A Dolls House: Reality vs. Illusion - Essay Example

A Doll’s House: Reality vs. Illusion

Introduction

People’s perception of reality can be quite corrupted, especially, in the context when others participate in their reality’s transformation into illusion. In this respect, Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House (1879) is a clear illustration of how someone’s life can be perceived through the prism of illusion and what consequences such a reality can have. Thus, the two main characters, Nora and her husband Torvald, are a couple whose marriage is built on mutual deception caused by their attempts to be a perfect example of a family with a perfect relationship. Nora is a loving submissive wife, Torvald is an authoritative husband and a breadwinner; they have three beautiful children and some finances to hire a nurse to look after them. Nora and Torvald’s family life seems to be ideal because of their matching the parameters of a family in the patriarchal society. However, this is just a façade. Nora and Helmer’s life is an illusion of their reality caused by their desire to create the appearance of family happiness, which is induced by the patriarchal ideals of the contemporary society.

Reality vs. Illusion of Nora and Torvald’s Family Life

An illusion of Nora and Torvald’s domestic bliss is introduced by Ibsen at the very beginning of his play, however, the reader can perceive it as a reality. The whole thing is that the relations between the husband and wife create the feeling of the true love and understanding, which are seen as the groundbreaking basis of a happy family. So, such a seemingly harmonious climate within the family of Nora and Torvald can mislead the reader due to its interpretation as a real one. In fact, it is just a fantasy of the main characters about their being a perfect husband and wife that makes them play their roles in the house called by Ibsen a doll’s house because of the artificial life of its inhabitants. Nora believes in Torvald’s sincerity and his adoration of his ‘little bird’. Hence, she shares her happiness with Doctor Rank, a family friend, “You know how deeply, how wonderfully Torvald loves me; he wouldn't hesitate a moment to give his very life for my sake” (Ibsen 26). That is why she tries to please him in every imaginable way to show him how she appreciates her dear husband. Nora dresses, sings, and dances for Torvald: “I'll be an elf and dance in the moonlight for you, Torvald” (Ibsen 22). In such a manner, she demonstrates her love for husband, whereas, in reality, she just plays the role of a beautiful wife locked in Torvald’s house.

Actually, Nora is under Torvald’s control, she is a kind of a puppet in his hands, for she follows his words and does this unquestionably. In such a manner, Torvald produces an impression of the authoritative husband whose word is law. This aspect is clearly confirmed by Nora’s words: “When we were first married he was almost jealous if I even mentioned any of my old friends at home; so naturally I gave up doing it” (Ibsen 20). Obviously, Torvald’s desires are of a top priority for Nora, which is reflected in her actions designed to show her submission to her husband. Thus, Torvald plays the role of the head of the family, which is traditional for the patriarchal society. Nora, in her turn, accepts such a state of affairs as normal, so she believes in the reality defined by her being a bird in the cage ruled by men.

Indeed, Nora and Torvald’s belief in their reality is just an illusion, for the first serious challenge shows the absence of the idyll created by their playing the roles of a husband and wife. Torvald’s response to the situation of Nora’s forgery of her father’s signature to take money for the improvement in Torvald’s health demonstrates his concern about public opinion, whereas his wife’s feelings are of no importance for him. In fact, Nora’s dishonesty cannot be perceived as an act of Torvald’s betrayal, for she followed her desire to save her beloved husband (at least, she believed in her love for him). However, Torvald cannot accept his wife’s fraud, as it is a sign of her moral degradation and a cause for his reputation’s destroying. Significantly, it is unacceptable for a man with the patriarchal philosophy to tolerate a woman’s non-reliance on his opinion. So, Nora is seen by him as a reason for his rejection by the social environment. That is why he almost damns her for her so-called fall. Yet, what actually happens is that Nora becomes an object of her husband’s next manifestation of his authority aimed to suppress her independence of thought. Actually, “In most parts of the play she is oppressed by the unjust behavior of her husband and numerous tyrannical social conventions” (Hooti and Torkamaneh 1107). Such a reality is just unseen by the woman, for she believes in the illusion of her domestic harmony and thus interprets Torvald’s behavior as well as her isolation initiated by him as an ordinary aspect of a wife’s life.

The so-called reality of idyll imagined by Nora and Torvald ultimately asserts itself as an illusion after the straight talk between them. At last, the woman understands her role of a doll in her house, which, in fact, symbolizes the role of all women pushed to act in accordance with the patriarchal ideals. Nora leaps to a conclusion that her entire life is nothing more than a play, in which her actions are defined by men’s will. In this respect, even her house is artificial, for it just serves to be a good setting for her being a little bird elaborately baited by the man. Nora argues, “But our house has been nothing but a play-room” (Ibsen 42). The main character realizes that her husband’s attitude to her doubles the one of her father, which makes her just a beautiful doll designed to please them. Nora’s children, in turn, are not just the compliment to their family happiness (as one gets an impression of such a reality), but her own dolls, which allow her to believe in her motherhood as an aspect of her real life. Hence, the woman just cannot keep in her understanding of the whole illusiveness of reality: “Here I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I used to be papa's doll-child. And the children, in their turn, have been my dolls” (Ibsen 42). In such a context, Nora’s recognition contributes to “…a revelation of a false mask of the pair's relationship based on illusion” (Yuehua 82).

Indeed, Torvald is not ready to swallow his pride or see the artificiality of his relationships with Nora, which are triggered by his being a part of the patriarchal society. In other words, the man cannot believe in his false acceptance of the illusion of the domestic harmony as the reality, for he is still in the social system called patriarchy. Definitely, Nora’s acting against his will is just beyond his comprehension, for his self-image is still dominated by the patriarchal philosophy. “Torvald, in A Doll’s House, believes in patriarchal society, even he strives to keep Nora in this system, but Nora recognizes herself and gains self-knowledge and rebels against such patriarchy” (Ghafourinia and Jamili 426). Therein, Nora manages to withdraw from her illusion, whereas Torvald fails to because of his dependence on the public opinion, the one specified by the people living in the same fantasy as Nora’s husband.

Thus, reality replaces the illusion, however, only for Nora. Her consciousness is finally clear from her fantasies about happy life in the cage. She is ready to start the new life, deprived of her being a doll in the hands of her husband and men as a whole. Nora is free of her weakness imposed by the opinion of other men (her father and then Torvald), for whom it is beneficial when women follow their words. Specifically, Nora confesses Torvald, “I was your lark again, your doll, just as before - whom you would take twice as much care of in future, because she was so weak and fragile” (Ibsen 44). In reality, she is a quite strong woman, for she manages to find a solution to the issues. For example, her forgery of father’s signature seems to be the most appropriate decision in the situation when she needed money and her father was close to death. After that, Nora managed to pay interest on a loan without Torvald’s help. This is her reality without the effects of illusions imposed by Torvald who perceives his wife as a child and treats her respectively. Even in the context of Nora’s realization of her forced submission and her desire to become independent from Torvald’s influence, the man talks to her in the manner indicative of his desire to prevent her leaving and thus preserve his illusory life. Thus, Torvald says Nora, “You talk like a child. You don't understand the society in which you live” (Ibsen 43). By doing so, he wants to keep her in the position beneficial for him and his reputation established by him in accordance with the ideals of the patriarchal society. However, Nora is already out of his illusion, she is in the real life where she decides what she wants to do and what she does not. So, Nora shows her ability to overcome the illusion created by Torvald and the patriarchal society as a whole, whereas her husband stays in his fantasies.

Conclusion

All things considered, Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House is indicative of reality and illusion’s interweaving in people’s lives. Nora and Torvald’s family harmony becomes a clear example of illusory relationships caused by their desire to be an ideal couple in the patriarchal society. As a result, Nora and Torvald’s life is just a play, whereas they are actors. However, if Nora manages to withdraw from the illusion, then her husband continues to fulfill his functions of a patriarch, which, in fact, are just a part of the greater illusion imposed by the contemporary social ideas.