A Doll's House: Act I, II and III play by Henrik Ibsen

A Critical Evaluating the Risk-Taking Step of Nora in A Doll’s House Author’s Name The Institutional Affiliation Course Number and Name Instructor Name Assignment Due Date Taking a certain risk by characters adds depth to characters and themes, evokes suspense, drives the plot and delivers catharsis. Particularly in Ibsen’s play, the risk is taken to enhance tension and explore societal and cultural themes. As a feminist writer, the motivation behind the risk is autonomy, societal rebellion and freedom, such as in the case of Nora in A Doll’s House. She risks duplicating her father’s signature on a loan agreement to protect her husband and maintain the illusion of a happy mutual relationship. When her secret is exposed, the trust breaks on both sides, showing the difference in emotional responses between husband and wife stemming from their understanding of marriage. Nora risks getting a loan with a false signature, motivated by her desire to uphold the illusion of a perfect marriage and her husband’s life. At the same time, her action drives the plot and explores the themes of cultural expectations, social injustice and the consequence of deception. Nora is motivated to take such a bold action by her keen desire to protect her husband’s life and sustain his self-pride. Torvald, Nora’s husband, is depicted as a dominant partner. From his perspective, marriage should not spoil a man’s honour’ for the family’s sake (Ibsen, 2022, p.1). On the other hand, Nora is a submissive and responsible wife whose primary duty is to fulfil her family’s needs and understand their impulses. Torvald calls Nora by a pet name, “my little skylark” and “my little squirrel”, which shows the masculine superiority possessed by him (Ibsen, 2022, p.1). Every time he looks at her, he feels superior, which motivates him to treat her with a condensed attitude. His acceptance of the hierarchical social model of genders in a relationship is also apparent in his comments, such as he says, “It is not man’s duty to sacrifice himself” for his family (Ibsen, 2022, p.1). After spending eight years of marriage with him, Nora already knows that if she declares the loan, it will break her husband’s masculine ideals and weaken their bond of marriage, which stands on social injustice (Akter, 2021). Therefore, she decides to take the loan through deceit to save Torvald’s masculine ego and their marriage. Nora’s daring step underlines the social and historical significance of the nineteenth-century bourgeois society regarding women’s place. As a woman, she has a limited role in social settings without any right to autonomy, freedom, or personal agency, as depicted by the play. All she is supposed to do is act like a doll, please her husband with her beauty in his spare time and acknowledge his supremacy and dominance over her (Ibsen, 2022, p.1). It shows that she had to rely upon her husband for social status a...