The Use of Symbolic Language in Ibsen's A Doll House - Essay Example

Abstract The play was created in the 19th century. It created a great controversy as Nora finally leaves her marriage and children by the end of the last act in the play; this is because she needed to rediscover herself to find out what she really wanted with her life. This was contrary to the rules of marriage at that time, this is because women were not allowed to make their decisions, and crucial decisions were made by the husbands (Baser and Dilda 622). Furthermore the woman was expected to be entirely submissive to the man. The man was in control of everything for his family. In turn the woman’s work was to take care of the house hold chores, children and the husband, she was not supposed to do any kind of job outside the home, and the idea of a woman working out of the home appeared to be really scandalous at that time (Rahman 625). Introduction The play starts with Norah coming from buying Christmas presents for her family, this shows how much devoted she is to her family. In the second act, Nora is seen to be acting childishly (Rahman 622). This is evidenced when Tourald enters to retrieve the mailbox that contains Krogstads mail that has the story of how she forged her father’s signature. She feigned anxiety of performing and acted childishly in order for her husband to take his time to spend the entire evening with her, but we later come to realize that this was just a ploy to draw her husband’s attention from the mail (Baser and Dilda 623). When her friend came visiting, she told her how she was progressing. Kristine goes on to explain that she has been taking care of her ailing mother and her brothers and that she was feeling empty now that they were grown. Kristine then terms Nora to be childish, she is not happy although this was a clear indication that Nora had behaved in a manner that made her friend see her as a child. Nora is very submissive to her husband, this can be seen with the easy that she behaves around him, she gives him time and privacy whenever he is having his visitors, besides when she needs something from him, and she kindly asks him in a polite way. She is very respective of him and respects the decisions that he has to make. She respects the fact that her husband works at the bank so as to provide for the family while she remains at home to take care of the house and the children (Rahman 288). How Nora’s husband treats her. Nora’s husband treats her with utmost adoration, it can be evidently seen in act two the way he welcomes her from the market, he in fact has a pet name for her, the squirrel, he goes ahead to praise her on how she sacrificed the previous year to create presents for her family since there was no money to buy the presents, he shows that he is not disappointed that she has used some extra money to buy the family presents. He is thankful of the fact that Nora does so much for the family. He is also seen to be very understanding g to his wife, as he listens to her when she requests him to offer her friend a job at the bank, he immediately grants her wish. He further gives Nora all the attention that she requires, this can be seen in act two when she se distracts him from retrieving his mail and instead offers to help her with the dancing (Baser and Dilda 626). However when he realizes about Krogstads letter, he changes his attitude towards Nora, he is furious and calls her a dishonest and immoral woman since Krogstads letter had somehow blackmailed him into having his job back, what Torvald does not want to understand is the fact that his wife took all the risk of taking a loan in order to take care of him the time that he was ailing. He instead abuses and tells her that she is not fit of taking care of his children and further tells her that what is left of their marriage is just a mere appearance. However Krogstads writes another letter withdrawing all the claims (Rahman 627). Torvald talks to his wife and asks for her forgiveness for how he behaved. He however does not accept that he was wrong in judging Nora, he sees her to be the one who did a mistake in trying to assume his duties while he was sick. The behavior illustrated by Nora’s husband takes a great toll on her, she realizes that her husband has never loved her truly and that he was so selfish and all that he cares about is himself. This makes her to start having second thoughts about the marriage. Nora’s characteristics Norah proves to the audience that she is very intelligent. This can be evidently seen when she talks about taking a loan from the bank in order to help with her husband’s treatment when he was very ill. She had to forge her father’s signature in order to get the loan and covered it up by saying that she had attained the money from her own father. She then worked hard by doing small jobs secretly in order to pay the debt and also protect the integrity of the family name. She manages to keep this a secret from her husband until krogstad black mails her husband (Baser and Dilda 628). Nora is also seen to be very clever; first she tries to stop her husband every time he wants to open up the mailbox. She easily translates the reaction of Torvald when he learns that her husband is very selfish and all that he cares for is himself. She later decides to leave her husband and children in order to rediscover herself and understand who she really is. She is also seen to be clever in how she devises on a way to get a loan to treat her husband. She further thinks very first on how she will settle the debt without her husband realizing and thus proves to the audience how clever she is (Rahman 289). Whats more all this is done in great secrecy. Nora is a woman who is full of determination and proves that she can do anything for her families well being. This can be evidently seen as to how she took the risk of going against the societies rules and regulations that only required a man to take care of the family, instead she goes ahead and takes a loan to treat her husband, she does not care about the consequences when she will be found out, she is determined to see her husband well and she eventually achieves this. She is later disappointed at how her husband reacted to the news of her taking a loan to treat him. This gives her the determination of walking away from her marriage and children; this is because she realizes that the caring and adorable husband has not always been like that and that he is a very selfish man (Rahman 290). By the end of the play, Norah manages to walk out of her matrimonial home Norah can also be seen to be very ambitious as she believes there is nothing that is impossible for her to achieve. She is supposed to work at home and leave the working responsibility to her husband as women are not supposed to work. But when she gets a loan secretly from the bank, she is forced to find small jobs that will enable her to raise money to pay her debt.more so after she is seen to immoral and dishonest by her husband, she decides to leave the marriage because she realizes that it is actually full of deceit. She decides that no matter what happens, she has to start over again, get time to think about what is really best for her (Rahman 295). This proves to the audience how ambitious she is because she is ready to face an uncertain world. Norah can be seen has being weak, this is because she finally falls prey to being a victim of circumstance, Krogstad takes advantage of this fact and blackmails her into talking to her husband in order for him to maintain his job at the bank. Krogstad takes the threat further and writes her husband explaining to him how she took a loan from the bank. This turns out to be very ugly scene as the husband really insults her. It’s also seen that the husband also takes advantage of her weakness and really insults her, he does not give her room for explaining why she took the loan and even after being told the reason for the loan, he goes on to accuse her that she is the one who did a mistake in taking the loan (Rahman 296). She feels bad that that is the treatment that she can get from her husband after all the years of marriage and sacrifice. She sees her husband as a very cruel and ungrateful man. Nora saw herself as a very responsible mother and wife. This is because she got out of the house to go and buy Christmas gifts for her family; furthermore, later in scene two she is seen playing with the children. She takes full responsibility of her husband’s illness to an extent of forging signatures in order to obtain a loan to treat her husband. After her husband’s recovery, she is versed with the responsibility of ensuring that she struggles to get jobs to pay the debt thus protecting the family’s intergrity. She does all this for the love that she has for her family (Rahman 298). All this however changes by the end of the play. This is because Nora is shocked by the way that her husband reacts to the loan issue. He does not want to understand that she took it purposely for his own treatment. Instead her husband insists that all decagons pertaining their lives should only be made by him and insists that she made a mistake. She realizes that all the time that the she has been married to this man; he had never loved her truly. She had only been a convenience to him, to be used to him whenever he feels like (Baser and Dilda 627). This facts really anger Nora as she realizes that she has been like a doll in her husband’s life only to be played with. What is worse is when she tells her husband of her intentions to leave and he insists on her staying, not because he loves her but because he thinks a woman’s place is to stay married, stay in the house, taking care of the children and her husband. This makes her more furious as she feels used and out of place completely and thus manages to walk out on her children and husband (Rahman 298). Conclusion Norah Helmer is the wife of a lawyer who has been given a top position in the bank. She has there children. She is a caring and responsible mother and wife. She takes care of the home and does not fear taking risks in order to protect those that she loves. This is evident by how she took a loan in order to treat her husband. However she lives in an era where women are not allowed to work foer economic gain.she is expected to stay in their house and take care of the children.this is not what Nora does, as she secretly works and pays the loan that she took (Rahman 630). When her husband does not appreciate her efforts she decides to leave because she sees the marriage is not based on love but made up of obligations and that she is only being used. Work cited Baser, Abdul Alui and Sofia Dilda. "The Use of Symbolic Language In Ibsen's A Doll House:A Feministic Perspective." Feminist Litrature,Vol 13,Issue 3; (2013): 622-630. Rahman, Abdul. "The Identity in Between;The Enquiry of Apathy and Existential Angush in Hernks Ibsen's A Doll House." Women Literature vol 12 issue 6 (2012): 287-297. Read More