In the beginning, Nora and her husband, Torvald, are depicted as a happy family in The Doll’s House by Henry Ibsen. They are shown to have a good relationship taking care of each other; for instance, Nora once took care of her ill husband by borrowing money to cater for his support and treatment. Torvald was working in the local bank, so everything seemed to be well for the family, the husband, and the wife. However, the story depicts that there are ups and downs in the family, with social and economic problems in society engulfing them. Marriage, as well as family relations, play a huge role in society; thus, when everything is not going well, society is affected. Ibsen portrays how the expected roles, of a man and a woman, in this case, Torvald and Nora, in marriage are stereotyped, leading to the discussion of the constraining nature of gender roles.
Women are expected to take the submissive role, as Ibsen displays. They are expected to stay faithful and do what the man says. Nora is afraid of hurting her husband and would do nothing to wound his pride. She even decides it is better to lie and suffer for all to be well. “What should make you think I have any influence of that kind with my husband?” (1372). Nora would not want to appear victim and stir conflict where it would be unnecessary. Nora is like the little doll played with by the holder of the power in the house, Torvald. The doll is symbolic, as one would expect it to do what it is instructed to do. Nora is his “little skylark,” “little squirrel,” and “little featherhead” (1359). Through being submissive, the female gender is more despised by being called pet names and not referred to by their names. In addition, women’s dignity would rather be jeopardized than not adhere to the husband’s needs. In the 19th century, women were taught to adhere to their husband’s needs and listen to them; Nora would rather keep quiet than confront her husband. After Nora has been through a lot, she finds out all has been wasted for her. “You arranged everything according to your own taste, and so I got the same tastes as you- or else I pretended to” (1402). It is a little too late as her parent and marriage life has made big steps. However, all is not lost, and she can find and make great sense of herself again.
The stereotyped nature of women’s roles in society is depicted through Nora as she is expected to tend to her husband and children and stay at home. Nora asserts it was ‘‘like being a man’’ when the women had the chance to earn money from a job they were not also not supposed to have. Having children and staying in marriage is the role that females are attached to in the bigger notion of society. Opportunities are not given or available for them to have a job and earn pay. They hardly had such opportunities and would heavily depend on their fathers and husbands to fend for their needs. Another character Mrs. Linde is in awe that she thought to have cool life after ditching her husband for a richer or more financially secure one. She finds it a risky plan as the expectations were not as she anticipated. She even did not know her husband’s true financial situation. She expected to honor her husband, stay at home and raise children. Most surprisingly, she needed her husband’s legal consent to carry out simple business matters. Nora argues that she has ‘‘made nothing of her life’’ at the end as Torvald and her father enforced the destructive nature of gender roles on her.
Moreover, men are affected by gender roles, things with many expectations behooved on them. Despite the pride or ego of being the man or provider and making decisions on behalf of the other gender mean suffering rather subtly and unknowingly. The gender roles they actively serve are too demanding. Due to the ”mainly independence” status, Torvald cannot get help from anyone. No one else, and especially his wife Nora, a woman, is expected to lend a hand of help. Consequently, he cannot see that he cannot love her truly as he sees her as nothing. The quote “one would hardly believe how expensive such little persons are” (1360) shows how he belittles her wife. Furthermore, Torvald is not wary of societal gender roles as he puts his reputation to be of important than love for his wife. He cannot acknowledge the value of the love of his wife. Surprisingly, losing her would be his worst fear, as he would have failed as a man.
Conclusively, Ibsen illustrates that gender has played a big role in people’s lives, literature, and history. The expectations of each gender throughout life have set standards or demarcated boundaries or which gender should be more responsible. However, the female gender feels that double standards have been set on its role-playing the bigger and unfair roles. On the other hand, men have different roles, which they consider to be superior to that of females.
Work Cited
Ibsen, Henrik. “A Doll’s House.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 11th ed.,
edited by Michael Meyers, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, pp. 1358-1406.
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