Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” Literature Analysis Essay

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

In the literary work A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, the protagonist, Nora, struggles to achieve her own personal freedom from a confining and oppressive situation. Written in 1879, A Doll’s House tells the story of a Norwegian housewife and mother who chooses to leave her husband and children rather than continue living in the “doll’s house” that her husband has built for her and expects her to stay in (Ibsen 3).

Nora represents the females of her time, those who attempted to realize their dreams, ambitions, and sense of self direction during the heavily sexist social mores and parochial way of life that dominated much of the late 19th and early 20th century.

A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen exudes the pristine quality of a historical document in which no detail has been expunged, manipulated, or updated; it is very much a document of its time, and as such, give readers magnificent insight into long dead social and political eras, and how they affected the human beings on the ground that lived through them.

Historically, many critics and readers alike have made the assumption that A Doll’s House is best read as a feminist manifesto in dramatic form; however, Henrik Ibsen himself did not consider the play to be about the rights of women per se. Rather, Ibsen understood the play to be about human rights (Forward 25).

According to critic Stephanie Forward, Ibsen addressed a crowd of suffragettes in 1898, members of the Norwegian Women’s Rights League, and “asserted firmly that he was not a member of the league and had no conscious aim of creating propaganda when he wrote A Doll’s House” (Forward 25). Ibsen admitted “I am not even quite clear as to just what this women’s rights movement is. To me it has seemed a problem of humanity in general” (Forward 25).

Nonetheless, the play is one of the first examples of a female protagonist that chooses to go forward on her own, without her children, and at the time of its premiere in Denmark, Nora’s action scandalized its audience. Appalled critics condemned Ibsen as an anarchist bent on abrading the fabric of society, and deemed his character Nora as “an unnatural woman for leaving her husband and children, because such behavior undermined and threatened the stability of society” (Forward 25).

The year before A Doll’s House hit the stage, Ibsen had observed in his journal that “a woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws flamed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view” (Forward 25).

In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, the main character, Nora is not an intellectual, and spends no time scouring books or libraries or trying to make sense of her situation. She is not a suffragette, and does not follow any sort of political or social party, nor does she belong to any league of feminist minded women.

That said, Nora feels the injustice of her situation acutely. She bristles as her husband’s denigration of her intelligence when he “playfully” takes her by the ear and calls her his “same little featherhead” and “my little squirrel” (Ibsen 3). Nora experiences the double standard that exists between herself and Helmer, as evidenced herein:

HELMER: I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora – bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honor for the one he loves.

NORA: It is a thing hundreds of women have done.

HELMER: Oh, you think and talk like a heedless child.

NORA: Maybe. But you neither think nor talk like the man I could bind myself to. As soon as your fear was over – and it was not fear for what threatened me, but for what might happen to you – when the whole thing was past, as far as you were concerned it was exactly as if nothing at all had happened…I was your little skylark, your doll…so…fragile.

Helmer – it was then it dawned upon me that for eight years I had been living here with a strange man, and had borne him three children – Oh! I can’t bear to think of it! I could tear myself into little bits! (Ibsen 112).

Nora’s disillusionment resembles the “waking up” moment for women in similar oppressive situations, those of Nora’s time who realized they were locked in a role, locked in a doll’s house, with each move they made scripted by custom, sexism, and the implicit entitlement of a traditional marriage.

Ibsen ends the play with the powerful moment of Nora Helmer leaving her family home and closing the door firmly; in that action, she walks out on her husband Helmer and their three young children, and embarks on a life of her own, dedicated to discovering freedom on her own terms.

Women of the time who witnessed this moment in the play were profoundly moved by it: “How well I remember, after the first performance of Ibsen’s drama in London, with Janet Achurch as Nora, when a few of us collected outside the theatre breathless with excitement… We were restive and almost savage in our arguments. This was either the end of the world or the beginning of a new world for women. What did it mean? Was there hope or despair in the banging of that door?

Was it life or death for women? Was it joy or sorrow for men? Was it revelation or disaster?” (Forward 24). At the end of the play when Nora leaves, her step forward is one of revolution, and represents a firm and “revolutionary step forward for all the women of her time” (Forward 25)

Nora’s moment of enlightenment and her ensuing action is a breathtaking moment of personal freedom. As Forward explains, although “Nora does not know what the future will hold…she realizes that she requires space and freedom if she is to develop morally and spiritually. At the end of the play she resolves to withdraw from the game of Happy Families…and pursue her destiny, to be first and foremost a human being” (Forward 26).

In A Doll’s House, the moments of Nora’s quest for freedom detailed in this essay represent a classic work that reflected the honest experience of a protagonist caught in an oppressive social systems or political regime. As the protagonist, Nora’s struggle for personal freedom is unique to her situation and her marriage; yet, her defiance toward and ultimate rejection of the role assigned to her by her society remains the same for all oppressed souls.

Works Cited

Forward, Stephanie. “A New World for Women? Stephanie Forward Considers Nora’s Dramatic Exit from Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.” The English Review (2009): 24-27. Web.

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House. Clayton, DE: Prestwick House, 2005. Print.

More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2020, April 24). Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House" Literature Analysis. https://ivypanda.com/essays/freedom-in-henrik-ibsens-a-dolls-house-literature-analysis/

Work Cited

"Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House" Literature Analysis." IvyPanda, 24 Apr. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/freedom-in-henrik-ibsens-a-dolls-house-literature-analysis/.

References

IvyPanda. (2020) 'Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House" Literature Analysis'. 24 April.

References

IvyPanda. 2020. "Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House" Literature Analysis." April 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/freedom-in-henrik-ibsens-a-dolls-house-literature-analysis/.

1. IvyPanda. "Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House" Literature Analysis." April 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/freedom-in-henrik-ibsens-a-dolls-house-literature-analysis/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House" Literature Analysis." April 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/freedom-in-henrik-ibsens-a-dolls-house-literature-analysis/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
Privacy Settings

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Basic site functions
  • Ensuring secure, safe transactions
  • Secure account login
  • Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
  • Remembering privacy and security settings
  • Analyzing site traffic and usage
  • Personalized search, content, and recommendations
  • Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Required Cookies & Technologies
Always active

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Site Customization

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

  • Remembering general and regional preferences
  • Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy.

Personalized Advertising

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

1 / 1