Nora And Torvald's Deception

Deception is one of the most important themes within ‘A Doll´s House´. It brings out the plot, outlines the characters, and shows what Ibsen was trying to show us about women and society. Without deception there would be no play. Two of the most interesting things about it are the decision that the audience must make. ‘When is deceiving someone wrong and when is it necessity?´ And the fact that as the audience witnesses the deception they do not realise that they are being deceived themselves.

The character of Nora is the most deceptive within the play, and so it is through her character I have decided to explore Ibsen´s portrayal of deception. Nora lies in one way or another to all of the main characters in the play. The biggest victim of her treachery is her loving husband Torvald. Even from the start we see her lying about the most ridiculous things like how much money she spends and whether she has been eating macaroons. Then later we see her lie about the crimes that she has committed against her dead father, her family, and herself. So why is that we still see her as ‘a sweet and innocent child´.

The character of Nora has many guises, w

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Even though is Nora´s regressive childish pride that brings out ‘the other side´. So why do we still justify Nora´s actions? Well there is still the matter of her doing it to save her husbands life. Nora ‘tosses her head´ and immediately begins to reveal part of her ‘dark secret´ in order to prove Mrs Linde wrong. Secondly we remember her childish act and see her naivety about the proceeding in a court of law and pity the poor thing. It is more likely that she is lying to Torvald because he seems to be the victim of most of her lies. Shortly after we see another example of Nora´s regressive qualities after she has been ‘told off´ by Torvald for being a ‘spendthrift´. At this particular point in the play we have not witness her lie about anything significant and so we dismiss it as a little white lie. And I feel that Ibsen uses Nora to make us despise Torvald when in actual fact he has done nothing wrong to her.

Mrs Linde feel protective over Nora because she still sees her as ‘still being a child´ and we see this as Dr. So yet again Nora escapes without any ridicule.

That is why this first scene is so important.

Up until this point in they play we have only seen Nora act as a child, but then we realise that, intentional or not, it is all a front. But we are so completely deceived by Nora´s many guises that we do not realise that. She talks about her ‘three beautiful children and ‘her extraordinary luck they´ve just had´ with ‘Torvald being made manager of the bank´

The next lies that we see is too do with her career. By this point in the play we are so much on Nora´s side that the off handed way in which she treats her husband is not frowned upon because we see her as a tower of strength now and we are happy that her troubles are over.

Common topics in this essay:
Doll´s House´, Linde Linde, Nora Linde, Nora´ Nora, Nora´ Secondly, Ibsen Nora, Torvald Krogstad, Dr Rank, , House' Deception, character nora, save husbands life, makes appearance, save husbands, trying women, protect nora, nora´s regressive, eating macaroons, husbands life, lying torvald, little girl,

Approximate Word count = 1794
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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