The roles of men and women are defined by the cultural conventions and expectations of their society, and those who challenge these expectations may face personal crisis
Discuss this statement with reference to Ibsen’s A Doll House.
Henrik Ibsen was born in Skein a small Norwegian coastal town, on March 20 1828. In 1838 his father went bankrupt and the family was forced to live in near poverty. Ibsen was a young man of intense democratic ideas. He went against the restraints of society. He was willing enough to behave himself, but he did not want to be required by society to do so. He felt that society was a tyrant requiring the individual to do this or that. Ibsen was at war with the authorities of church, state, and the social government. Ibsen’s life greatly influenced his plays. The 19th century society had their own expectations put onto men and women of the time. Men were superior and were the protectors over their wife’s. The women were seen as inferior but were what their husbands wanted them to be. They were to be typical house wives if a maid or servant was not present. Society’s expectations were what every household took into consideration and strictly followed. If this was not done the family and the family name would be looked upon with shame. In Ibsen’s A Doll House the roles of Nora and Torvald are defined by the cultural conventions and expectations of society. They too are trying strictly too follow these expectations and Torvald is seen as the man of the house as Nora is the little house wife. Nora and Torvald challenge these expectations and therefore are faced with personal crisis.
Nora’s role in A Doll House reflects off society’s expectations, but as the play progresses she is known to have challenged these ideologies and therefore she faces her own personal crisis. In "A Doll's House", Nora demonstrates the perfect Victorian roles of a lovely daughter, devoted wife and caring mother. She was also a charming dancing figure and was regarded by her husband Torvald as his "pride and joy". All she did was what the male-dominant society expected. In Ibsen’s A doll House, the role of Nora is to be the typical housewife, by obeying her husband and doing anything to please him. She is convinced by Torvald that he would be her protector and take care of her. “A man handles these problems so much better then a woman.” (Act2 p 76) This quote shows that she is forced to believe that Torvald is superior to her and can handle things better. This attitude is inflicted by society upon Torvald and Nora. In the opening act Nora is conveyed through her speech and actions towards Torvald as what society expects her to be. Nora is the protagonist in the play and her character seems to change throughout as the play progresses. She begins to challenge society’s cultural conventions and expectations through her secret ness of saving Torvald. This would have been seen by society as wrong that Nora was the person providing and thus challenging society’s expectations. “Not so loud. What if Torvald heard! He mustn’t know for anything in the world. Nobody must know, Kristine. No one but you.” (Act1 p 53) This quote shows that Nora knows that what she is doing is against society and so she doesn’t want to reveal it to be looked upon in shame. Because of this she hides this secret and faces personal crisis as to the consequences if Torvald or society were to know. Nora’s role later in the play changes where she realizes that she has been played with like a doll. She no longer takes on the role of a little housewife but she wants to be educated and not be held back by society or Torvald as to who she really is. “You arranged everything to your own taste, and so I got the same taste as you- or I pretended to…But that’s the way you wanted it…You’re to blame that nothings become of me.”(Act 3 p 109) This quote shows that Nora was a victim of society’s views and she blames Torvald that she has no control in her life. Nora throughout the play becomes a stronger character which is evident to the audience but ironically in that Torvald does not realise what Nora has done for him. At the beginning of the play, Nora rebelled against Torvald by eating the "forbidden" macaroons. Then, without Torvald knowing it, Nora had forged her father's signature to borrow money so that she and her husband could spend a year in Italy. Nora considered the success as something she can be "proud of". In order to repay Krogstad, Nora worked as a copier. Instead of being tired of it, she thought, "it was really tremendous fun and almost like being a man" (p 162). Her wishes for money from Torvald to repay Krogstad and flirt with Dr. Rank also reveals that she is not as naive as she seemed to be.
