It is exactly this notion that distinguishes Nora from Adela in “The House of Bernarda Alba”. Nora is a “round” character that transformed from a “doll” to an independent woman throughout the play. Alternatively, Adela is a “flat” character that did not go through any changes. This differentiation will eventually lead to different outcomes in the course of their lives for both of these characters.
In “A Doll’s House”, Money is treated like the source of conflict as the functions to the plot. Torvald is portrayed as the man of the house and the dominant character, who have manipulated Nora because he did not see Nora as a person but rather as his beautiful possession. Torvald claimed Nora to be his “lark”: “Is that my lark twittering there”, which symbolizes the fake marriage union between them. This was typical of the men during the time when the play took place, women were tied to household duties and they must make sure that everything around the house was perfect. Work, politics and money business were left to the males. This is what the society expected from Nora. Therefore, when it is revealed in the play that Nora once forged her father’s signature to borrow the money, she transformed from Torvald’s “possession” to an independent woman who is making her own decisions.
“Oh! When the wife knows a little of business, and how to set about things, then – ”
This marks the first step that Nora has taken for her transformation from a “doll” to a fully independent woman in the end of the play. However, as the play progressed, we could see that Nora kept on a mask at all time when she was with Torvald, making sacrifices for Torvald’s expectations of preserving the appearances of an honorable family. Nora was once willing to sacrifice her own life in order to keep a decent reputation for Torvald and for her family. We are told:
Never to see him again. Never, never, never. Never to see the children again. Never, never. Oh that black, icy water! Oh that bottomless – ! If it were only over! Now he has it; he’s reading it. Oh no, no, no, not yet. Torvald, good-by – ! Good-by, my little ones – !
However, once Torvald found out about Nora’s debt, he showed no intention of sacrificing anything for Nora, thinking only of himself and of his own reputations. This shows how the debt Nora owns to Krogstad has turned down her expectations for Torvald and also made Nora to start questioning about her own life, causing conflicts to arise between the married couple.
We have been married eight years. Does it not strike you that this is the first time we two, you and I, man and wife, have talked seriously?
Once Nora realizes that she had been trapped in her family because she was financially dependent on Torvald, she chose to walk out on her husband instead of committing suicide, which reflects an increased understanding of independence on her own behalf. This remark completes Nora’s transformation from a “doll” to a fully independent woman.
Parallels on the treatment of money can be found in the play “The House of the Bernarda Alba”. Adela is the youngest daughter of Bernarda Alba, and she is portrayed to be different from the rest of her family. Early in the play, we are told that she put on a green dress on the day of the funeral, whereas her sisters still had the black dresses on.
Ah! She puts on the green dress she made to wear on her birthday.
Upon hearing this, the reaction from Amelia is seen to be child-like,
‘If Mother had seen her!’
She – in contrast to Adela – portrays a daughter with a lack of independence and obeys orders from their mother, Bernarda Alba. From this, we can perceive that Adela is the only character in the play that has the courage to go against the orders of Bernarda Alba, and she desperately seeks freedom and independence from the constraints within the house, so that she can marry the man that he loves.
Furthermore, while the female characters are trapped by a lack of wealth, it establishes the conflicts that take place over the plot of these two plays. In “The House of Bernarda Alba”, the conflict that exist between the sisters was introduced early in the play, we are told that:
If he wanted Angustias for herself, Angustias as a woman, I would be glad. But he wants her money. Even though Angustias is our sister, in this family we know she’s old, in poor health, and has always had the least to offer of any of us.
From this we can perceive that money is symbolic of power and it’s capable of making everything possible, like Magdalena states, ‘Money makes everything possible’. In such circumstances, the right to marriage also ties with the significance of money. The four younger sisters are all jealous of Angustias because she is the only one that inherited a large sum of money from her biological father, and therefore has the freedom to marry, which would allow her to leave the constraints of the house. Bernarda is portrayed as the dominant character throughout the play, and unlike Torvald, she never got the opportunity to change in the play and this eventually led to the downfall of her youngest daughter, Adela. Bernarda sees the lower classes as animals, she claims that:
‘The poor are like animals’
This portrays Bernarda’s attitude on marriage as she judges the men in her neighborhood based on their class in the society, and then decides on whether if he’s suitable for her daughters’ economic ideal. Bernarda’s view on marriage can be interpreted as a criticism to the class system that was implemented during the time when the play took place. In such circumstances, wealth plays a major contributory factor in controlling the fate of the female characters. Bernarda’s attitude also prevented Martirio to get married in the first place, we are told that that she banished the man named Humanas to marry her:
My blood will never mix with that of the Humanas family – not as long as I live! His father was a field hand!
This has caused Martirio to be jealous and bitter of the fact that Adela is having a clandestine affair with the most handsome man in town, and it became the driving force behind Adela’s tragic death.
The treatment of money as a driving factor of the plot in both plays “A Doll’s House” and “The House of Bernarda Alba” is evident. Nora and Adela are different types of character, which allows them to possess different perspectives about life. Nora’s character development in the play has allowed her to gain an increased understanding of independence, therefore she chose to walk out on Torvald to end her trapped marriage. Alternatively, Adela’s strong determination to stay with the one she truly loves has left her no room but death.
Bibliography
- Ibsen, Henrik. “A Doll's House”. Trans. William Archer. USA: Players Press, 1993. Print.
- Lorca, Federico Garcia. “The House of Bernarda Alba”. Los Angeles: Bilingual Foundation of the Arts, 1982. Print.