The Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen - Essay Example

Frequently what makes a play engrossing is not an admirable and irreproachable character, but one who is flawed severely. Owing to this flaw or a lasting imperfection that the reader understands human nature. A theme prominent in “The Doll House” by Henrik Ibsen is independence. Nora as a character in the play is the epitome of independence and freedom. The play revolves around Nora who struggles to become a self-motivated being in a male chauvinist world. “The Doll’s House” therefore questions marital relationships and concentrates on the independence of a person.

The play indicts a societal false value that rids independence of individuals. In this paper, the theme of independence is critically examined throughout the play, and the length to which the characters in the play permeate it is analyzed. Introduction The play “The Doll’s House” is about a typical housewife who is disillusioned and not satisfied by her husband. The play’s setting is around the festive season when an old widow friend of Nora, Mrs.Linde , the housewife, stops by making an inquiry about a job.

This is after news of Nora's husband's promotion in the workplace gets to her. At that moment, Nora reveals to Mrs. Linde that when her husband was taken ill some years ago, she illegally got a loan by forging her dead father’s signature. She has, however, been paying the loan in secret without the knowledge of her husband. However, a bitter work mate of Mr. Torvald Nils Krogstad blackmails her into paying the debt owed to the bank. In the second act the theme of loneliness is revealed by Nora trying so hard to find desperate ways to hide the truth from coming up.

She consults Dr. Rank, a family friend of theirs on what to do. Intimacy gets revealed when Torvald tells how much likes watching her at parties. Dr. Rank enters while the couple is having their intimate moment and makes a revelation to Torvald who gets angry and fumes at his wife. Nils Krogstad later on drops the blackmail pursuits he had made on Nora on finding love with Mrs.Linde. This changes everything in the play as Nora has an epiphany that her husband does not truly love her like he confessed.

She thus hurriedly leaves her family and her husband despite him begging her to stay. This highlights the theme of independence as portrayed by Ibsen in his works. Ibsen tends to focus on the independence of women in society as revealed in the play. The theme of independence is so prominent throughout prominent the play by Ibsen .The first instance of independence is revealed in the play when Nora remembers about the past days when she and her husband were going through a financial crisis and she had to work to make money.

She refers to herself as acting like a man in these times (Ibsen 19). From the play it is clear that women were not allowed to be independent from their husbands at all. Torvald’s inquiry on the marital status of Mrs. Linde is another instance of independence in the play. She can only work independently in Torvald’s bank if she is a widow. When Torvald realizes she is a widow he then accepts her as a coworker. If she were married she could not assert her professional independence. This shows how women are not professionally independent in that society.

Another independence instance gets revealed when Nora borrows money from Torvald. She does this by falling for his flirtations thus illustrating her complete reliance on her husband. This is further illustrated when she refers to herself as skylark amongst other pet names preferred by Torvald. She becomes dependent by borrowing money from Torvald as she has no other means to get money. The tarantella is a single dancer dance that shows the independence of the dancer from people around her. Nora thus dances the tarantella alone revealing her ability to work independently thus illustrating her strengths and values.

The tarantella illustrates her independent abilities in the play from rehearsals to the ultimate