Kritika Kishore Mathur
“A Doll’s House” is a three act play set in Norway during the Victorian era. This was the time when men were expected to be the breadwinners of the house. Instead of being like partners or equals, women were expected to serve the family. A woman was not allowed to think for herself. A woman was not more than a daughter, a mother, and a wife. This is why people especially women were made to except their roles and pretend to be happy and normal, like the title says "A Doll’s House”. For this blog post I would be focusing more on the main characters of the story, Nora Helmer, the protagonist, and Torvald Helmer her husband. In the beginning of the first Act, it seems like in the Helmer house lives this perfectly normal happy family, cheerful and full of joy.
Once the story starts to unfold, the audience realises that the Helmer family has a lot of secrets.
Torvald treats Nora like a child by calling her names like “squirrel, my little skylark”, which putting into context is disturbing. Nora is Torvald’s trophy wife, a servant which in the eyes of the society then and unfortunately in some cases even now is viewed as acceptable and the right thing. Now, Nora has been keeping a secret from everyone especially her own husband and children. She had borrowed money from a man named Krogstad who works with Torvald, to save Torvald’s life as he was battling an illness. During the Victorian era women were not allowed to sign financial documents. Unfortunately during this difficult time Nora’s father passed away. This situation made her take the risk of forging her father’s signature. It was not just wrong in the eyes of society but also the law. Nora’s character now looks less happy and more fearful and sad to the possibility of abandonment if Torvald finds out. When Krogstad finds out about the forgery he uses it to blackmail Nora, resulting in him dropping the letter in the family’s letter box. Only Torvald has the keys to the letterbox, which again shows where Nora’s position in the house is suppose to be. This causes her a lot of stress, she starts questioning her importance by asking her children’s nanny if they will be better off without her. She wonders whether Torvald will support her when he finds out. She behaves in almost an absurd way and tries her best to distract Torvald from the box, because she fears he will disown her. She pretends like she has forgotten the steps of the tarantella dance, in order to avoid reality and manipulate the situation to go her way. As expected things don't go her way when Torvald finds out. He disowns her and says extremely rude things to her even if she did that to save his life, “You wretched woman - what have you done? ... Do you realize what you’ve done? ... What a terrible awakening! For these last eight years you’ve been my joy and my pride - and now I find that you’re a liar, a hypocrite- even worse - a criminal! Oh, the unspeakable ugliness of it all! ... You’ve completely wrecked my happiness, you’ve ruined my whole future... Oh, to think that I should have to say this to someone I’ve loved so much - some I still... Well, that’s all over - it must be…”.(2) Nora realises that all along she has been living with people who did nothing but control her like their puppet or doll, “When I lived at home with Papa, he used to tell me his opinion about everything and so I had the same opinion. If I thought differently, I had to hide it from him, or he wouldn’t have liked it. He called me his little doll, and he used to play with me just as I played with my dolls...Then I came to live in your house... I passed out of Papa’s hands into yours. You arranged everything to suit your tastes, and so I came to have the same tastes as yours... or I pretended to. I’m not quite sure which ... perhaps it was a bit of both - sometimes one and sometimes the the other. Now that i come to look at it, I’ve lived here like a pauper - simply from hand to mouth. I've lived by performing tricks for you, Torvald. This was how you wanted it. You and Papa have committed a grievous sin against me: it’s your fault that I've made nothing of my life... But our home has been nothing but a play-room. I’ve been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa’s doll-child. And the children have been my dolls in their turn. I liked it when you came and played with me, just as they liked it when I came and played with them. That's what our marriage has been, Torvald”.(2) She decides to leave her house, on a quest to find out who she really is, and hopes to never come back.
Nora now is seen to be a very strong and inspiring figure for women. However, the type of controlling environment Nora has come out of, she must go for some kind of therapy. Her character may be tilting towards Borderline Personality disorder as she shares some of the symptoms. “The main feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a prevalent pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and emotions. People with borderline personality disorder are also usually very impulsive, oftentimes demonstrating self-injurious behaviors (e.g., risky sexual behaviors, cutting, or suicide attempts).”(1) Nora can be seen questioning her interpersonal relationships and her self image. Lets get a closer look at her relationships, initially it seems like she has a close relationship with her children and her husband, but the act of asking her nanny whether her children will be fine without her, makes anyone question the stability in her relationships and how she looks at herself.
Her attempt to distract Torvald from the letter by asking him to give her all his attention and teach her the dance steps shows how she tries to avoid being abandoned. The anxiety and stress in behaviour is extreme and can be seen in her actions. Nora’s forging of her father’s signature shows that she takes a lot of risks. The last and most shocking part of the scene, when Nora leaves her family forever is usually seen as a very empowering action, but it can also be her making decisions impulsively because of what just happened.
Hence, Nora fought her way out of oppression, but she might need help like psychotherapy or cognitive development therapy as she might be suffering Borderline Personality Disorder. This is going to be a long process, and so it can be seen that oppression has a negative impact on personality.
References :
1. Bressert,S.(2018). Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms. Psych Central. Retrieved December 17, 2018, from http://psychcentral.com/disorders/borderline-personlaity-disorders/symptoms/
2. Ibsen, H. (1965). A doll's house and other plays. Camberwell, Penguin books.
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