A Doll's House: Character Analysis

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright and poet who was sometimes referred to as the “father of modern drama.” He was born into a fairly well off merchant family on March 20, 1828. Not too long after he was born, his family’s fortune started to deteriorate. His mother tried to seek comfort in religion while his father fell into a depression. His parents’ situation influenced some of his works where the parental figures in his plays model after his parents. Common issues found in his plays include financial difficulties and inner conflicts which result from deep secrets. His plays often challenged the norms of the 19^th century Victorian values and his plays were looked down on for being scandalous. Because he many times revealed the realities that lie behind the certain concepts, such as marriage, he was at times considered to be immoral. He was an apprentice pharmacist and started writing his plays at the age of fifteen years old. Years later he decided to move to Christiania, now known as Oslo, hoping to attend a university. However, after not being able to pass the entrance exams he decided to commit himself to writing and becoming a playwright. His first plays gained little or no attention depending on if they were performed or not. It was not until 1865 when he wrote his play Brand that he gained some sort of success. He used his experience from being employed at the Norwegian Theater to his advantage to help stage his plays and continue with his success.

6.10.2009

Character Analysis

Posted by JulMarIli at 9:37 PM

Nora Helmer

The protagonist of this story is Nora who has two sides to her personality. At first she is portrayed as a naïve woman that Torvald treats like a little girl. He calls her nicknames like his “little spendthrift” and his “little squirrel” to tease her and play around with her. Nora is treated like a toy or Torvald’s little doll and is submissive when it comes to men because she feels they have more authority over her. We later learn that there is more to Nora than just money spending and entertainment. Nora is much more determined to be independent than initially anticipated. We see that she is a lot stronger when she tries to handle certain situations on her own by managing to gather enough money to help her husband when he is ill. Although she had good intentions she is still relatively sheltered. It isn’t until the end of the play when we see Nora mature and finally take charge of her own life, instead of settling for Torvald’s manner of treating her like a little doll.

Torvald Helmer

Torvald Helmer is Nora’s husband who represents the power and authority of the household. Although he has a lot of power at the bank due to his new promotion, we see that some of that power is carried over into the household, partly because he works out of his study. By the way he speaks to Nora we can see that he looks down on Nora and he does not really take her seriously. He treats her as if she cannot think for herself and at times treats her like a child instead of a wife by telling her not to eat macaroons, and playing with her for his own entertainment. Torvald takes pride in what he has and is concerned with what others think of him. We see this when he decides to let go of Krogstad because he has a bad reputation which could taint Torvald’s own name. After he reads Krogstad’s letter Torvald doesn’t consider what his wife went through to try to save him, but instead worries about what others will think of him and his family of they ever found out what Nora did and how it would taint his name. Torvald for the most part has the final word and makes the decisions in the house and it isn’t until the end of the play that he is put in his place by Nora once she decides to leave him.

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A Doll's House

Henrik Ibsen

6.10.2009

Character Analysis

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