Ibsen was a true master. He has created amazing works that are valued for its psychological and artistic expressions. They are woven into a variety of different motifs, specific and original issues of the play. But these side motives do not break and do not substitute the logic of the development of the central conflict, but merely set off the conflict, sometimes even helping to ensure that it is made with particular force. A Doll’s House is a small play written by Henrik Ibsen was published in 1879 (“A Doll’s House: Context”, n.d.). This drama is considered to be a manifesto of feminism, which addresses the issue of the status of women in society, ability to choose their own destiny and desire to defend individual rights and freedoms. Actually, this play was based on real events, probably that is the reason why the play looks so naturalistic and very relevant. The main theme of this work is position of women in the society of the 19th century. We can say that in the play we can find a question about freedom of the human person. The main characters are the lawyer Torvald Helmer and his wife Nora. Throughout the play the main character will have to make very difficult decisions that will affect her life.
The main character of A Doll’s House Nora sees the meaning of life in the love to relatives, namely husband and children. She sincerely believes that it is a family of peace and love, as she and her husband really love each other. But Nora has a secret: eight years ago, she forged the signature of her father who died to be able to borrow money from a local businessman Krogstad. Nora did it in order to pay for treatment of her seriously ill husband. She said nothing to the family. The debt was issued in the morning, and Nora thought that her secret is a valid proof of a faithful love. But suddenly the trouble has come. Krogstad , a person of not very high moral character, begins to blackmail Nora. He wants to occupy a high position in the Torvald’s bank with help of it. Krogstad’s letter to Thorvald not only opens an old secret, but also determines who is who. Learning about Nora’s debt, the husband starts to worry, because at that time, any respectable family could be a subject of gossip and scandals. In addition, Torvald is fighting for his place in the bank. He begins to talk to his wife like a real criminal. Torvald is keen to keep the external decency. His wife seems to be invisible for him. Thorvald was going to suspend Nora from child rearing.
The situation permitted fairly simple: he realized that he had acted very dishonestly, Krogstad gives up his claims, saying that nothing threatens Nora and Torvald. Torvald is happy, but Nora is not the same anymore. The woman realized that, wishing only happiness for the family, she went to the crime, as a result has lost her self-esteem. In the hands of her husband she became a favorite toy. The house that was built on lies and deceit cannot be a real home: like a toy house, it is destroyed after the first occurrence of an evil fate. Nora is going to leave the house. Disturbed Torvald asked if she comes back, and received a negative reply. Torvald tries to keep Nora, reminding her about so-called duties before her husband and children. In response, he hears something unexpected: Nora replies that it she is not only a mother of the family, but above all she is a human-being.
By this drama Henrik Ibsen opened a profound disparity between the respectable appearance and inner depravity of depicted reality, he protested against all social institutions of the system, requiring a maximum emancipation of women. A Doll’s House put readers before the difficult questions. The playwright himself was a man of stern but generous nature, and he was always attracted to the open, decent people who know how to sacrifice themselves and their well-being. Ibsen was the first to attract the reader’s attention to the relations in a particular family. It had to be done in order to understand the mechanism of marital and family happiness. According to Ibsen, the fate of society depends on it.
References:
A Doll’s House: Context. Sparknotes.com. Retrieved 28 August 2016, from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dollhouse/context.html