How does Ibsen deal with feminism in the doll's house? What was the need for feminism?

 How does Ibsen deal with feminism in the doll's house? What was the need for feminism?

Henrick Ibsen Introduction:

 Henrick Ibsen is a famous Norwegian playwright and theatre director. He is considered one of the fathers of modernism. In this play, he adopted a feminist approach. He highlighted various issues faced by females in a patriarchal society. In A doll's house, he describes the hardships faced by females. The story of this play revolves around a housewife Nora Helmer. She is married to a person named Torvald helmer. Nora is controlled by Helmer; she can not do anything on her own. Nora always tries to make her husband happy. At the end of the play she is deceived by her husband and she comes to a realization and leaves her home. Ibsen wrote this story because in his time there was a need for awareness against the set norms of the society. In the victorian era females were restricted to their homes and would serve their husbands.


Explanation: 

 A doll's house represents the issues females faced in the 19th century. Ibsen criticised the patriarchal society in which females are being suppressed. In this play, Ibsen highlights the quests of females for identity in male hegemonic society. The very title of the play, A doll's House is referring to the Idea of discrimination against women. A “doll” is an inanimate being that cannot complain or respond to subjugation, violence or ill-treatment.

 Torvald is a typical patriarch who scolds his wife whenever she goes shopping. He calls her extravagant. Krogstad, the antagonist of the play, also tries to suppress females. He forces Nora to speak in favour of him. He takes advantage of Nora's weakness and tries to blackmail her. 

In this play, females are shown as caring and supportive Nora always thinks of her husband and children when Torvald becomes seriously ill she takes a loan from the band without mentioning it to him. She takes him to Italy for treatment. Later, we came to know that she actually forged the signature of his father to get the loan from the bank, but Torvald came to know about this through the letter by Krogstad. He becomes angry and calls Nora dishonest and incapable of raising children. Nora becomes disappointed because she has taken the loan to save Torvald's life. She had thought Torvald would protect her but to her utter disappointment, he scolds her and threatens her to stay away from his children. “All your father’s recklessness and instability he has handed on to you, no religion, no morals no sense of duty”. When Krogstad resolves not to make a complaint Torvald becomes joyous and forgives Nora but she does not accept his apology. Nora comes to self-realisation and she rejects the persona of a doll she was wearing. She leaves her home alone and goes away leaving her children. Torvald makes entreaties but does not listen to him. She is not a subjugated or weak lady anymore. She accepts her own distinct identity. 

Nora's leaving home symbolises her freedom from male domination. Torvald pretends to be her saviour but in fact, he only controls her like a doll. Nora's father did the same with Nora; he treated her like a “doll child.” Torvald calls Nora by several birds' names which also symbolises her suppression. She says.

Nora. Yes, it is so, Torvald. While I was at home with my father, he used to tell me all his opinions, and I held the same opinions. If I had others I said nothing about them, because he wouldn’t have liked it. He used to call me his doll-child and played with me as I played with my dolls. Then I came to live in your house. (DHIII.66)

In this play, female suppression is shown from various angles. They are financially on their husband for money. They do not have the freedom to spend money of their will because we observe how Torvald scolds Nora when she spends a lot of money on shopping. This play also wants the readers to know that subjugation of other humans will lead to unbearable consequences. 

A doll's House deals with the issue of feminism in a cogent manner. It shows the suffering of women but does not provide the remedy to resolve this issue. Ibsen provides an open ending to the play to drive the audience to look for the solution.


Reference:

Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, www.iiste.org, An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.47, 2018

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