Nora the Doll

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House", the author explores the theme of feminism through the main female character in the play, Nora. It looks at how Nora represents many of the women in the late nineteenth century and how Helmer represents the majority of society, treating women as second-class citizens and as people without real opinions or ideas. It contends that although Nora frees herself in the end in order to learn and to become a better woman, she actually commits a great evil by leaving her children and perhaps helps to perpetuate the cruel cycle of female repression during the nineteenth century.

From the Paper:

"Helmer represents the majority of society, treating women as second-class citizens and as people without real opinions or ideas. Throughout the play, Helmer does not consider Nora's ideas as noteworthy. Not only does he not consider Nora's ideas as noteworthy, but also Helmer does not try to understand her as a person. Helmer treats Nora as something other than human just as the rest of society treated women as something other than human. In the beginning of the play, Helmer calls her many different names. For example, when Nora is sad about not being able to spend as much as she would like, Helmer tells her, "There, there! My little singing bird mustn't go drooping her wings, eh? Has it got the sulks, that little squirrel of mine?"(Ibsen, 1415) Using words and phrases such as "little singing bird," "it," and "little squirrel of mine" shows that Helmer views Nora as less than human. "

More papers on Nora the Doll:

• Essay # 44411 : "The Doll's House"
• Analytical Essay # 129499 : "Characterization in Henrik Ibsen's "The Doll House"
• Analytical Essay # 44181 : "Nora"

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