Khadeja Begum Begum 1
Professor Husain
English 126
November 30, 2014
The Doll in A Doll House In our society, masculine roles are usually linked with strength, violence, and authority, whereas feminine roles are usually associated with sacrificing, inaction, and cherishing. All women are sacrificing their priorities in life while doing something that is good enough for their family and not for themselves. Such as not having a good education cause they have to get married in a young age. They have to and are expected to do something for someone else, and mostly have to pull themselves for their own wellbeing for their family or one person whom they care about. The feelings and beliefs surrounding gender roles are not normally based on any inherent or usual gender differences, but on gender stereotypes, or simplified opinions about the feelings, traits, or behavior patterns of women or men. Nora, the main character, in the play A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen, does something extreme to save her husband. She forges a signature to get money for her husband’s illness. She is helpless and resorts to doing so because she is basically living in a dollhouse, a place where something looks fine from the outside but is destroyed on the inside. Nora is treated like an object where she goes from having to listen to her father to having to abide by her husband, Torvald’s wishes. According to some people, Nora is being childish. But being childish is the only thing Nora has left to do because without her husband, she would be nothing. In this play, Nora’s husband is everything to her and if he were to fall sick, she would be nothing because she has to Begum 2 stand by everything he says, as well as play the role of the doll in the dollhouse. Just because Nora is acting child-like doesn’t mean she had the wrong intentions for her husband and his pride. As a matter of fact, she is trying to help him without him knowing it. But no one sees it that way since she is a woman and is trying to protect her family. As such, this play stresses how men use their control in a way to be in charge of their women. Some men use their control mostly based on financial income so they can basically make their women do whatever they want them to do. Gender roles have created a big impact on society, and many believe that women aren’t capable of doing things men can do. Some people may even say that it is because women aren’t as intelligent as men, which is not true because many woman thinks about her family before herself. Nora thinks about her husband’s illness and considers of his wellbeing before her own. But she screw up getting money and someone who helps her uses this against her. Krogstad says, “I promised to get you that sum, on certain conditions. You were so involved in your husband’s illness, and so eager to finance your trusts, that I guess you didn’t think out all the details” (Ibsen 868). He uses this against her because he knows that Torvald hates liars and that is one reason why Krogstad is going to loose his job. Being a woman means a lot of things; they have many more things to worry about other than themselves. This may sound childlike of Nora but it is something she knew had to be done for her husband. Nora explains that, “No, that was impossible. That trip was to save my husband's life; I couldn't give that up” (Ibsen 868). The way Nora was bought up was to think of others before her and that’s not only Nora, most women are brought up this way. The way women are brought up is way different Begum 3 from men due to the fact that some men only think of themselves and providing financially for their family. Torvald even thinks that a woman’s job is to be a good wife and mother. According to an article, “Gender Struggle over ideological power in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House” by Yuehua, Guo,
He [Torvald] believes that the sacred duty of a woman is to be a good wife and mother