s this at the end of the plat when saying ‘ I’m your dolly-wife just as I used to be Daddy’s dolly-baby’. In 1879 women did not posses the right to vote or own their own property. They also had no legal status and were supervised by their fathers or their husbands, so it was socially expectable for a women to be controlled by her husband. At this time a movement towards liberation of women started. Having had to work for her family Mrs. Linde feels Nora has had no sense of responsibility and has not had to deal with the stress of supporting or helping people financially. Mrs. Linde has had to support her family as a result of financial ruin of her late husband, when discussing her need for new work with Nora, Mrs. Linde points out how Nora had no knowledge of hard work, or the necessitate to have to do so, ‘you’ve so little idea how difficult life can be’. Mrs. Linde and Anne-Marie, the two other females in the play, represent a different social class, as both have had to work for a living to help support their families and themselves. Anne-Marie looked after the baby Nora and described her self as ‘ A poor girl in trouble’ she then looks after Nora’s own children, Nora has no responsibilities of her own as her social class restricts her to marriage, all other options of working life were closed to her.
