Self-Discovery and Gender Roles in Ibsens A Doll House

Abstract

Instructor’s Name The Play “A Doll House” Nora is a typical traditional woman happily married to Torvald. She is very timid and naïve and her husband treats her as a doll. Just like the title of the play suggests “A Doll House” Nora does everything in her marriage that portrays her as naïve and innocent. Torvald believed that Nova’s role was to beautify his home and appearance. However, Nora inexplicitly changes and she started showing boredom doing home chores and serving his man. She wanted to earn her own money and achieve her goals. Novea risks taking a loan to save his sick husband despite societal norms that viewed women as inferior and subject to their husbands. She broke the law and saved the health of his husband. She understands the implications of the loan and she had to get a job and pay it. she evolved from being a silly woman who was naïve and innocent to an outspoken, independent woman, and complex woman. She could previously not stand up for herself, but this time she sat with her husband and confronted him about her position as a woman. Torvald was a chauvinist and did not want his woman to progress beyond him, treating her like a subject. Nora developed to be more informed learning about Kongstad’s blackmail and warned his husband about it. she remained bold and firm about it and was aware of the trauma the blackmail would put her into. Nova deviated from the caged life that his husband, father, and society expected of her. Nova expected confrontations and provocations from her chauvinist husband and the conflict led to their separation. Torvald did not want Nova to be but continue hiding and trampling on her potential as an intelligent woman. In marriage, Noba went through a journey of self-discovery and found her identity as a woman. Henrik Ibsen uses Nora as a stooge to depict various psychological concepts. Nova was raised in a society that devalues women and she lived to trample on her potential. Since she was naïve could not stand up for herself. What she was going through in her marriage was psychological, she felt devalued and pushed to extremes so that she could not achieve anything. Torvald is a narcissist and chauvinist, a king of manipulation. He thrived in manipulating his woman to fulfill his needs. Social instructions are a restriction to a person’s identity and freedom (MacCallum, 2017). Nora’s character develops submitting to his father and the blackmail Kongstad put her through. Psychological torments that human beings go through shaping them into becoming themselves. some people are also empty, for instance, Torvald has inner conflicts and does not want a woman to outshine him. Nova’s internal conflicts eventually exploded into a new being with dignity and esteem. Torvald was a hero in society and wanted to prove his wife was subject to him and he did not want a split marriage and was worried about what others would say about his masculinity. The woman completed his identity as a man. Through the marriage tussles, Nova became unshaken and developed a thick skin, and had the courage to walk away for the sake...