“A Doll’s House” is a play that was written by Henrik Isben. The play has many ups and downs and shows the good and bad of life. This play seems to get its name from the fact that Torvald calls Nora a doll and treats her like a child. Throughout the play it is like Nora is playing house and not really being truthful. Torvald looks at Nora as a person that he has to care for and give money, when truthfully he doesn’t know the real reason why Nora does not have any money. When Torvald and Nora first got married, Torvald got real sick. Nora took out a loan from Krogstad and forged her father’s signature to get the money for him to get better. She kept this a secret from Torvald their entire marriage. She knew that Torvald wouldn’t have stood for borrowing the money, so she has paid the lone off slowly with her allowance. This is why she has to keep asking for more money. In the beginning of the story, Torvald gets a promotion at a bank. Torvald tells Krogstad (the guy that helped Nora get the loan) that he wants to fire him from his position at the bank for forging signatures and his poor reputation. Krogstad tells Nora of the situation and tries to convince her to help him keep his job. When Torvald still fires Krogstad, he comes back to declare not only his job back but also a higher position or he was going to use blackmail or Nora’s loan to get there. To do this Krofstad put a letter in Helmers letterbox. Nora panics and tells her friend Mrs. Linde. With surprise, we find that Mrs. Linde and Krogstad used to be in love and are going to get back together. Mrs. Linde believes that Torvald should find out about the situation for the sake of their marriage.
What is surprising about this play is the ending. Torvald gets upset when he reads the letter. He begins to call Nora a hypocrite and a liar. He says that she has ruined their marriage, when really she did this to save his life so they could live their life together. Tovald declares that she will not be allowed to raise their children. Once Torvald open the letter that states that Krogstad has returned Nora’s contract, he ties to dismiss everything that he said. Trovald’s statements triggered something in Nora. She began to discover that they do not understand each other and it was not going to work. She states that she is leaving to make sense of herself and everything around her.
I do not think that it was Mrs. Linde’s decision to tell Torvald about the loan, but at the same time, it needed to be done for Nora to see who she really was and how she was being treated. Once the loan and forgery are revealed, their marriage falls apart immediately. Nora begins to realize that she was being treated like a doll to be played with and admired, not a true person.
3 comments:
I agree with you that the end of the story is a bit surprising. You would think Torvald would understand that Nora was trying to help him, but he doesn't. This family is very dysfunctional, money seems the only thing that matters. I think the marriage could have been a bit better if they would have been more open and honest with eachother. This unfortunately does cause the marriage to go bad.
I too find the end of the play very surprising when Torvald reads the letter. I think it's great that his wife finally stood up for herself and new that she needed to better her life.
yea, it was suprising me when i finish reading this play. i finally realized that Nora was not the person i thought at the begining of the play. she really cares about her family and her husband. she tried to saved him but her husband did not know that, and their marrige goes to the end. i think Nora would not go back to the house and she would start her new life
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