A Doll’s Lie–A Critique on “A Doll’s House”

Have you thought that small lies will devastate your relationships and cause turmoil in your marriages? “A Doll House” was written to combat the vicious dishonesty that plagues our households. Dishonesty breaks through the atmosphere of honesty and causes toxic air of dishonesty to come flowing in. Meyer noted, “A Doll’s House dramatizes the tensions of a nineteenth century middle-class marriage in which a wife struggles to step beyond the limited identity imposed on her by her husband and society.”(Meyer, 2017, pg. 1164). Meyer is correct in noting that Torvald was a reigning terror on Nora.

Since Torvald was a commanding terror that controlled Nora’s every move, Nora had no room to breathe in the precious atmosphere of freedom. Instead, she breathed in the poisonous gas of confinement. Her freedom that she desperately sought caused turmoil in the Helmer’s household. Due to her freedom, she breathed in the toxic fumes of lies and deceit. She breathed in the toxic fumes because She lied to her husband that she borrowed 4,800 kroner from the disrespectful Mr. Krogstad to go to Italy to help her husband feel better from his apparent illness. To this dishonesty, she was very nervous and concerned that her husband will be angry with her. She should be concerned about the action that she took against the wishes of her husband. At the end of the play, Nora felt like a possession being tossed and turned by her husband, so she left and sought-after freedom. This piece noted that more women should feel like equal partners instead of being controlled by their husbands. Editors, at biography.com, noted that “This 1879 play set tongues a-wagging throughout Europe for exploration of Nora’s struggle with the traditional roles of wife and mother and her own need for self-exploration.”(Biography.com Editors, 2020, para. 1). So, her own need for self-exploration and deceit ultimately led her to leave the Helmer’s household where the husband acted like a dictator to the wife. Marriage is a partnership, not a one-street avenue. This is basically the plot of ‘A Doll House.’

The Characters are portrayed as quintessential characters. Only five main characters exists in the play— ‘A Doll’s house.’

Nora is the main character trying to explore her identity as someone who wants to get out of a one-way relationship with the husband. Nora, also, is the character that instead of caring for her father when he was ill, she abandoned him. Unlike Nora, Mrs. Linde cared for her sick and elderly parents. (SparkNotes Editors, 2020, para. 2).

Torvald is the second main character who is the husband of Nora. The authoritative Torvald laid down the law with Nora. For example, Torvald did not allow Nora, his little singing skylark, to eat macaroons and did not allow her to borrow without his permission. Torvald stated, “There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt.” (Meyer, 2017, pg. 1165). That is Torvald’s reasoning behind not allowing Nora to borrow money or anything because debt can be an all-consuming monster that wreaks havoc on the atmosphere of freedom. With this, Torvald treated Nora like a child “in a manner that is both kind and patronizing” (Meyer, 2017, pg. 1213). Torvald Helmer cannot stand for lies. Torvald, close to the end of Act 1, stated, “An atmosphere of lies infect and poisons the whole life of a home. Each breath the children take in such a house is full of germs of evil” (pg. 1167). If Torvald Helmer was a real-life character, he would find that lies are a far deadlier disease than the coronavirus that plagues the USA and the rest of the world today. This speaks highly of his moral uprightness. However, Torvald is not perfect. He is moral upstanding person that does not allow her wife to breathe in the atmosphere of freedom. He has his authoritarian hand on his wife.

Mr. Krogstad is the third main character of ‘A Doll’s House.’ He is a worthless man who has forged many signatures and tries to fix his mistakes. To try and fix his mistakes, Krogstad threatens Nora by saying that He would tell Torvald her nasty secret.

Mrs. Christiane Linde is the fourth main character of ‘A Doll’s House.” She hurt Mr. Krogstad feelings when She married Mr. Linde instead of the young and rather dashing Nils Krogstad. Later, Mrs. Linde developed her former love with Mr. Krogstad to give her a reason to live and work.

Dr. Rank served as the fifth main character of ‘A Doll’s House.’ Dr. Rank grew worse and worse as his back deteriorated as the play went on. He served as a symbol of how lies can lead to the deterioration of moral standards. Dr. Rank exposes the corruptness of Nils Krogstad, saying that he “suffers from a diseased moral character.” (Meyer, 2017, pg. 1171).

The Three Children, Bob, Emmy, and Ivar. These children of the Helmer’s household desperately wanted attention from the mother, Nora, but to no avail. The children only received attention from Anne, who was their nurse.

Anne-Marie, their nurse, was like a mother to Nora. So, she ‘trusted’ her to take care of the children while she was off searching for her new profound freedom. Anne-Marie was kind and tender-hearted towards the children.

These descriptions of the actor are a prime example of how believable and timely this piece was written in the late 1800s. This play is easily understood to mean how women should feel free instead of being controlled by chauvinist men like Torvald.

To further understand the play, the background of the writer needs to be discussed. The Writer was Henrik Ibsen. Henrik Ibsen was an exiled Norwegian playwright. He moved, in 1868, to Germany, where he wrote his most famous piece out of the all—A Doll’s House (Biography.com Editors, 2020, para. 2). Henrik Ibsen was called “The Father of Realism.” Henrik wrote ‘A Doll’s House’ to help increase the awareness that women has rights too. New York Times noted, “Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play ‘A Doll’s House’ concludes with one of the most famous exits in modern drama. When Nora Helmer walked out of her husband Torvald’s house to begin a life of independence, her slamming of the door could be the opening salvo in a battle over women’s rights that continues today.”(Jenkins, 2003, para. 2). As seen through the characters of ‘A Doll’s House, the Themes of “A Doll’s house” includes women rights, deceit, and freedom vs. confinement.

The writing style of ‘A Doll’s House” was very good. The play had a beginning, a climactic moment, and an end. The beginning was executed well because it was set in Christmas time and portrayed Nora as a little spendthrift. The climactic moment was when Krogstad threatened their marriage by trying to expose Nora’s secret of borrowing 4,800 kroner from Krogstad and forging a signature. This was not right. The end of the play did not turn out as expected. Nora left the Helmer’s household to sought after her new profound freedom.

In conclusion, this play has some interesting morals to it. First, marriage is a two-way avenue. Marriage takes work. You cannot build a marriage based on lies or you will end up having a corrupt marriage. Second, do not fill a household full of lies. When you fill a household up full of lies, it corrupts the atmosphere of freedom. Third, do not forge a signature anytime. Forging a signature has serious consequences associated with it. One serious consequence is spending time in prison. These are some interesting morals that I discovered in the play. Overall, I give this play a ten out of ten. I really liked ‘A Doll’s House.”

Bibliography

Biography.com Editors. 2019. “Henrik Ibsen Biography.” The Biography.com website. accessed June 19, 2020, https://www.biography.com/writer/henrik-ibsen

Ibsen, H. 2017. “A Doll’s House.” The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Eleventh Edition. Michael Meyer. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017, pg. 1164-1213).

Jenkins, R. 2003. “Men are the Real Dolls in this House of Ibsen.” New York Times, November 16,2003, Late Edition (East Coast). Retrieved from ProQuest Research Library Database. http://library.friends.edu:2048/login?url=https://library.friends.edu:2214/docview/432575331?accountid=34741. (Accessed June 22, 2020)

SparkNotes Editors. 2020. “Character List.” SparkNotes.com. Accessed June 19th, 2020. https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dollhouse/characters/