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30/30 Essay on Marriage ('A Doll's House' by Henrik Ibsen)
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Perfect essay on marriage in Henrik Ibsen's 'A Doll's House. Achieved 30/30, A*. OCR English Literature, 2015 onwards.
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English Literature - Play Transition Unit - ‘A Doll’s House’ by Henrik Ibsen1) “Nora is shown to be both subservient and independent from her husband in the opening of the
play.” In the light of this view, consider ways in which Ibsen explores the institution of marriage
in Norway at the end of the 19th century.
Henrik Ibsen, presents Nora, a typical female character present in Norway during the 1800s. The role
of a woman at the time was to be both subservient as well as independent from her husband, Torvald,
within the play’s opening. With this complicated relationship hidden beneath the social norms and ex-
pectations of the institution of marriage, Ibsen allows us to explore what marriage was really like in
Norway at the end of the 19th century. Ibsen enlightens us to truly see why Helmer forces her to act in
the contradicting way of subserviency and longing for independence.
Henrik Ibsen, an infamous playwright who wrote didactically informing society of the importance of
realism through theatre, presents the character of Nora as a frivolous and naive woman living in Nor-
way during the 1800s, a time where communities depended on the patriarchy and reputation. The pro-
tagonist Nora, being a common housewife, is initially displayed in the opening scene as a carefree,
starry-eyed woman, who we as the audience primarily depicts as a woman who yet has to encounter
life’s struggles. The overwhelming use of proxemics which Ibsen purposefully employs, gives a sense
of comfort and liking to material possessions as shown with lexis’ of “porcelain tiles”, “ rocking-
chair” and “small bookcase...leather-bound books” that enforce this perfect image obviously hiding
the forced love and comfort within an incompatible marriage between Helmer and Nora. Furthermore,
Ibsen almost mocks the traditional romantic genre and rebels against Greek traditional theatre of hy-
perbolic characters and happy endings with the ideology of this utopian-like marriage as shown with
the setting of the Helmer household. Strangely, Ibsen gives off an unsettling atmosphere within the
household where the beginning of the play, despite occurring during Christmas time as portrayed in
the use of the prop “Christmas tree”, in fact foreshadows how the happiness within wealth by which
Nora “hums contentedly to herself” is surely a mere mirage juxtaposing the tragic events that follow.
Ibsen sets this utopia to greatly identify the immaculate change in wealth and prosperity we see as the
play progresses in order to give the audience the sense of realism and naturalism that the playwright so
passionately believed in. Henrik Ibsen intentionally wanted to portray how the institution of marriage
at the time was flawed, where females were passed on from father to husband, objectifying them -
which was displayed due to the constant references to materialistic possessions surrounding Nora, con-
stricting her as if she were trapped within a doll’s house. In addition, Social Demokraten comments
“...Is there anyone who does not feel that it is this young and delightful young woman’s duty, her in-
escapable duty, to leave this gentleman, this husband, who slowly sacrifices her on the altar of his
egotism, and fails to understand her value as a human being” furthers Nora’s dehumanisation which
should be considered unlawful in the institution of marriage. Interestingly, the critic even sees Nora’s
naivety as an innocent victim, who is degraded when her own partner in marriage doesn’t value her
more than her appearance as shown through the constant references to animalistic imagery “skylark”,
“songbird” and “my squirrel” where the personal pronoun of “my” adds to her premonition of being
his belonging. Plus, whilst Norway in the 1800s was predominantly Lutheran Evangelical Christians,
where the institution of marriage involved of a man having dominion over his wife, and her responsi-
bilities of being a subservient partner attending her husband’s needs. This view adds to Norway’s ex-
pectations in marriage which Ibsen daringly tackles through Nora’s unhappy relationship with Tor-
vald.
The playwright also explores the institution of marriage in Nora’s subserviency upheld by Norway’s
strong opinions of the role of a woman at the time - another reason to Ibsen’s personal exile from his
homeland as he is disgusted by Norway’s unwilling stubbornness to progress in the fast-moving indus-
trialisation and scientific progression (Darwinism), and movements such as naturalism where the
world was edging away from impressionism. Nora represents a woman and her agreed role in society
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