Literature is a powerful tool that brings social issues to question. The play, A Doll’s House, achieved this through the lives of various characters such as Nora and Torvald Helmer, Dr. Rank, Nils Krogstad and Mrs. Kristine Linde. Watching or reading this play brings out many themes such as illusion vs reality, male and female relationships, and freedom or oppression. The stories of each character speak to a group in society that has lives that are similar. Therefore, authors must use their platform to provoke action on issues that matter. Henrik Ibsen wrote a play that highlighted the issue of male and female relationship. He emphasizes how prejudices and limited perspective can make one undermine the other. Evidently, the author is not shy to express the social wrongs promoted in male and female relationships. This approach helps the audience to reflect on their personal lives and what they can do better. This essay is an exploration of the male and female relationships in the play and their dynamic.
The relationship between male and female counterparts is heavily influenced by social cultural expectations. Evidently, the Henrik Ibsen clearly portrays the pressure on the female characters to be good wives and mothers ( Kaur, 2016) . Living a contrary life is portrayed as a sad option. Kristine is an embodiment of these frowned upon life as she is a widow with no children struggling to find employment. Nora is unable to discover her true self because all her life has been dedicated to pleasing her father and her husband. The male characters also have a responsibility to care for their family at all costs. This pressure explains why Krogstad would seek to protect his family at the expense of Nora yet he is a concerned and quite sympathetic character. Through the entire play, every individual is struggling to live up to the expectations that society demands of them.
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The Doll’s House elaborates male and female relationship in the family or marriage setting. Nora and Torvald are the main examples of what a male and female relationship in matrimony is. Clearly, the male is the authority figure while the female is the supportive figure. Torvald asserts his authority around his wife constantly in subtle and elaborate ways. For example, he refers to his wife as his ‘little squirrel’ which is a term of endearment but also belittling her. Evidently, he views his will as a doll that he admires and teases. Nora has no issue with being modest in her abilities and strengths to make Torvald feel in charge. She accepts his decision as final and results to manipulation tactics to get what she wants. For example, when she did not want her husband to find her lover's letter, she pretended to need dancing lessons.
In the family setting, women expect men to take on the financial responsibility while the latter expect women to take on household chores. Torvald is proud of his possible promotion and his wife share similar enthusiasm. Nora emphasizes her excitement for this change by spending more money of Christmas gifts. They both seem comfortable as long as Torvald can work and sustain the family. On the other hand, he expects Nora to take responsibility for the morality of their children. For this reason, he is very upset with her scandal even though she borrowed money to ensure that he got the treatment he needed. Therefore, male and female roles are clearly defined and doing more than is expected of them results in negative consequences regardless of their intentions.
Socially, men reputation or image is more important compared to women. Men like Torvald, Dr. Rank, and Krogstad seek jobs, good wives, and a family so that they appear in control of their lives. They avoid scandals at all costs because they do not want to taint their names. For instance, Krogstad fights to keep his position at the bank and prevent his children from scorn at Nora’s expense ( Ibsen & Worrall, 2008) . Torvald is angry at Nora but does not offer the option of divorce when his wife angers him because he wants is life to appear organized to others. At the end of the play, Nora relates to the fact that many women’s names have had their names tarnished and sacrificed their image many times. It is implied that in most cases these sacrifices are mainly for their husbands or other men. Consequently, men are dismissive of women’s contribution to society yet they are key players and pillars of society.
According to Henrik Ibsen, the male and female relationship is very manipulative. Men emotionally manipulate women so that they submit to them. The best example in the play is the relationship between Krogstad and Nora. Krogstad threatened to reveal Nora’s secrets if she does not ask Torvald to retain him at his position. The threat is so stressful that Nora thinks about taking her life. Torvald also emotionally torments his wife in his patronizing ways. It is evident that he does not consider her an equal and always reminds her of her place. Additionally, women use their charm to get their way. At the beginning, Nora seemed childlike and did not question her husband when he undermined her. The audience later understands that this demeanor is an act to keep her husband happy. Her intelligence shines as she realizes that her husband cares about his personal interests. Ultimately, both genders use their socially appointed role to get what they want.
Male and female relationships are dependent as is seen in Henrik Ibsen’s work. It is clear that each gender feeds each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Torvald is a supportive man who ensures that his wife has everything he needs. He even goes further to support Kristine as she seeks employment to sustain herself. Nora goes out of her way to take care of her husband when he was sick and when he was facing financial hardship. Unfortunately, this dependence also bred a lot of negative habits. The men in this story fed women the idea that their existence was for submission. Torvald reminded Nora that her actions would cost him dearly and Krogstad emphasized that her reputation was not as important as his. The women also reinforced these negative traits of blackmail by refusing to take a stand for themselves. Torvald only realized his perception of women was wrong when Nora took a stand and expressed that she wanted to discover who she is.
A Doll’s House is proof that the male and female relationships are exploitive. Both parties are trying to gain from each other. The characters in this play use their strengths or aim at an individual’s weakness to satisfy their needs. Torvald wants to feel needed by his family and in charge. Therefore, he belittles his wife at every opportunity to make himself feel worthy. Nora wants to retain her reputation and so she manipulates her husband to retain Krogstad in his workplace. Mrs. Kistine seeks employment and thus uses her friend to ask herTrovald because he is more open to his wife’s suggestions. Unfortunately, this exploitive nature is ingrained based on how society works and what they are taught. For this reason, Torvald is shaken when the dynamic changes and he realize he has no control over Nora. The author suggests he is confused because the circumstances are going against everything he was taught a woman is supposed to be.
A Doll’s House elaborates that male and female relationships are complicated. On the surface, it is easy for an individual to think that interaction between a man and a woman is black and white. However, an in-depth investigation may determine that it is not as easy as expected to make such a relationship work. Nora and Torvald were under the illusion that marriage and children would guarantee a life together. Eventually, they realized that they were both wrong. Nora saw that her husband’s intentions were personally motivated. Furthermore, she discovered that is she does not understand herself she could not accommodate such a relationship in her life. On the other hand, Torvald realized that women are not being who just follow. They have emotions and thoughts that are suppressed create stress and unhappiness. Therefore, both characters exhibit the need to communicate and establish how one’s relationship works instead of holding one’s partner to unfounded expectations.
In conclusion, this play is eye opening. The author set out to confront social issues that many of his audience were blind to. Evidently, the uproar after its first performance at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen was well deserved as people felt inspired to evaluate their lives. The play is relevant to present day relationships and families. Social norms create unrealistic expectations and cause distractions in many relationships. It is up to each person to look at their family ties and determine what important changes need to take place. This work of literature should continue circulating in learning institutions and social theaters. More authors should set out to use their work as a provocation of change.
References
Ibsen, H., & Worrall, N. (2008). A doll's house . A&C Black. Ibsen, H., & Worrall, N. (2008). A doll's house . A&C Black.
Kaur, R. (2016). Deconstructing Cultural and Gender Norms in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. PARIPEX-Indian Journal of Research , 5 (5).
