Feminism in The Play “Doll’s House”

The play begins on Christmas Eve portraying Torvald and Nora as a happy family who has finally hit a point in their life where they are financially stable. A Doll’s House has three main subjects including women’s status and their treatment by men, lack of true love and respect, and lack of dignity in the treatment of women in society. Nora is a wife who is beloved and treated like a doll by her husband, while her husband is super prideful and sees how certain circumstances can affect him. The play is Nora’s journey as she wakes up to realize that she has not been treated the way she wanted to be. Throughout the story, she unconsciously works toward being considered an individual. In the end, she believes the only solution to finding herself and gaining her independence is to self-sacrifice her idea of happiness by deserting her husband and children.

During the time period that the play was published, poverty forced women into the workplace. Marriage was believed to be an escape from working. However, for middle-class women like Nora, the idea of marriage itself restricted freedom. Feminism opened its doorway in the 1880s as organizations were created to fight against traditional ideas about women to spread their idea that women as human individuals have the right to personal development. In “A Doll’s House”, women are portrayed to be socially and psychologically dependent on men in marriage and motherhood. For example, Mrs. Linde was forced to break up with her fiancé and marry another man who could support her and her family while the nurse had to give up her child to keep her job. Though Nora is financially advantaged compared to the other female characters, she leads a difficult life because society dictates that Torvald should be the dominant partner in the marriage.

Women were not treated as equals. They could not have businesses or control their own money since they needed the authorization of the man who ‘owned’ them. In another sense, single women like Mrs. Linde were freer than married ones. They had the right to keep the money they earned and are able to live carefree without the constant thought that they had to keep up a face for someone else. However, there were narrow selections for women to work in, and were poorly paid. The female characters all had to sacrifice themselves to be accepted, or even to survive. Nora not only sacrifices herself in borrowing money to save Torvald, but she also loses the children she undoubtedly loves when she decides to leave to discover herself. Mrs. Linde sacrifices the true love of her life, Krogstad, and marries a man she does not love in order to support her relatives. Finally, The Nurse had to give up her own child to look after other people in order to survive financially.

Society in the 19th century has shown to be very oppressive. Things had to be strictly followed or they would become a point for gossip. For example, with the Nurse, Ibsen shows us how easy it is for a person’s life to be completely ruined with just one mistake. In her case, she became pregnant before marriage, and as a result, her only job opportunity was to be a lowly caretaker. He is more concerned about the attractive appearance of things such as his wife and home than he is about happiness and the well-being of someone. When Nora tries to convince him to keep Krogstad, his main concern is what the bank employees will think of him if they believe he has been influenced by his wife. And even after he has rejected Nora, he wants her to remain under his roof to preserve the image of a respectable marriage.

Nora begins the play by fulfilling a role that society has strictly set for women. Her role is restricted to activities such as creating a beautiful home, meeting the needs of her husband and children, and acting pretty. She soon realizes that this is not the way she wants to live the rest of her life. In leaving Torvald and her children, she will outrage society and disgrace herself. Society wishes to preserve its perfection, whereas doing something for yourself often means pushing and breaking boundaries.

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