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A Doll S House Themes

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The document discusses four main themes from A Doll's House: 1) The difference between appearances and reality, as Nora pretends to be a happy housewife but is actually unhappy. 2) The sacrificial role expected of women to pretend happiness for their husband's sake. 3) The different parental roles and obligations expected of mothers and fathers in Victorian society. 4) The importance placed on maintaining proper appearances and avoiding scandal in the social realm, even if reality differs.

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THEMES! from “A Doll’s House” *appearance vs. reality *sacrificial role of women *filial & parental obligations/roles *importance of appearance in the social realm
Appearance VS. Reality What it means: Smoke and mirrors. On the outside, something appears a certain way, yet truthfully, on the inside, it is quite different.
Appearance VS. Reality -In “A Doll’s House” Nora is a meek, humble housewife, content with her life with Torvald.  TORVALD: Is that my little lark twittering out there? NORA: Yes, it is! TORVALD: Is it my little squirrel bustling about? NORA: Yes! TORVALD: When did my squirrel come home? NORA: Just now. Come in here, Torvald, and see what I have bought. Nora is unhappy. She is restless and ignorant about her life and her government. She wants to learn and be free from her ties as a mother and wife.  NORA: I must stand quite alone, if I am to understand myslef and everything about me. It is for that reason that I cannot remain with you any longer.  TORVALD: Before all else, you are a wife and a mother. NORA: I don’t believe that any longer. I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being.
Sacrificial Role of Women What it means: In Victorian society it was viewed that a woman should assume the role of a martyr for the benefit of her husband. In that, she should pretend she is happy even if she is not, so that her husband need not worry about her, so that he will have a fragile but bubbling plaything.
Sacrificial Role of Women -In “A Doll’s House”-  NORA: Good Heavens, no! How could you think so? A man who has such strong opinions about these things! And besides, how painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald , with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything! It would upset our mutual relations altogether; our beautiful happy home would no longer be what it is now.  MRS. LINDE: My mother was alive then, and was bedridden and helpless, and I had to provide for my two younger brothers; so I did not think I was justified in refusing his offer…I believe he was quite well off. But his business was a precarious one; and, when he died, it all went to pieces and there was nothing left…I had to turn my hand to anything I could find- -first a small shop, then a small school, and so on. The last three years have seemed like one long working-day, with no rest.
Filial & Parental Obligations/Roles What it means: Men and women, as in Victorian society, have different roles when it comes to raising their children. Men generally take the backseat, having little interaction. Women, on the other hand are have plenty of contact, though they normally share their role with a nurse. The blame of mothers for corruption of children could also come from their heightened interaction with their kids.
Filial & Parental Obligations/Roles -In “A Doll’s House”-  NORA: Nurse, I want you to tell me something I’ve often wondered about—how could you have put your own child out among strangers?  NORA:To be able to be free from care, quite free from care; to be able to play and romp with the children; to be able to keep the house beautifully and have everything just as Torvald likes it!  NORA: There they are! There they are! (She runs to open the door. The NURSE comes in with the children.) Come in! Come in! (Stoops and kisses them.) Oh, you sweet blessings! Look at them, Christine! Aren't they darlings?  TORVALD: (after the children enter) Come along, Mrs. Linde; the place will only be bearable for a mother now! TORVALD: Each breath the children take in such a house is full of the germs of evil…Almost everyone who has gone to the bad early in life has had a deceitful mother.
Importance of Appearance in the Social Realm What it means: Socially, people, families especially must appear to be of the norm: Happy, functional, and with proper gender roles intact. In Victorian society, divorce (especially with children involved) was a mortal sin. Even the appearance of a rift between a husband and his wife was seen as scandalous.
Importance of Appearance in the Social Realm -In “A Doll’s House”-  TORVALD: I am not so heartless as to condemn a man altogether because of a single false step of that kind…Many a man has been able to retrieve his character, if he has openly confessed his fault and taken his punishment…But Krogstad did nothing of that sort; he got himself out of it by a cunning trick, and that is why he has gone under altogether…Just think how a guilty man like that has to lie and play the hypocrite with every one, how he has to wear a mask in the presence of those near and dear to him, even before his own wife and children.  TORVALD: The chief thing is, she had made a success--she had made a tremendous success. Do you think I was going to let her remain there after that, and spoil the effect? No, indeed! I took my charming little Capri maiden--my capricious little Capri maiden, I should say--on my arm; took one quick turn round the room; a curtsey on either side, and, as they say in novels, the beautiful apparition disappeared.  TORVALD: He can make the affair known everywhere; and if he does, I may be falsely suspected of having been a party to your criminal action. Very likely people will think I was behind it all--that it was I who prompted you!  TORVALD: From this moment happiness is not the question; all that concerns us is to save the remains, the fragments, the appearance–

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A Doll S House Themes

  • 1. THEMES! from “A Doll’s House” *appearance vs. reality *sacrificial role of women *filial & parental obligations/roles *importance of appearance in the social realm
  • 2. Appearance VS. Reality What it means: Smoke and mirrors. On the outside, something appears a certain way, yet truthfully, on the inside, it is quite different.
  • 3. Appearance VS. Reality -In “A Doll’s House” Nora is a meek, humble housewife, content with her life with Torvald.  TORVALD: Is that my little lark twittering out there? NORA: Yes, it is! TORVALD: Is it my little squirrel bustling about? NORA: Yes! TORVALD: When did my squirrel come home? NORA: Just now. Come in here, Torvald, and see what I have bought. Nora is unhappy. She is restless and ignorant about her life and her government. She wants to learn and be free from her ties as a mother and wife.  NORA: I must stand quite alone, if I am to understand myslef and everything about me. It is for that reason that I cannot remain with you any longer.  TORVALD: Before all else, you are a wife and a mother. NORA: I don’t believe that any longer. I believe that before all else I am a reasonable human being.
  • 4. Sacrificial Role of Women What it means: In Victorian society it was viewed that a woman should assume the role of a martyr for the benefit of her husband. In that, she should pretend she is happy even if she is not, so that her husband need not worry about her, so that he will have a fragile but bubbling plaything.
  • 5. Sacrificial Role of Women -In “A Doll’s House”-  NORA: Good Heavens, no! How could you think so? A man who has such strong opinions about these things! And besides, how painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald , with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything! It would upset our mutual relations altogether; our beautiful happy home would no longer be what it is now.  MRS. LINDE: My mother was alive then, and was bedridden and helpless, and I had to provide for my two younger brothers; so I did not think I was justified in refusing his offer…I believe he was quite well off. But his business was a precarious one; and, when he died, it all went to pieces and there was nothing left…I had to turn my hand to anything I could find- -first a small shop, then a small school, and so on. The last three years have seemed like one long working-day, with no rest.
  • 6. Filial & Parental Obligations/Roles What it means: Men and women, as in Victorian society, have different roles when it comes to raising their children. Men generally take the backseat, having little interaction. Women, on the other hand are have plenty of contact, though they normally share their role with a nurse. The blame of mothers for corruption of children could also come from their heightened interaction with their kids.
  • 7. Filial & Parental Obligations/Roles -In “A Doll’s House”-  NORA: Nurse, I want you to tell me something I’ve often wondered about—how could you have put your own child out among strangers?  NORA:To be able to be free from care, quite free from care; to be able to play and romp with the children; to be able to keep the house beautifully and have everything just as Torvald likes it!  NORA: There they are! There they are! (She runs to open the door. The NURSE comes in with the children.) Come in! Come in! (Stoops and kisses them.) Oh, you sweet blessings! Look at them, Christine! Aren't they darlings?  TORVALD: (after the children enter) Come along, Mrs. Linde; the place will only be bearable for a mother now! TORVALD: Each breath the children take in such a house is full of the germs of evil…Almost everyone who has gone to the bad early in life has had a deceitful mother.
  • 8. Importance of Appearance in the Social Realm What it means: Socially, people, families especially must appear to be of the norm: Happy, functional, and with proper gender roles intact. In Victorian society, divorce (especially with children involved) was a mortal sin. Even the appearance of a rift between a husband and his wife was seen as scandalous.
  • 9. Importance of Appearance in the Social Realm -In “A Doll’s House”-  TORVALD: I am not so heartless as to condemn a man altogether because of a single false step of that kind…Many a man has been able to retrieve his character, if he has openly confessed his fault and taken his punishment…But Krogstad did nothing of that sort; he got himself out of it by a cunning trick, and that is why he has gone under altogether…Just think how a guilty man like that has to lie and play the hypocrite with every one, how he has to wear a mask in the presence of those near and dear to him, even before his own wife and children.  TORVALD: The chief thing is, she had made a success--she had made a tremendous success. Do you think I was going to let her remain there after that, and spoil the effect? No, indeed! I took my charming little Capri maiden--my capricious little Capri maiden, I should say--on my arm; took one quick turn round the room; a curtsey on either side, and, as they say in novels, the beautiful apparition disappeared.  TORVALD: He can make the affair known everywhere; and if he does, I may be falsely suspected of having been a party to your criminal action. Very likely people will think I was behind it all--that it was I who prompted you!  TORVALD: From this moment happiness is not the question; all that concerns us is to save the remains, the fragments, the appearance–