Doll’s House
An Analysis of Ibsen’s Doll’s House
Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 Norwegian play A Doll’s House presents a none-too-flattering vision of 19th century marriage and gender roles. But is Ibsen attacking marriage per se? From the perspective of “new historicism” and “cultural criticism,” this paper will attempt to answer that question by drawing on information contemporaneous of Ibsen’s drama — such as “A Nineteenth Century Husband’s Letter to His Wife,” which bears at least in essence the form of a real-life Nora-Torvald type of husband-wife relationship: one in which the husband fails to follow the Golden Rule — or the Pauline principle, “Husbands, love your wives” (Eph 5:25).
Ibsen, of course, had lived through a century in which his own nation had been subjugated to a foreign aggressor: Sweden. It was not until the 20th century that Norway was able to assert its independence and put the Swedish invasion and fidelity to the Swedish king behind it. If anything, Ibsen’s Doll’s House may be read as an allegory for Norwegian nationality, with Nora coming to realize herself as an independent body fully capable and deserving of governing herself. When Nora casts off Torvald (who obviously loves himself more than her — and who has not the slightest conception of selflessness, thankfulness, or humility — virtues that Nora alone possesses), a new historicist or cultural critic could easily reckon this as a symbolic gesture of what every good Norwegian hoped for.
However, disregarding the play’s symbolic aspect for a more literal interpretation moves the literary critic into another sphere of social commentary: the 19th marriage. As Paul Johnson observes in his critique of Ibsen, “Ibsen preached the revolt of the individual against the ancien regime of inhibitions and prejudices which held sway in every small town, indeed in every family. He taught men, and especially women, that their individual conscience and their personal notions of freedom have moral precedence over the requirements of society” (82). Ibsen, in other words, was a social revolutionary on the order of the Romantic/Enlightenment era — a time whose doctrine was substantially divorced from the old world teachings that unified Europe in the medieval world and brought security to Norway in the tenth century under King Olav. Ibsen, like the rest of the modern world of the 19th century, had rejected the medieval mores associated with the old world religion and family structure; it had left the Pauline scriptures for a philosophy based on “liberty, equality, and fraternity” — the motto of the French Revolution. Ibsen’s Nora is, in this sense, a reflection of the spirit of Ibsen’s age — the woman who realizes that she has been playing a thankless role her whole life: that the husband for whom she would sacrifice everything would not stoop to make the same sacrifice of himself for her. What St. Paul would have judged an error on the part of the husband (and compelled him to correction), is judged by Ibsen an inexcusable flaw in the social man-woman hierarchy. Ibsen’s solution is not Paul’s, which is Christ. Ibsen’s solution is dissolution of the marriage vows.
As “A Nineteenth Century Husband’s Letter to His Wife” shows, divorce was uncommon (although practiced to a degree) in the nineteenth century. Margorie Engel states that
Divorces were becoming more common but were not yet considered a major social problem. The people elected Andrew Jackson President of the United States even though he had married a divorced woman. Nonetheless…men and women had specific marital responsibilities and lived with considerable restraint on their behavior, always subject to community approval. Men were assigned the world of business and family support. Women were custodians of the home.
In such a social situation, Ibsen, by having Nora walk out on her husband, is literally slapping social convention in its face. In fact, in such a social context, Nora is a walking contradiction: she breaks convention by forging her father’s name and taking on work herself (without her husband knowing) to pay a debt that saved his life. Yet his ungratefulness scathes her so badly that she sees no point in acting like his “doll.”
Still, it is not social custom that Nora goes out of her way to buck. All of her actions have been directed toward one noble aim — the preservation of her husband’s life and good name. Yet, when those actions fail and, in their failure, expose the fault that lies at the heart of Torvald’s conception of marriage, Nora realizes that her marriage has been a sham. Torvald pleads desperately for her to stay — but she refuses to be a doll: Nora is sticking up for what St. Paul would have admitted was her due: she wants to be loved — not treated like a meaningless piece of property. Torvald realizes this all too late when Nora leaves him with her last words: that she could never live with a stranger, and that therefore the two of them could never be together unless there was a change — unless their “life together would be a real wedlock.”
It is this ideal of real wedlock that the medieval world, under the tutelage of the Pauline scriptures, understood so well — and it is this ideal that the modern world, in its attempt to throw off the shackles of the past, rejected to its own apparent detriment. It is this ideal that Nora laments is lacking in her own marriage — and it is this ideal that is absent in the letter of Marcus to his Wife in 1844. Marcus sees his wife the same way Torvald sees his — as property, or an employer, or a child, to be governed with rules (like a tyrant) and without charity or love. The opening line of Marcus’ letter says all that needs to be said, “You have sinned greatly…” No marriage could ever stand on such a line: it is Pharisaical.
In conclusion, Ibsen’s A Doll’s House displays the emptiness of the 19th century marriage, devoid of the charity recommended so strongly by St. Paul. “New historicism” and “cultural criticism” reveal that the emptiness stems not from our own projections necessarily, but from the times and events surrounding Ibsen’s own day and age, and the centuries of revolution that followed the end of the medieval world’s Christian philosophy.
Works Cited
Engel, Margorie. “The History of Divorce.” Flying Solo. Web. 8 Aug 2011.
Ibsen, Henrik. “A Doll’s House.” Project Gutenberg. Web. 8 Aug 2011.
Johnson, Paul. Intellectuals. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2007.
New Testament. New International Version, 1984. Biblos. Web. 8 Aug 2011.
“A Nineteenth Century Husband’s Letter to His Wife.” Southeastern Massachusetts
University, 1844.
Are you busy and do not have time to handle your assignment? Are you scared that your paper will not make the grade? Do you have responsibilities that may hinder you from turning in your assignment on time? Are you tired and can barely handle your assignment? Are your grades inconsistent?
Whichever your reason is, it is valid! You can get professional academic help from our service at affordable rates. We have a team of professional academic writers who can handle all your assignments.
Students barely have time to read. We got you! Have your literature essay or book review written without having the hassle of reading the book. You can get your literature paper custom-written for you by our literature specialists.
Do you struggle with finance? No need to torture yourself if finance is not your cup of tea. You can order your finance paper from our academic writing service and get 100% original work from competent finance experts.
Computer science is a tough subject. Fortunately, our computer science experts are up to the match. No need to stress and have sleepless nights. Our academic writers will tackle all your computer science assignments and deliver them on time. Let us handle all your python, java, ruby, JavaScript, php , C+ assignments!
While psychology may be an interesting subject, you may lack sufficient time to handle your assignments. Don’t despair; by using our academic writing service, you can be assured of perfect grades. Moreover, your grades will be consistent.
Engineering is quite a demanding subject. Students face a lot of pressure and barely have enough time to do what they love to do. Our academic writing service got you covered! Our engineering specialists follow the paper instructions and ensure timely delivery of the paper.
In the nursing course, you may have difficulties with literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, critical essays, and other assignments. Our nursing assignment writers will offer you professional nursing paper help at low prices.
Truth be told, sociology papers can be quite exhausting. Our academic writing service relieves you of fatigue, pressure, and stress. You can relax and have peace of mind as our academic writers handle your sociology assignment.
We take pride in having some of the best business writers in the industry. Our business writers have a lot of experience in the field. They are reliable, and you can be assured of a high-grade paper. They are able to handle business papers of any subject, length, deadline, and difficulty!
We boast of having some of the most experienced statistics experts in the industry. Our statistics experts have diverse skills, expertise, and knowledge to handle any kind of assignment. They have access to all kinds of software to get your assignment done.
Writing a law essay may prove to be an insurmountable obstacle, especially when you need to know the peculiarities of the legislative framework. Take advantage of our top-notch law specialists and get superb grades and 100% satisfaction.
We have highlighted some of the most popular subjects we handle above. Those are just a tip of the iceberg. We deal in all academic disciplines since our writers are as diverse. They have been drawn from across all disciplines, and orders are assigned to those writers believed to be the best in the field. In a nutshell, there is no task we cannot handle; all you need to do is place your order with us. As long as your instructions are clear, just trust we shall deliver irrespective of the discipline.
Our essay writers are graduates with bachelor's, masters, Ph.D., and doctorate degrees in various subjects. The minimum requirement to be an essay writer with our essay writing service is to have a college degree. All our academic writers have a minimum of two years of academic writing. We have a stringent recruitment process to ensure that we get only the most competent essay writers in the industry. We also ensure that the writers are handsomely compensated for their value. The majority of our writers are native English speakers. As such, the fluency of language and grammar is impeccable.
There is a very low likelihood that you won’t like the paper.
Not at all. All papers are written from scratch. There is no way your tutor or instructor will realize that you did not write the paper yourself. In fact, we recommend using our assignment help services for consistent results.
We check all papers for plagiarism before we submit them. We use powerful plagiarism checking software such as SafeAssign, LopesWrite, and Turnitin. We also upload the plagiarism report so that you can review it. We understand that plagiarism is academic suicide. We would not take the risk of submitting plagiarized work and jeopardize your academic journey. Furthermore, we do not sell or use prewritten papers, and each paper is written from scratch.
You determine when you get the paper by setting the deadline when placing the order. All papers are delivered within the deadline. We are well aware that we operate in a time-sensitive industry. As such, we have laid out strategies to ensure that the client receives the paper on time and they never miss the deadline. We understand that papers that are submitted late have some points deducted. We do not want you to miss any points due to late submission. We work on beating deadlines by huge margins in order to ensure that you have ample time to review the paper before you submit it.
We have a privacy and confidentiality policy that guides our work. We NEVER share any customer information with third parties. Noone will ever know that you used our assignment help services. It’s only between you and us. We are bound by our policies to protect the customer’s identity and information. All your information, such as your names, phone number, email, order information, and so on, are protected. We have robust security systems that ensure that your data is protected. Hacking our systems is close to impossible, and it has never happened.
You fill all the paper instructions in the order form. Make sure you include all the helpful materials so that our academic writers can deliver the perfect paper. It will also help to eliminate unnecessary revisions.
Proceed to pay for the paper so that it can be assigned to one of our expert academic writers. The paper subject is matched with the writer’s area of specialization.
You communicate with the writer and know about the progress of the paper. The client can ask the writer for drafts of the paper. The client can upload extra material and include additional instructions from the lecturer. Receive a paper.
The paper is sent to your email and uploaded to your personal account. You also get a plagiarism report attached to your paper.
GET A PERFECT SCORE!!! 
Delivering a high-quality product at a reasonable price is not enough anymore.
That’s why we have developed 5 beneficial guarantees that will make your experience with our service enjoyable, easy, and safe.
You have to be 100% sure of the quality of your product to give a money-back guarantee. This describes us perfectly. Make sure that this guarantee is totally transparent.
Read moreEach paper is composed from scratch, according to your instructions. It is then checked by our plagiarism-detection software. There is no gap where plagiarism could squeeze in.
Read moreThanks to our free revisions, there is no way for you to be unsatisfied. We will work on your paper until you are completely happy with the result.
Read moreYour email is safe, as we store it according to international data protection rules. Your bank details are secure, as we use only reliable payment systems.
Read moreBy sending us your money, you buy the service we provide. Check out our terms and conditions if you prefer business talks to be laid out in official language.
Read more