Doll's House
Interchangeable Roles of Nora and Helmer in A Doll House In Ibsen's play A Doll House, Nora is personified as a helpless child in need of her husband's protection. She eats macaroons, which she hides from her husband because her husband forbids her candy. This gives her the image of the mischievous child hiding her candy from the adult (Helmer). She hums as if she has no care in the world, as innocent as a young child, while her husband works in his study. With this aura of innocence, Nora is also generous to a fault. She gives the delivery boy twice what she owes him as a tip, but her husband takes this sign of generosity as Nora being a spendthrift. Helmer views Nora as a child to be protected and guided through everything she does. He calls her "lark" and "squirrel," pet names to diminish her importance as an individual and to impose his superiority as a man. He views his wife as a possession as well as an object to beautify his home. Her intellectual immaturity stems from her sheltered life and so she views life from an unrealistic point of view. Nora's troubles stem from a hidden financial hardship and so money becomes the central focus for her happiness. Money is very important in this household and Nora's o
Helmer who was once the strong male figure is left weakened in spirit as well as in his masculinity by Nora's act of rebellion towards her place in life. He refuses to be her protector and only sees the ruin she will bring to his ordered life. You all think that I am incapable of anything serious"(l. When she shows her lack of business sense in wanting to borrow money so she can spend more money on Christmas, Helmer criticizes her lack of sense and at the same time he justifies it because she is only a woman. However Nora sees through him now and will not let him bind her into his idealistic image of a doll wife. Knowing that they can never have an equal marriage Nora decides to leave her home and children to find herself in the real world. Nora's eyes are open to the reality of her marriage to Helmer as she sees her dreams of a protector crumbled all the while realizing how shallow her life has been. 415) Nora actually thinks that her forging her father's signature in a loan is justifiable because it was not for criminal purposes. He doesn't take into consideration that Nora did it for him when he was helpless to help himself. He laughs at her for spending money that they do not have yet and at the same time she annoys him by her outward lack of concern in spending his money on Christmas trifles. She does this not so much out of pride of having done something to save her husband but because Linde tells her "Nora, you're just a child". Not only is Nora subjected to being thought of as a child by her husband, but she also contributes to this image by acting as one. Just as Nora is made stronger by the possibilities of self-knowledge and finding her self worth in the world, Helmer is left weakened and defeated by the realization that his home feels empty without Nora. She plays with them as if she was one of them and so she is a mother in name only, just the way in which she is a wife in name only and not an equal partner in the marriage.
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Acceptance Essays
