Chopin's The Story of an Hour and Ibsen's A Doll House - Book Report/Review Example

She is very charming, entirely devoted to her husband; nor must one suppose that she neglects the ordinary duties which her generation expected of a wife, housekeeper, and mother. On the other hand, a giddy pate often going with a light heart, Nora has the defects of her qualities. She has learned too deliberately to exploit the latter in order to gain her ends and she habitually indulges in chicane and deceit. In The Story of an Hour, Chopin portrays a woman who lives with an unloved husband unable to divorce and start a new life (Sayersted 55).

She is perceived as a physically weak person who needs care and family support, Chopin begins the story with the following words: "Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death" (Chopin 25), similar to Mrs. Mallard, Nora may well be excused: not only has she never been taught better by an indulgent father or an indulgent husband, but her peccadilloes, when found out, have as often as not proved a subject for merriment.

Only one event in her life has put her character to the test. That, of course, was her husband's serious illness and, though forgery is an ugly word and a still uglier thing, Nora resolutely faced a situation unlike any she had yet known; her perseverance in paying off the debt by very distasteful work, amid difficulties which it does not take much imagination to conceive, is altogether praiseworthy. In estimating Nora Helmer's character, we must not overlook the traces of such solid and hopeful elements (Egan 49).

Both authors, Ibsen and Chopin, criticize the marriage and social norms. In his criticism of marriage, Ibsen was seen to be joining in that disturbing modern movement of looking in general upon man and his social arrangements. A Doll's House afforded support for this apprehension outside the treatment of the Helmer marriage (Egan 43)Nora is irresponsible and frivolous, not only because the serious elements in her nature have never received encouragement, but also because she has inherited from her father a disposition towards frivolity and irresponsibility.