Analysis Of Nora Helmer — страница 2

  • Просмотров 344
  • Скачиваний 9
  • Размер файла 16
    Кб

innate desire to be like a man, to have responsibilities, to earn money and have work to look forward to shows Nora’s unhappiness with her life. The reader can then see that Nora is a very astute and precocious woman. A second, more direct example of Nora’s intent to become more significant and influential in the family occurs after Krogstad’s threat to tell Torvald about their matter. Nora approaches Torvald and is ready to talk to him about the loan she had procured to save his life, but is turned off by his idiosyncratic reply what would it seem if “the new manager changed his mind at this wife’s bidding” (p41). Through Nora’s unsuccessful attempts to change Torvald’s mind about firing Krogstad, Ibsen shows the controversial truth that in the late 1800’s it

was common and expectant of women to become influenced and controlled by the men in their lives. Alas, to the end Torvald maintains his superior position over Nora, which is most accurately presented in the quote “Playtime shall be over, and lesson-time shall begin.” (p68) He so strongly believes that “no man would sacrifice his honor for the one he loves”(p71) that there is no wonder why Torvald acted so selfishly vain and harsh when he received Krogstad’s letter. Mrs. Helmer has so long awaited its arrival, for if her husband acted indifferent to it and even took the guilt upon himself, that would show he truly cared for Nora and was not just an arrogant, selfish demagogue. As Nora realizes that Torvald is not the noble man she perceived him to be, she leaves, because

now understands that she shall only be treated as a doll in Torvald’s house. Such action demonstrates Nora’s necessity to be understood and respected, for it is better to love oneself through lonely agony than to be loved by others through glorious deceit. Doubtless, Nora’s realization that her life has been full of unintentional deceit through her relations with Torvald, is what drives her to develop into a more realistic, reasonable and self-respecting woman. Her opinions and thoughts are almost fully repressed at the beginning of the play, when Nora is shown to cower in fear after eating some sweets, an action her husband dislikes. Ibsen carefully initiates the change by allowing the leader to learn that Nora has committed what seemed like a “crime” in those years,

secretly going against her husband’s moral teachings. Thus, the reader can accurately perceive that from the first moment, when Nora forged her father’s signature to receive money for the trip to Italy, she has been living in a falsification. Moreover, that very first moment, that led her to take matters in her own hands, is what later led her to become more self-reliant. Ibsen then wonderfully illustrates Nora’s ongoing internal change when she calls her husband narrow-minded. This remark, one that the reader could not imagine the “little skylark” uttering at the beginning, is a great indicator of Nora’s growing sense of righteousness and critical judgement of others around her. Of course, no analysis of Nora’s development into a self-respecting person would be

complete without mentioning the final dialogue of her with Torvald. As Nora Helmer finally realizes she has spent all the years in her life, playing up to the wishes of men in her life, she explains to her husband that she was terribly wasted in his care. Nora tells Torvald “I have existed merely to perform tricks for you It is your fault, I have made nothing of my life.” (p68). Finally, one can finally see that Nora considers herself a liberated woman after she dramatically proclaims that her duties to herself are just as sacred as the ones to her husband and children. Ibsen then correctly predicts the attitude of the modern woman when by letting Nora say, “I believe that before all else, I am a reasonable human being – or, at all events, I must try to become one I am no

longer content with what most people say or with what is found in books. I must think over things for myself and get to understand them.”(p69) Such attitude forever changed men’s antagonistic superior treatment of women. Nora Helmer’s change is then very symbolic with the change of all women, occurring about the same time A Doll’s House was written. Nora Helmer’s character change from a na vet to a wise woman comes at the considerable cost of her leaving her home. Such a regretful ending might indeed be considered tragic, yet the reader can not help but be pleased at Nora’s final stand against outside influence. It would be far worse (and uneventful) had Nora stayed quiet and repressed the liberality self-respect that was churning inside of her. Ibsen’s portrayal of