EN123, Modern World Literatures Presentation

EN123, Modern World Literatures Presentation

Gabriel Pauliuc, 1630324

Week 8 - Ibsen, A Doll’s House

Outline:

1. Synopsis of the text
2. Elements of modernity
3. Elements of the worldly

1. Synopsis of the text

The storyline is mainly focused on Nora Helmer (the wife of Torvald Helmer) who, at the beginning of the play, is presented to be extremely happy about her husband’s promotion as a bank manager. While she is discussing with Christine Linde, an old friend of hers, Nora reveals that she had once borrowed a substantial amount of money in order to help her husband recover from a sickness caused by overworking. Since then, she has been secretly paying the money back in instalments from her allowance.

At Nora’s request, Torvald agrees to find a job in the bank for Mrs. Linde. Nils Krogstad, an employee who works at the bank Torvald is now managing and who is notorious for once committing forgery, visits their house so as to make sure he will keep his job. After he talks to Torvald and leaves, he comes back to talk to Nora privately. This is the moment when it is revealed that Nora borrowed the money from Krogstad and that she forged her dead father’s signature in order to obtain the money. He tries to blackmail her, threatening to reveal her secret if she does not succeed at persuading her husband to keep him at the bank.

Even though Mrs. Linde, who was once engaged to Krogstad manages to convince him not to divulge the secret publicly and reunites with him, Torvald still finds out about her wife’s deed and immediately renounces her. After he receives the IOU document from Krogstad, along with an apology and an assurance that he will leave the matter alone, Torvald tries to convince Nora that everything can go back to normal. Nora, however, after having a serious discussion with him in which she reveals her views about society and the way she has been treated her whole life, decides to leave Torvald and the children in search for true maturity and experience.

It should be mentioned that, because of the extremely negative reactions of the time, Henrik Ibsen was forced to write an alternative ending, in which Nora and Torvald do reconcile. In that version, Nora is convinced to remain home at the sight of her children.

2. Elements of Modernity

What makesA Doll’s House modern is the fact that it strongly criticises and questions the righteousness of many of the antiquated social concepts and constructs of the time, such as: marriage, the role of men and women, family, social status and so forth. The controversies and disputes that it caused proves that it is a modern social commentary which made use of the freedom of literary writing to condemn the way in which society treated women:
“Nora. At home, Daddy used to tell me what he thought, then I thought the same. And if I thought differently, I kept quiet about it, because he wouldn’t have liked it. He used to call me his baby doll, and he played with me as I used to play with my dolls. Then I came to live in your house … You arranged everything to your tastes, and I acquired the same tastes. Or I pretended to…” (p. 80)

The quoted line perfectly illustrates the way women’s place in the society was viewed and synchronises with the title of the text. Through Nora, Ibsen depicts how women are brought up with the impression that they are meant to be meek and submissive, always agreeing to what they are told and unquestioningly assimilate the exact same views and beliefs of their fathers and spouses. They are depicted as dolls; easily manipulated and without control over their actions.

This restriction of independent thought is also portrayed through the use of religion: “Nora: Oh, Torvald, I don’t really know what religion is… I want to find out whether what Pastor Hansen told me was right – or at least whether it’s right for me.” (p.82-83). In the context of Charles Darwin’ popularity and the vast readership of his The Origin of Species published in 1859 (twenty years before the first performance of A Doll’s House), this brief reference to religion could be considered an attempt to portray it as an impeding force and an enemy of free thought.

Another historical contextualisation could point to the situation of the suffragette movement and its relation to the text. Ibsen stated, nonetheless, that the play was not meant to be a feminist manifesto: “I must disclaim the honour of having consciously worked for women’s rights. I am not even quite sure what women’s rights really are. To me it has been a question of human rights… Of course it is incidentally desirable to solve the problem of women; but that has not been my whole object. My task has been the portrayal of human beings”[1]

However, the same underlying idea of the arguments that the suffragettes started expressing in the mid-nineteenth century is voiced out by Nora, as a response to Helmer’s affirmation:
“Helmer. First and foremost, you are a wife and mother.
Nora. That I don’t believe anymore. I believe that first and foremost I am an individual, just as much as you are… I know most people agree with you, Torvald, and that’s also what is says in books. But I’m not content any more with what most people say, or with what it says in books. I have to think things out for myself, and get things clear.”

It clearly unveils a desire to break from the tradition, from the outdated and unjust ideas of the past. It challenges the reader to see past the traditional social notions and view both men and women as individuals first, as humans.

3. Elements of the worldly

The worldly concepts are mostly transmitted through the portrayal of Nora and the way she interacts with the other characters before her unexpected transformation at the end. The fact that she frequently asks for money and uses it to obtain various superficial objects (such as macarons and dresses)and the many nicknames that she is given by Torvald (‘skylark’, ‘little songbird’ ‘little squirrel’) are a few of these elements. These materialistic concerns and the shallowness with whichshe approaches (or seems to) more complex notions (like the idea of self-sacrifice and hard-work) contrast, however, with the surprisingly wiser, more enlightened version of herself that emerges at the end of the play. Nora is both a worldly and a modern character.

[1]EgilTörnqvist, Ibsen : a Doll's house, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995