To the Post-Modern viewer A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen addresses many issues that are still present in today’s society, but are influenced by the values and attitudes of the society at the time. Throughout the play, the character Nora Helmer suffers the patriarchal and bourgeois values of 19th century Norwegian society. This is due to the distinct domestic sphere in which women were expected to maintain values of purity, materialism and the facade of a perfect wife.
The meaning one could make from Ibsen’s text A Doll’s House could be that the central protagonist Nora is constructed at first as caged within the societal expectations of women within the domestic sphere, but then is shown as defying the social norms to achieve gender equality and personal freedom from marital constraints; meaning is created by an understanding of the dramatic conventions of stage directions, symbolism, parallel motifs, and dialogue.
The stage directions during the first act of the play are symbolic of the character Nora being confined with the domestic sphere.
The apartment is structured to have many exits “two windows, a door upstage, a study door and an entry door”. This suggests to readers that this space is for people to come and go as they please; this happens as Krogstad is repeatedly shown entering and exiting the apartment. Despite the multitude of exits, they are always shut to Nora. During Act 1, we only see her in the confines of the apartment, almost as if it were her “cage.
” In the 19th century, women were expected to maintain the facade of a perfect wife, and this stage direction is symbolic of Nora’s captivity within the domestic sphere; trapped within society’s expectations of her. Through this stage direction, Nora is shown to “stand in the doorway”(Ibsen, A Doll’s House Act 3: 66) and “cross to the hall door” (Act 2: 55) but never crosses the threshold. The only time she is shown to leave is when she is “escorted” by Torvald. Having a male figure escort her constructs Nora as powerless and unable to set foot outside alone. This portrays a representation of women at the time who were seen as incapable of facing the vicissitudes of the outside world alone. The inability of women to dabble in men’s affairs in the public sphere suggests to viewers to create the meaning that they were confined to the domestic sphere due to the societal expectations of women.
Audiences that watched A Doll’s House can create the meaning that the central protagonist is a representation of an individual that could break free from societal expectations of women during the 19th century, through the dramatic conventions of symbolism and parallel motifs. In the beginning of the play, Torvald addresses Nora as pet names such as “skylark” (Act 1: 1). This could be perceived as dramatic irony, as it is meant to portray that Nora is like a fragile little bird under Torvald’s control, however one could create the meaning that a skylark has connotations of freedom and liberty due to its ability to fly. The author Mary Wollenstonecraft stated in the text A Vindication of the Rights of Women “Dismissing then those pretty feminine phrases, which the men condescendingly use to soften our slavish dependence.” To Torvald’s obliviousness, Nora will indeed dismiss the pretty feminine phrase, by rejecting the fragile nature of the skylark and instead taking on its connotations of flight and freedom. Another parallel motif that depicts Nora’s defiance of social expectations is the Christmas Tree in Act 2. The tree is described as “stripped, bedraggled and with its candles burnt out” (Act 2: 35). This motif can be seen to reflect Nora’s will to maintain her appearance of a pretty prop in the household; a plaything to admire. The degradation of the tree’s state suggests the same downfall in Nora’s facade of being the perfect wife and the loss of her will to maintain her reputation. Nora is constructed as finally breaking free from societal expectations during the Tarantella dance, where she dances “fast and wild”(Act 2: 58) and her hair “comes undone and falls about her shoulders”(Act 2: 59). Her “wild” movements position readers to create the meaning that she is releasing the unladylike and unrefined emotions and freeing herself to act as she wishes. The letting down of her hair brings connotations of being carefree, as if the weight of the false facade of perfection has lifted a weight from her shoulders. The conventions of symbolism and parallel motifs help depict Nora’s facade of a perfect, refined lady degrade and eventually unveil, which allow audiences to create the meaning that she is a representation of women who broke free from the weight of society’s expectations of maintaining the reputation of a refined, delicate, and pure lady.
The dramatic conventions of dialogue and stage directions also allow audiences to create the meaning that Nora has broken free of societal expectations by embracing her individuality and in doing so finds strength to finally honour her identity. Early in the play Nora is constructed as not having an individual identity, due to her confinement in the domestic sphere. The Victorian dichotomy of the domestic and public spheres, according to Rice and Waugh, “relegates women to the demesne of domesticity and deprives them of a political voice while requiring that men identify with a discourse of rationality which splits off and denies the importance of feeling”(Rice and Waugh 2001: 143). This can be seen in the quote “To be free absolutely free. To spend time playing with the children, to have a clean, beautiful home, the way Torvald likes it”(Act 1: 16). In this passage, Nora is listing her ideas of freedom by naming the very things that restrict her – her duty to her children, husband, and her role in the domestic sphere. Viewers are positioned to create the meaning that Nora is lost within the expectations designated to her by the society of the time and lacks an identity, through her blind acceptance of her domestic role which is the same as all women of the time. She is constructed as seeing the happiness of those she is duty-bound to – her children and husband as the key to her freedom and happiness. This drastically changes at the end of the play, with Nora stating “first and foremost I am an individual”(Act 3: 82). Here Nora is acknowledging her individuality which constructs her as mentally and physically freed from the confines of the domestic sphere. Stage directions are also used to portray Nora’s rejection of societal expectations. In the final act, when Nora leaves, the stage directions state “the heavy slam of the door can be heard” (Act 3: 86). The “slam” of the door positions viewers to see Nora as having gained newfound strength to make such a strong and final exit. The “heavy” suggests to viewers a sense of finality and indicates the final crossing of Nora from the domestic sphere into the public sphere, where she is now constructed as strong and capable enough to step out into. Nora is a representation of women at the time who gained strength in embracing their identity as individuals and not succumbing to the image that society expected them to be. This newfound strength allowed these women to emancipate themselves from the patriarchal society and enter the male dominated public sphere. Audiences can create the meaning that Nora is a representation of these women through the dramatic conventions of dialogue and stage directions.
The dramatic conventions of stage directions, symbolism, parallel motifs, and dialogue allow audiences to create the meaning that Nora is weak, incapable and trapped in the domestic sphere, however as the play progresses she shuns her facade of perfection expected by society, and in honoring her individuality is able to step out into the public sphere. A Doll’s House challenges misconceptions about women, and the protagonist transforms from a fragile, weak “skylark” (Act 1: 1) into a majestic skylark that soars over societal expectations of women of the time. According to Code (2000: 342), it is the “women’s disproportionate confinement in the private (domestic) sphere [that] correlates with women’s subordinate status”. Nora is a representation of the idea that women of the time were able to break free from the societal expectations in the domestic and patriarchal and bourgeois values the time, and in turn dismiss their subordinate social status, and discover their identity as an individual.
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