Essay Example: Women Rights in the Play A Doll's House

Introduction

The play A Dolls House is a three-act play written by Henrik Ibsen. The play is vital for its critics towards the marriage norms during the 19th century. It portrays great controversy during that period and ends with the protagonist, Nora, leaving her entire family since she wants to discover herself. While Ibsen was writing this play, he approaches the rights of women as an essential element. During that time, the society neglected women and was looked upon as just housewife and nothing else. Ibsen wrote the play during the period of naturalism that had a far-reaching effect on the normal household. In his writing, Ibsen identified that during the 19th century, women played the role of staying home as mothers and taking care of their children, and adverted to their husband every time. The duties towards oneself and attaining the rights that they deserve in the society is the dominant theme in this play. Honestly, in a male-controlled society dominated by mens rule and women should try to get her rights. Nora, a wife to Torvald in this play, portrays how the rights of women are undermined in the 19th century in A Dolls House as she plays a role as a housewife (Ibsen).

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Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House: Challenging Societal Norms and Women's Rights

Even though Nora and Torvald appear to have a happy marriage at the end, we realize that their true feelings as the play finished. Nora in her marriage realizes that her husband is treating her like a child and concludes how affected her marriage have been characterized with a lot of drama. Torvald does not see if Nora can play any other role in the house and sees her as the non-backboned loving wife. Torvald refers to Nora as my little squirrel, my little lark while speaking to her. Torvald calls her wife through minimizing pet names and speaks down to her since he thinks that Nora is not intelligent and do not deserve any attention from him at any given time. Every time Nora starts to speak about something or raises a discussion on anything, her husband abruptly call her pet-name and abuse her. In such a society which is dominated by masculine laws with no emotions, Nora says we have never sat down in earnest together to try and get to the bottom of anything Looking closely at this society, husbands have a habit of degrading their wife. Nora is not given any right to act the way she wishes, and Torvald does not agree with the fact that her wife has her mind. According to Torvald, her wife should agree with everything he says even if she agrees with it or opposes it.

The Themes of Autonomy and Rights in A Doll's House: An Examination of Nora's Journey

In the play A Dolls House, Nora is an ever-changing person. She represents demands that are referred to as autonomous so as to find out what she is and be capable of leaving the domestic sphere that comprises of her children and husband for here to realize her dream. This is clearly an example of one of these characters.as the play goes on. Nora discloses that she is not a silly girl as Torvald calls her. She states that is aware of the details of the business linked to the debt she acquired taking out the loan to preserve the health of her husband, demonstrating that she is intelligent and have the capability beyond just being a wife (Ibsen).

Nora Helmer: Breaking the Chains of Conformity in A Doll's House

Additionally, Nora is economically advantaged when you compare to the plays other female characters; she, however, leads a complicated and hard life since the society commands that the husband is the dominant creature in marriage. Torvald issues humiliate and rulings to Nora, and she must hide her loan from her husband since she is aware that Torvald could not accept the notion that Nora his wife had played a vital role in saving his life. Also, Nora should act in secret while repaying her loan since it is not legal for a woman to get a loan without the consent of her husband. The beliefs of her husband and the society as a whole leave her vulnerable to Krogstad blackmail through motivating her dishonesty (Ibsen).

Nora leaving her children can be interpreted as the right that women have in the society. Despite the great love for her children, she believes that nanny will be a good mother and leave her children in their interest. Her understanding of her rights to freedom changes as the play continues. In the first act, Nora believes that for her to become free, she have to repay all her debt as this will give her a chance dedicate herself entirely to her domestic tasks. However, she wishes to be relieved of her family responsibilities so that she pursue her dreams.

Conclusion

After reading the novel, it is clear that women rights were undermined during that period even though they lived to fight for it. Nora is a clear representation of how women at the time were regarded in the society and everything relied upon them to make the change.

Work cited

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. 1st ed. 1879. Print.