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Full Marks AQA English Controlled Assessment A*
Full Marks AQA English Controlled Assessment A*. On A Doll's House and A View From a Bridge
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Adetolani Akintunde 13.6‘Conflicts between loyalty and betrayal destroy families’
Compare and contrast how notions of loyalty and betrayal within the family are explored in
A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller and A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen.
Notions of loyalty and betrayal within the family are explored in A Doll’s House through the
relationship between Nora and her husband, Torvald, and the secret that destroys their
relationship, but also in A View from the Bridge, where the dysfunctional relationship
between Eddie and Catherine wreaks havoc on the other relationships they have. The
conclusion of both of these tragedies affirms that betrayal within the family leads to the
dissolution of the family unit.
The expositions of A Doll’s House and A View from the Bridge introduce ideas about loyalty
and betrayal in the family through how the male characters expose their devout loyalty to
societal roles. In Torvald’s zoomorphic depictions of Nora as a ‘pretty little song-bird’ and
‘little squirrel’, Ibsen uses animalistic lexis to demonstrate how Torvald views Nora as
inferior to himself, and believes that she lacks the complexity to be any more than an
animal. It could be argued that Torvald’s betrayal of Nora’s individualism through his use of
language threatened the equilibrium of their marriage from the very outset, inspiring a seed
of resentment that is reflected in the somewhat bitter tone of ‘if only you knew how many
expenses the likes of us sky-larks and squirrels have’. The repetition of the diminutive
adjective ‘little’ emphasises how Torvald suggests his natural dominance through language.
The Scribean ‘well-made play’ that Ibsen adapted to conform to the principles of realism
meant that audiences viewing the play in 1879 were likely to feel as if they were peering
into their own homes, which would emphasise the potency of the tragic ending (Cron,
2015). The notion of ‘bourgeois respectability’ restricted women to caring only for the
wellbeing of their husband and children, asserting that their ambitions should not transcend
the domestic province. Even in the period of economic prosperity in Norway, where Nora
and Torvald would be part of the growing middle class, women were not required or
encouraged to work. Nora’s destruction of her family in the denouement of A Doll’s House
as a result of her betrayal of societal values affirms the notion that an inner conflict between
loyalty and betrayal can only end tragically.
In the exposition of A View from the Bridge, Catherine, the niece of protagonist Eddie,
attempts to financially emancipate herself, and in doing so Miller exposes her internal
conflict between loyalty and betrayal. Eddie’s incessant questions: ‘where’s the job? What
company?’ and ‘why didn’t you ask me before you take a job?’ conveys his utter disbelief at
Catherine’s attempts to be autonomous. Catherine’s situation is representative of the
growing levels of female autonomy in the 1950s, with females making up approximately one
third of the peacetime workforce. This, however, was placed alongside the birth of the
, Adetolani Akintunde 13.6
largest generation of Americans, known as the baby boomers (Khan, 2015). This spike in
birth rates reinforced a woman’s role being one of wife and mother, and this strict
dichotomy between autonomy and dependence on male figures is reflected in Catherine’s
behaviour. Miller’s use of repetition when Catherine says ‘you like it?’ emphasises her
infantile and enduring desire to please Eddie, remaining loyal to his expectations of her just
as Nora plays into Torvald’s depiction of her as a child. It is ironic that Eddie states that
Catherine has ‘never worked’ in her life, given that he consistently shields her from any
sense of autonomy that she might gain. Here, Miller implies that because Eddie fears that
Catherine will leave him, he prevents her from gaining the financial autonomy to do so.
The secret transgressions of the protagonists in A Doll’s House and A View from the Bridge
foreshadow the more consequential betrayals to come in the plays, both of which leads to
an explosive ending through the destruction of the family. Nora’s secret consumption of
macaroons has important implications for notions on loyalty and betrayal in A Doll’s House.
Nora indulging in juvenile behaviour symbolises her wish to escape the reality of her life and
the façade of domestic bliss. Schlueter argues that Nora is extremely self-aware and thus is
able to utilise her sexuality in order to get what she wants, and so ‘suggestively queries Rank
whether a pair of silk stockings will fit her’ (Schlueter,1985). Torvald is unaware of both acts
of defiance, and Nora’s actions foreshadow her much more significant betrayal concerning
her forging her father’s signature to obtain the loan. Catherine’s seeking of Eddie’s approval
appears to be much less contrived: ‘what do you want me to do?’ is a more genuine plea in
comparison to Nora’s admission that she ‘would never dream of doing anything’ that is
against Torvald’s wishes. Her comment is saturated with irony as she states this after she
‘eats one or two’ macaroons despite being instructed not to by her husband. Torvald’s tone
is routinely more paternalistic and reproachful than romantic, and therefore it only seems
appropriate for Nora to embrace the role allocated to her as his child. The determiner ‘my’
frequently used by Ibsen serves to further emphasise how Nora has little financial or social
autonomy as she belongs to her husband. Code concludes that it is because of this
‘disproportionate confinement’ of women that causes their ‘subordinate status’ in society
(Balaky, S 2016). This is reinforced through the significance of the title A Doll’s House: Nora
lives within the confines of a metaphorical and societal cage, and the indefinite article ‘a’
affirms that Nora is not unique in her plight.
The conflict between Eddie’s affection for Catherine and his marriage to Beatrice has
important implications for the theme of loyalty and betrayal within the family unit in A View
from the Bridge. Miller juxtaposes Catherine’s naivety in her loyalty to Eddie with Beatrice’s
more realistic attitude to her marriage. This is conveyed through Catherine’s routine use of
exclamatory phrases: ‘I’ll fix up the whole house! I’ll buy a rug!’ which is juxtaposed with
Beatrice’s use of longer and less frantic sentences in ‘are you gonna keep her in the house
all her life?’, when she hints that she is aware of Eddie’s romantic love for Catherine. Eddie’s
response to both women, as conveyed through his body language, is Miller’s method of
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