As a victim of his narrow view of society, Torvald inspires sympathy rather than reproach. When a man mistakes appearances for values, the basic blame must be attributed to his social environment. Ibsen, however, drives home the loathsome qualities of such a character by attributing to him a personal decadence.
The Constrictive Nature of Gender Roles
In A Doll's House, Ibsen portrays a stereotypically gendered household with Torvald and Nora Helmer and then shows how characters—both male and female—suffer because of the roles society expects them to play.
To begin, Torvald is essentially just as much a victim of nineteenth century societal norms as Nora. For example, society expected men to be the sole breadwinner.
A Doll's House is a play of social criticism in the sense that it has criticized the traditional marriage, man-woman relationship and the domination of the female by the male in the name of love or family.
Henrik Ibsen's modern drama “A Doll's House” explores the conflict between pursuing a personal desire and choosing to conform, as Nora faces a patriarchal oppression which is against her personal values in her daily life.
Rebellion—against family expectations, social norms, governing bodies, and the like—is one of the most common themes in literature. When one or more characters rebels against the expected behaviors or codified structures of their society, this is called the character vs. society conflict.
A Doll's House is an exceptional achievement. In spite of Nora's uncertain future prospects - facing the problems a divorced woman without means would face in nineteenth century society - she has served and serves as a symbol throughout the world, for women fighting for liberation and equality.
This is a social drama because through the character of Nora the status of women is described. She symbolizes the women of her period. And the character of Torvald Helmer depicts the ego centrism and malechauvinism of men of that period and also their tendency to look down upon women as inferior beings.
Nora rebels against social expectations, first by breaking the law, and later by taking the drastic step of abandoning her husband and children. During the time in which the play took place society frowned upon women asserting themselves.
Nora Helmer in A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen is living in a society that idolizes men while objectifying women, classifying them as lesser individuals. Nora, having grown up in this society has developed a mask, hiding who she truly is: a self-reliant woman.
For the author, Torvald stands for all the individual-denying social ills against which Ibsen has dedicated all his writing. As a victim of his narrow view of society, Torvald inspires sympathy rather than reproach.
Perhaps Torvald's most dislikeable quality is his blatant hypocrisy. Many times throughout the play, Torvald criticizes the morality of other characters. He trashes the reputation of Krogstad, one of his lesser employees (and ironically the loan shark that Nora is indebted to).
Torvald is constantly opposed to his wife and her decisions, showing he is one of the antagonists in the play. Torvald is not only a misogynist and an antagonist but is also a victim of nineteenth century society norms.
She bitterly attacks her father and Torvald for treating her like a toy, but through them, she criticizes society for keeping women in a state of immaturity. Using the characters of Nora and Torvald Helmer, Henrik Ibsen criticizes the gender power dynamics imposed by society at the time.
The author of “The Doll's House” is commenting on how hard it is to raise one's social status. The class that a person is born in is usually the class where they spend the rest of their life. It is hard to change their future because everyone else is so focused on their parents' past.
A Doll's House throws light on the status of women in society particularly during the 19th century which was highly male-dominated, and the lack of identity and personal freedom that every oppressed woman victimized by the patriarchal society suffers.
The play was so controversial that Ibsen was forced to write a second ending that he called “a barbaric outrage” to be used only when necessary. The controversy centered around Nora's decision to abandon her children, and in the second ending she decides that the children need her more than she needs her freedom.
The end of A Doll's House created enormous controversy in Ibsen's time. Many of the middle-class theater-goers were scandalized that a woman might leave her husband and, more importantly, her children.
Lesson Summary
Despite not being a feature of a well-made play, A Doll House also ultimately serves as a feminist parable, meaning that it's concerned with women's rights. These themes are mostly explored through the interactions between characters like Torvald, his wife Nora, her debtor Krogstad, Mrs. Linde and Dr.
Early on in the text, the home is seen as a thing of joy, a place of comfort and shelter. The idea of home is enmeshed with the idea of the happy family, which the Helmers seem to be. Toward the play's conclusion, however, the imbalance of power in the family becomes an issue.
The doll's house itself is a symbol of the Burnell family's societal position. When it is brought into the Burnell courtyard, it becomes, literally, a house within a house, a mirror of the Burnell's home.
Racism, segregation, religious beliefs, environmental issues, being wrongly accused of something, and being ousted from society are all examples of how someone can come into conflict with his or her community. One against many is also a good way to look at it.
A famous example of the man vs society plot can be seen in the Hunger Games movies, where the protagonist, Katniss, leads a revolution against the authoritarian government that is oppressing her community.
society conflict is an external conflict that occurs in literature when the protagonist is placed in opposition with society, the government, or a cultural tradition or societal norm of some kind.
Torvald's objectification of Nora is clear from the start, as he addresses her with dehumanizing epithets like “little singing bird” and “little squirrel of mine,” which cast Nora more as a pet, as a thing to be kept, than as a person with autonomy (3).