The Awakening of Nora in Ibsens A Dolls House Essay -- Dolls House e

The Awakening of Nora in Ibsens A Dolls House The status of women in the 1800s, when A Dolls House was written, was that of a economy class citizen. Women did not call for the right to vote, own property, or make legal transactions. The voice of women was restricted to that of a housewife. In A Dolls House, Ibsen does a wonderful descent of presenting the character of Nora as person who goes though an awakening about her life. In the beginning, she concerns herself only with being a perfect wife and mother according to the favorable norms of the time. Later, she realizes that she cannot continue just being her husbands shadow. Eventually, she decides that she has duties to herself that are above of those of being a wife. She confronts the fact that shes not complete being the way that her husband, society and the church wish for her to be. Ibsen exposes the fact that Noras self image has been molded by the men of her life. First, she is a doll-child ... then a doll-br ide. Shes a little play toy for the men - a beautiful possession to show off to their friends. This presents the reality of women in the 1800s. Women were often treated as objects by men. Little girls were raised to be good mothers and wives. They were taught their role was to make their families happy even if they were not happy themselves. In the play, Nora mentions the way she was treated when she was living at home in her fathers house. She is raised no to have her own identity. Nora Yes, its true now, Torvald. When I lived at home with Papa, he told me all his opinions, so I had the same ones too or if they were different I hid them, since he wouldnt have care for that. He used to call... ... is representative of the awakening of society to the changing view of the role of woman. A Dolls House magnificently illustrates the need for and a prediction of this change. Works Cited and Consulted Clurman, Harold. 1977. Ibsen. New York Macmillan. Heiberg, Hans. 1967. Ibsen. A Portrai t of the Artist. Coral Gables, Florida University of Miami. Ibsen, Henrik. A Dolls House. Perrines Literature. Forth Worth Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998. pp. 967-1023 Northam, John. 1965. Ibsens Search for the Hero. Ibsen. A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice-Hall. Shaw, Bernard. A Dolls House Again. Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Detroit Gale Research Inc., 1979. Sturman, Marianne Isbens Plays I, A Dolls House Cliffs Notes, 1965. Thomas, David. Henrik Ibsen. New York Grove, 1984