Would The Dolls House be considered as a feminist play? A Dolls house, by Henrik Ibsen has set out some serious questions which must be taken into account before judging Noras character.
English Commentary: A Doll’s house
A “Doll’s house”, by Henrik Ibsen has set out some serious questions which must be taken into account before judging Nora’s character. Nora, being the main character in the play represents the “doll” that makes such trivial decisions, and giving us (the readers) the impression that she is immature. Many questions have been raised regarding the rights a woman should be given, but I would be particularly discussing my viewpoint on feminism, freedom and society. However, there are many other related questions which may also be of greater significance.
The first question which I found as a reader was “Would ‘The Doll’s House’ be considered as a feminist play”? I would rather call it ‘too feminist’ because it has been outlined in many ways. There are many examples in the play where Torvald treats Nora badly and insults her feminist nature, but this is not seen directly. For example, he calls her pet names such as ‘squirrel’ and ‘skylark’. He also uses the word ‘little’, a connotation showing her child-like nature that emphasizes the fact that she is fragile. Torvald always says this in a loving manner, but Nora does not realize until the end of the play that she has just been treated like an obedient pet. She also has no importance in the house; we see this when she hesitates to make trivial decisions. For example, she asks Torvald what she must wear and prepare for the ball. This is because her husband never talked to her like an adult, not letting her decide upon things and more importantly playing with her like his pet doll. At the end of the book, Torvald, says ‘that’s just like a woman’. Were women useless at that time? I personally believe that all individual has equal rights, or at least the opportunity to be independent. Torvald, like every other husband believed that all women were capable of doing nothing, but spending money which was why he called her a ‘spendthrift’.
