Is Nora justified in leaving her Family?

The play, “A Doll’s House”, is written by Henrik Ibsen. He was a Norwegian playwright
who wrote plays based on Feminism. He is a controversial writer since he brought out the reality
of the European society to the front. His plays pointed out the fake standards of the 18th and 19th
century. The play is written in 20th century, highlighting the hypocrisy of the European society
and the treatment with women.

Nora Helmer is the Protagonist of the play. She is the wife of Torvald Helmer, and a
mother to 3 kids. Nora has been pampered for her entire life, first by her father and then her
husband. She deserts her family at the end of the play, and decides to move on and live her
own life. This decision of Nora is justified, since she has only the status of a doll in Helmer’s
house. He depicts the true face of the European men in 1800s. The women of 17th century were
not considered as human beings. Their job and function was limited to running the household,
bearing children for their husband and to respect them. The status of women at that time was so
low that they were merely of a toy for men. Nora was given the same treatment by Torvald, thus
she was unquestioningly justified in leaving the house and abandoning her family at the end of
the play. There are several factors that led Nora to take such a crucial decision and leave
instantly without giving Torvald a second chance.

Since the start of the play we see that Torvald has been degrading Nora by referring to
her with pet names referring to several animals. This act of Torvald might seem adorable to a
person reading at the first instance, however, it gets very humiliating for a lady to hear such
kinds of names in the longer run. He constantly talks down to his wife calling her “My little
skylark”, “My little squirrel”, “My little singing bird”, “My pretty little pet”, “My little sweet-tooth”,
“My poor little Nora” throughout the play. He uses the word “little” with every pet name that he
uses for Nora. This validates my argument that Torvald always thinks of himself as someone in
household who is emotionally and intellectually superior to Nora. He treats Nora as a “child-
wife,” someone who requires a constant watch over, instructions, nurturing and security. He
never considers her an equal partner in the relationship. Thus, the marriage between Nora and
Torvald is merely a hallucination.

Nora is always treated as a “toy” in the entire play by Torvald. He pays attention to Nora
only when he feels like it. He tells Nora, “Don’t disturb me”. However, this line is further followed
by stage directions “a little later, he opens the door and looks into the room, pen in hand”. This
justifies that Torvald only pays attention to Nora when he feels like it and needs a break from
work.
Torvald is also demanding submission from Nora financially. He does not trust her with
money at all. Instead, he feels that she is incapable and immature enough to handle such a
trivial matter. She is a child in his eyes. On the rare occasions that Torvald does give some
money to Nora, he worries about her wasting it upon candy, pastry or something else that is
childish and useless in his eyes. He calls her a spendthrift, ducks-and-drakes etc. When Nora
agrees to spend the money sensibly, he declares in the play:

“It’s a sweet little bird, but it gets through a terrible amount of money. You wouldn’t
believe how much it costs a man when he’s got a little song bird like you!”

“Always on the look-out for all the money you can get, but the moment you have it, it
seems to slip through your fingers and you never know what becomes of it.”
 One of Torvald’s most objectionable qualities is his outright hypocrisy. Many times
throughout the play, he criticizes the morality of other characters. He goes to the extent of
trashing the reputation of Krogstad, one of his lesser employees, based on a forgery done by
Krogstad earlier. However he does that only on the pretext of Krogstad calling him by his first
name in his office, which he confesses later to Nora. In his own words,

“But he was at school with me- it was one of those unfortunate friendships that one so
often comes to regret later in life. I may as well tell you frankly that we were on Christian name
terms, and he’s tactless enough to keep it up still- in front of everyone! In fact, he seems to think
he has a right to be familiar with me, and out comes with ‘Torvald this’ and ‘Torvald that’ all the
time. I tell you, its most unpleasant for me- he’ll make my position in the Bank quite intolerable.”

He sends the letter off to Krogstad out of his ego when Nora calls him petty after hearing
his motive for throwing Krogstad out of the job, “What do you mean? Petty? Do you think I’m
petty? Never mind! You said my motives were petty, so I must be petty too. Petty! Very well,
we’ll settle this matter once and for all.”

He also hypothesizes that Krogstad’s corruption probably started at home while he was
a kid. Torvald believes that if the mother of a household is dishonest, then surely the children
will become morally infected. In his words, “Nearly all young men who go to the bad have had
lying mothers.”

Nora is completely dependent upon Torvald. She is actually a puppet who acts according to the
wishes of her master. The most obvious example of Torvald’s physical control over Nora is
evident from his teaching of the tarantella. Nora pretends that she needs Torvald to teach her
every move in order to perfect the dance form. She acts to do so however it still shows her
complete submissiveness towards Torvald. After teaching her the dance, he declares:

Torvald: “When I watched you swaying and beckoning in the tarantella, it set my blood
on fire till I couldn’t bear it any longer. That’s why I brought you home so early.

Nora: “No, Torvald, go away. Leave me alone- I don’t want-“:

Torvald: “What’s all this? So my little Nora’s playing with me! ‘Don’t want’? I’m your
husband, aren’t I?”

This makes it clear that Torvald is more interest in Nora physically than emotionally. He
considers that it is one of the prime duties of Nora as his wife to physically pleasure him at his
command.

Torvald also makes a taunt about Nora’s late father. When Torvald comes to know about
Nora’s forgery, he blames her crime on the weak morals given to her by her father. He further
reminds her of the great favor that he had done for her, by saving her father from the forgery
case that he got tangled in. In his own words:
 “All your father’s shiftless character has come out in you. No religion, no morality, no
sense of duty... So this is what I get for condoning his fault! I did it for your sake, and this is how
you repay me!”

Thus, possessing an attitude of self-righteousness, he is a true hypocrite. In the

beginning of Act Three, after dancing and having a merry time at a holiday party, Torvald tells
Nora how much he cares for her. He also claims his absolute devotion for her. He even wishes
some calamity to befall them, so that he gets a chance to demonstrate his steadfast, heroic
nature. As he said, “You know, Nora, I’ve often wished that you could be threatened by some
imminent danger so that I could risk everything I had- even my life itself- to save you.”

Of course, a moment later, his wish comes true and he reads the letter sent by Krogstad
which revealed how Nora has brought scandal and blackmail into his household. Nora is in
trouble, but Torvald, the supposedly shining white knight, the essence of bravery, fails to come
to her rescue. He is more worried about his reputation than the repercussions of Nora’s criminal
actions. Here is what he yells at her:

“You’ve completely wrecked my happiness, you’ve ruined my whole future!”

“And I’m brought so pitifully low all because of a shiftless woman!”

He furthermore, devoid her of taking care of the children, since she is a bad mother, and
cannot be trusted with the responsibility of children. As he said “I shall not allow you to bring up
the children….I shouldn’t dare trust you with them”.

However, he is still willing to keep her in his house, not out of love but only to keep the
facade of his honour intact in front of the society. He wants to fool the society with the
impression that their house is perfect, like a doll house with Nora as its doll. Even though he
makes it evident that they will not share any relation amongst them, however, for the world they
would remain husband and wife. In his own words, “As for ourselves-we must seem to go on
just as before…but only in the eyes of the world of course. You will remain here in my house-
that goes without saying-“.

Torvald treats Nora like a child, although she is a mother having 3 children herself. He
tries to control her spending and restricts her from eating sweets. He treats her as an immature
and a lesser being, someone who requires supervision, instead of an equal partner in the family.
In the role of a child, she is “neither expected to have any thoughts worth listening to nor be
capable of expressing them if she has them”. This is the reason why he is amazed at the end of
Act 3 when Nora tells him that they needed to talk. The dialogues between Nora and Helmer,
enlighten the fact that the relationship between them is a very strange one, unlike how
marriages should be.

Nora: “We’ve been married for eight years now. Don’t you realize that this is the first
time that we two- you and I, man and wife- have had a serious talk together?”

Helmer: “Serious? What do you mean by that?”

 Nora: “For eight whole long years-no, longer than that- ever since we first met, we’ve
never exchanged a serious word on any serious subject.”

Helmer: “Was I to keep forever involving you in worries that you couldn’t possibly help
me with?”

Nora: “I’m not talking about worries; what I’m saying is that we’ve never sat down in
earnest together to get to the bottom of a single thing.”

Helmer: “But Nora dearest, what good would that have been to you?”

Nora: “That’s just the point- you’ve never understood me. I’ve been dreadfully wronged,
Torvald- first by Papa, and then by you.”

Upon the show of Torvald’s disgust towards Nora and her crime of forgery, Nora realizes
that her husband is a very different person than she once believed. Torvald has no intention
of taking up the blame for Nora's crime. She was certain that he would give up everything for
her selflessly, be it his honour or name in the society. When he fails to do so, she accepts the
fact that their marriage has been a mere illusion. Their false devotion has been nothing but play
acting. She has been his "child-wife" and his "doll." The monologue in which she confronts
Torvald quite calmly, regarding the truth of their relation serves as one of the finest literary
moments of the play.

It’s true, Torvald. When I lived at home with Papa, he used to tell me his opinion about
everything, and so I had the same opinion. If I thought differently, I had to hide it from him, or he
wouldn’t have liked it. He called me his little doll, and he used to play with me just as I played
with my dolls. Then I came to live in your house—

I mean when I passed out of Papa's hands into yours. You arranged everything to suit
your own tastes, and so I came to have the same tastes as yours…or I pretended to. I am not
quite sure which… perhaps it was a bit of both- sometimes one and sometimes the other. Now
that I come to look at it, I’ve lived here like a pauper- simply from hand to mouth. I’ve lived by
performing tricks for you, Torvald. That was how you wanted it. . You and Papa have committed
a grevious sin against me: it’s your fault that I’ve made nothing of my life.

But you don’t talk or think like the man I could bind myself to. When your first panic was
over-not about what threatened me, but about what might happen to you- and when there was
no more danger, then as far as you were concerned, it was just as if nothing had happened at
all. I was simply your little songbird, your doll, and even from now on you would handle it more
gently than ever because it was so delicate and fragile. At that moment Torvald, I realized that
for eight years I’d been living here with a strange man, and that I’d borne him three children.Oh,
I can't bear to think of it- I could tear myself to little pieces!

Nora keeps referring to “the miracle” several times during the play. Nora expects this
“miracle” to happen when after Krogstad reveals the truth of her forgery. She expects Torvald to
stand up for her and offer to take the blame for the crime upon him. She feels that this will be
the true test of his love and devotion that he has for Nora. But, Torvald instead of helping Nora,
disparages her:

Torvald: “You’ve completely wrecked my happiness, you’ve ruined my whole future! Oh,
it doesn’t bear thinking of. I’m in the power of a man without scruples; he can do what he likes
with me- ask what he wants of me- order me about as he pleases, and I dare not refuse. And
I’m brought so pitifully low all because of a shiftless woman!”

This is the turing point of the play, where Torvald commits his grave mistake. At this
point, Nora realizes that Torvals give priority to his social and physical appearance over his wife
whom he says he loves. This revelation is heartbreaking and it finally motivates Nora to walk out
on Torvald immediately. Torvald tries to reconcileat this stage but Nora explains to him:

Nora: “For eight years I’d waited so patiently- for, goodness knows, I realized that
miracles don’t happen every day. Then this disaster overtook me, and I was completely
certain that now the miracle would happen. When Krogstad’s letter was lying out there I
never imagined for a moment that you would submit to his conditions. I was completely
certain that you would say to him ‘Go and publish it to the whole world!’ and when that
was done…
Helmer: “Well, what then? When I’d exposed my own wife to shame and disgrace?”
Nora: “When that was done, I thought- I was completely certain- thay you would come
forward and take all the blame- that you’d say ‘I’m the guilty one.’ ”
Helmer: “Nora!”
Nora: “You think that I should never have accepted a sacrifice like that from you? No, of
course I shouldn’t. But who would have taken my word against yours? That was the
miracle I hoped for…and dreaded. It was to prevent that that I was ready to kill myself.”

It is not only the selfishness shown by Torvald when he does not sacrifice himself
for her that opens Nora’s eyes to reality. Prior to this, she was unaware to the fact that
though Torvald loved her, he loved her as a thing - a status symbol. Nora serves as a
wife and mother in his house, but not as an equal to Torvald. Torvald planned to cope
with the scandal resulting from blackmail by stripping Nora of her spousal and motherly
duties. However, he would keep her in the house for appearance sake. If Nora, with her
reputation tainted as a criminal, would poison the minds of the children, she would be
useless as a mother to them. In the past, Nora was always a passive child-like
possession who followed Torvald's orders blindly, but now she is an independent adult
and is able to dominate Torvald, who treats her like a doll. Thus, Nora seats Torvald at
the table and explains her situation to him. She does not let him speak until she has
finished what she wants to say.
When she comes to the realization that her character was little more than what
the society and others expected of her, she recognizes that the strong, staunch and
principled Torvald, she thought she was married to, was merely a character formed out
of her own expectations and imagination. Their marriage was a doll marriage: he a “doll
husband”, she a "doll wife”, and their children destined to be “doll children”. She
therefore makes the decision to leave her family and getting to know her, as a human
being.
NUML (KARACHI CAMPUS)
M.A. ENGLISH
SEMESTER II
ASSIGNMENT
drama-B

SUBMITTEDTO
Ms. Tooba

SUBMITTED BY
Sahar Azhar

DATE: 12th March 2014