A Doll's House Gender Roles

Sarah Liccardo
Professor DeGregorio
Writing 106
27 February

Ibsen’s Portrayal of Stereotypical Gender Roles Hendrik Ibsen’s famous, yet controversial, play “A Doll’s House,” explores the apparent gender discrimination that greatly impacted women’s lives in the 19th century. Ibsen successfully sheds light on women’s rights and their lack of “importance” during this time by creating the fictional character, Nora Helmer, who is the main personality in the play. During the time period in which this play was written, a woman’s “job” was to get married, have children, and rely on her husband for practically everything. They were not able to own any land and if they were permitted to work, they were paid extremely little. At first, Nora was portrayed
Up until the late 1800’s, women’s rights were practically nonexistent. In society, women were viewed as objects rather than human beings, which affected their lives in countless ways. For example, the husband controlled the families finances and owned all of the land. Men have always been seen as the dominant sex and Ibsen made sure to express his feeling towards the unfair treatment of women through his play that is still read 100 years after being published. In Ibsen’s work, Nora played the stereotypical housewife who was responsible for keeping up the house and caring for the children. Nora made this clear when she asked, “What do you consider my most sacred duties?” and Torvald responded, “… your duties to your husband and your children” (974). This clearly depicted what people thought an “ideal woman” was supposed to do in order to fulfill their role in
In the beginning of the play, it seemed as though Nora was a very immature and sheltered woman who failed to realize how oppressed she was in her relationship. Then, towards the end, it was discovered that Nora was actually very in tune with how she was being treated. She finally let the readers know this by saying, “I mean that I was simply transferred from papa’s hands to yours. You arranged everything according to your own taste, and so I got the same taste as you…” (976). Her whole life she was role playing and making sure she did everything she could to please her husband. Then, when Nora finally decided to confront Torvald about his treatment towards her, she said, “I have existed merely to perform tricks for you, Torvald. But you have it so. You and papa have committed a great sin against me. It is your fault that I have done nothing with my life (977).” In Emma Goldman’s “Review of A Doll’s House,” she dedicated her paper to defending Nora’s choice to leave her family and be her own woman. The last line of her paper read, “When Nora closes behind her the door of her doll’s house, she opens wide the gate of life for woman, and proclaims the revolutionary message that only perfect freedom and communication make a true bond between man and woman, meeting in the open, without lies, without shame, free from the bondage of duty” (989). Goldman was able to successfully send a