Individual freedom is a fundamental theme of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Through the character of Nora Ibsen shows the necessity of individual freedom. Without it one can’t flourish oneself and establish oneself as equal partner with other (Nora – Helmer relationship). The protagonist, Nora always wants to be an independent person. Though she got her success, she paid a good price for herself liberty. The present paper investigates and discusses how Nora led her life before achieving her self-liberty and her passion for individual freedom.
Life of Nora before her revolution:
Actually Nora is literally trapped in Torvald’s family. She hasn’t been happy in her marriage, living as a “doll-wife” for Torvald. They never have any serious conversations. As Helmer’s wife, she is expected to obey his wishes. Even she suppresses her desire to please him. Helmer forbids her to have macaroons though this conflicts with her freedom. Helmer wants to keep her wife attractive. She had to obey Helmer which took place during the fancy dress party. She wants to stay at the party and enjoys herself but Helmer forces her to go back home early after tarantella dance. Actually Helmer’s motive was to sex with her. Thus he controls her life. When Nora refused, he reacted with the word won’t! won’t! He reminds her duty as a wife. The repetition of the word “won’t” shows his anger. In this way she was treated by her husband. Helmer expects to be obeyed when he wants to make love to her, regardless of whether she wants it or not.
All these examples reveal an imbalance in the power distribution between Nora and Torvald. Helmer is the dominant authority. Their conflict is reflected even in letterbox episode. Nora is unable to see her letter. The letterbox is locked and Helmer possesses the key. This implies that Nora does not have the freedom to see her own letters without going Torvald. As a married woman, she was not allowed to work and had to depend on her husband to pay off her debts. She has to use to flattery to manage a job for Mrs. Linde. It seems that Nora was passive and had no individual opinion. Her own opinions are shaped by her father and her husband.
Passion for freedom:
Nora had great passion for freedom. She suppressed it became she was eagerly waiting for a miracle. Nora reveals to Dr. Rank and Mrs. Linde that she would love to say, “Damn” to her husband. She seems to be willing to go against the tradition that women are not supposed to use coarse language. However, as soon as her husband appears, she tells Dr. Rank, who is encouraging her to say it, to keep quiet. This incident demonstrates Nora’s freedom to say whatever she wishes. Nora also requested Dr. Rank to share some Macaroons. Then Dr. Rank reminds her about her husband. She said that he would not tell her anything. Even she said that she didn’t care him. It is revealed that in order to pay off debts, Nora manages to get quite a bit of copying to do. Nora tells Mrs. Linde that it is almost like being a man. She enjoys working. She is forced to do it secretly because of social tradition. This shows her love for self liberation. At the end of the play, she told Torvald that she hasn’t been happy in her marriage. She decides to be free from the rules that have been imposed upon her. When Torvald tells her duty as a wife and a mother. Nora says that she is first and foremost a human being.
Ibsen creates a female protagonist who chooses to leave her family to gain freedom. Nora believes that Torvald’s new managerial position at the bank will solve all of her troubles and make her free. She says “Oh, Christina, I feel so light-hearted and happy. Its delightful to have lots of money, and no need to worry about things, isn’t it?”(Ibsen 36). This incident shows that Nora was always freedom loving.
As a stereotypical wife, Nora did not work outside. As a result, she did not know the outside world. Torvald used this chance to rule over her. Being ignorant of the external world, Nora was compelled to take what Torvald imposed upon her in the name of love. Social convention interrupts her to achieve self-liberty. To control Nora, Helmer said, “ Oh,in your blind inexperience”(Ibsen 166) Being a home maker, Nora had to depend on her husband for money. Torvald controlled the economy of his family. So it was easy for him to subjugate Nora by dint of his economic power. Thus societal expectations and monetary needs have influenced Nora’s life.
Social convention clearly shows the rule of gender, more specifically the role of husband and wife. As a wife Nora is expected to obey his husband’s wishes and tries to please him. The event of Macaroons shows that she has no freedom of choice. Her choice of freedom thus interrupts by Torvald. Nora wears the fancy dress according to the direction of Helmer. She wants to stay at party but Helmer forces her to go back home early after tarantella dance. He wants to have sex with her. Even he became angry, when she refused his appeal. This reveals that women are not supposed to have the freedom to decide when to have sexual intercourse. Helmer’s authoritative mentality is responsible for this.
Relationship between Nora and Helmer is not based on equal power distribution. As a result Helmer is the dominant partner who hinders the freedom of Nora. This typical power imbalance conflicts with Nora’s freedom.
It is a conventional for a woman to be passive and have no individual opinion. Nora utters “But our house has been nothing but a playroom. Here I have been your doll-wife as I used to be papa’s doll-child” (Ibsen 164).
Nora’s own opinions are to a certain extent, shaped by her father and her husband. Nora says that at home her father had to tell what her father thought. She kept quiet about her different opinion. She was her father’s doll. In this way patriarchal society hinders her freedom of expression. After her manage her opinions are shaped by Torvald.
Women are never thought of an in dependent individual. They are thought as mother, wives and daughters Nora’s decision to abandon her husband and children to discover her real self. Torvald tried to convince her in the name of social rules.
Torvald is the stereotypically strong husband while Nora is little sky lark. Torvald used bird image for addressing Nora. In the first act, Torvald refers to Nora as his little feather brains, his little scatter brain and his squirrel sulking. Thus he depicts the weakness of Nora. It is seen that if a person heard his weakness continuously she started to believe that she / he is weak. It is a way to control a person which Torvald used.
Actually Torvald threats Nora like a child for example as a child forbidden by her mother from eating candy. Nora hides macaroons from Torvald. Acting as a parent-husband Torvald controls her easily.
Nora’s self deception prevents her from understanding the social prejudices that limit her independence. Nora does not initially question her situation. Even she sees her husband’s possessiveness as an expression of his love for her. Torvald loves me beyond words. He would feel jealous if she even mentioned any of her old friends back home. So of course she dropped that. In this way, to some extent, she is also responsible for her subjugation.
Why she departs from Torvald’s home:
In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House the protagonist took a crucial decision to leave her family. Nora decides to leave because she understood that she had lived in illusion so many years in Torvald’s home. So she wants to face reality.
Comforts can often blind someone from the real truth. It is very true in Nora’s case. She is utterly trapped in domestic comfort. She gets everything in her doll’s house. she eventually loses touch with the outside world and consequently realises truth. When Torvald chastises her because of her lies, she finally notices that she is confined. She is not truly loved. Nora recognized that she had lost sight of the truth. So she takes a radical action. Torvald told about her ignorance of the world. She replied that she didn’t have an experience. But now she is going to make out who is right the world or she. It is the realization that forces Nora to take such a radical action.
Nora was expecting for a miracle. The miracle was that her husband would save her from the coming danger. She thought that Torvald would forgive her for her forgery. When she saw its opposite scenario, she revolted against her husband and left him. She always obeyed his wishes and tried to please him because of the expectation of a miracle from him. She says “I have so patiently all these eight years; for of course I saw clearly enough that miracles don’t happens everyday”(Ibsen 170). She was sure that Torvald would step forward to take the blame on himself.
Nora found that she had no identity. Her identity is shaped by her husband and father. Then she revolts against her husband who represents patriarchal society. Being deprived of speech, action and performance, she decided to leave Torvald. When her forgery was revealed, Nora found that her relation with her husband is not mutual. She also found an imbalance in the power distribution between her husband and her. Helmer is the dominant partner. Nora finally realized that for eight years she did not understand her husband at all. She has made nothing out of her life because she has been constantly living in the shadow of men. She has been deprived of her freedom to grow to become an individual. She says that Helmer and her father have done her a great wrong. So she decides to leave Helmer and her children in order to experience the world.
Actually Nora wants to discover who she really is. She wants to educate herself. At the same time she wants to gain experience and knowledge to find out things like religion and morality. She is not content with any second hand experience or what is written in books. She is willing to break up her marriage to fulfil her sacred duty. These things help her to take decision to depart from Torvald’s family. When Nora learns that her marriage was not effective, she decided to leave Torvald. Her marriage was playful wedlock.
In A Doll’s House Nora’s independent nature is a direct contrast with the tyrannical authority of Torvald. Nora and Torvald are not truthful to each other. When Torvald is proved as disloyal and ungrateful, Nora departs from his home.
Self-awakening:
In acts 3 Nora’s illusions about her family life are shattered by Helmer’s selfish and insensitive reaction to the news of Nora’s forgery. He said, “oh, what an awful awakening!” In all these eight years she who was my pride and joy a hypocrite, alien worse, worse – a criminal! How infinity disgusting it all is! The shame!”(Ibsen 154). Helmer’s outburst grows her self-awakening. It is not until she sees the truth of Torvald’s character. She finally breaks free as a lark from his grasp. Her long expected miracle never took place because of Torvald’s selfish character. In fact, he said that no man world sacrifice his honour for his criminal wife. She finally comes to a much longer understanding of women’s plight. She replies “thousands of women have”. This four words statement shows that she had many achievement and she is worthy of a larger award than what she has been given. Thus Nora discovers her situation in Torvald’s family.
Moreover Nora found that society norms and forms are also against a woman. So she refused to believe these social norms. She said “I don’t believe in that anymore. I believe that, before all else, I am a human being, as much as you are or at least that I should try to become one. I know that most people agree with you, Torvald and that they say in book. But henceforth I can’t be satisfied with what most people say, and what is in books”.(Ibsen 168) I have to think over this things myself and try to understand them.
Pain of getting individual freedom:
Her departure from Torvald’s family will help Nora to gain her freedom as an individual. Though the Kristine’s statement we got the idea of Nora’s coming future. Kristine said that she had to work for living. Christine had worked all day long which was her only joy. She was completely alone in the world. Actually Nora lost her husband children, social status and security but she gained her freedom as an individual.
The ending of the plays makes the situation ambiguous. We are unsure that she will return to her husband’s home or not. But she proves it clearly that she failed to flourish herself in Torvald’s house. Through the weapon of resistance one can establish one’s identity and equal right. Nora’s actions and decisions prove that only the resistance can establish a person’s true identity.
Work cited:
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House. Trans. William Archer. Dhaka: Friends Book Corner, 2009. Print
