Theme of A Doll's House
The ending of any artistic work always either leaves the audience surprised or satisfied. Henrik Ibsen was forced to write a different ending for the play, A Doll's House, because German society was not yet ready for his surprisingly controversial and unconventional idea of a woman leaving her housewife duties to fulfill a personal need. The theme of this play, "Very often, individuals caught in restrictive settings must emancipate themselves even if it means that they will lose everything in the process," is better satisfied with Ibsen's original ending.At the time the play was written, a woman was bound by her womanly duties to be a proper mother and a loving and supportive wife to her husband. Nora is also bound by that societal code of womanly conduct in the play, unless she leaves Helmer, her home, and her children. Nora's duty to be a typical Norwegian woman creates a fictitious prison for her in which Helmer controls her. Ibsen creates his restrictive setting from this invisible law. Nora's sole purpose is to please Hel
It also satisfies the building up of actions before the emancipation. The fact that Nora "cannot leave [her family]"7 does stress the point that she does not emancipate herself from her restrictive setting, which is the opposite from the theme. When she leaves Helmer and her beloved children, it signifies a great sacrifice she has made but also a freedom she has achieved. "3 She is like a doll living in a dollhouse, and she will never be independent unless if she leaves everything and starts a new life on her own. Nora always stays in the house or goes to parties and places so that she can satisfy the whims of Helmer. "2 Nora basically lives in a prison with restricted freedom. This the fact that Nora rarely leaves her prison. When she finally resists Helmer's sexual request, he tries to resolve the problem by simply telling her that "[he's] her husband. Finally, the stage direction, [from below comes the noise of a door slamming]5, provides a closure that Nora needs to distance herself from her restrictive setting. In the altered end, Nora is still controlled by Helmer; she let him take away her only chance of freedom when he grasps her arm and drags her around8. The original ending suits the theme of the play lets Nora to be able to emancipate herself from her restrictive setting.
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