Ivan Varghese

6th - Lauve

Essay

In the title of the play, “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen, there is not

much we can gather from it. Other titles like the “Odyssey” and “Great

Expectations”, we can somewhat decipher that the literary work is about.

Tricky ones like “Of Mice and Men” and “A Doll’s House”, it takes reading and

analyzing of text to truly understand what the significance of the title is.

Throughout the play, “A Doll’s House”, we can see what the author intended

for the title to signify and by analyzing the literary devices we can deduce

what Henrik Ibsen had brewing for his play.

Pervasive throughout the book are events that hint the title. "…I have

existed merely to perform tricks for you, Torvald. But you wanted it like that.

You and father have committed a great sin against me. It is your fault that I

have made nothing of my life. Our home has been nothing but a playroom. I

have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was father's doll-child; and here

the children have been my dolls…" (Act III). In this quote, Nora realizes the

truth about her marriage, which has been not a meeting of minds and hearts,

but a performance. She blames her husband and, before him, her father for

treating her as a spoilt child and a plaything for their own amusement.

There is a lot of repetition throughout the play, not a word, but a

theme. That is Nora’s primary struggle against the stifling and oppressive

attitudes of her husband, Torvald, and of the society that he represents. Nora

is constantly domineered by Torvald and is treated like a “doll”. There are

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6th - Lauve

also many things in the play that indicate dollhouse-ish, prison-like

attributes. In the very society that they live in, women are held in low

esteem and are like a background in the community. Though Nora is

economically advantaged in comparison to the play’s other female

characters, she nevertheless leads a difficult life because society dictates

that Torvald be the marriage’s dominant partner.

The title itself brings up images of control, playtime, and dominance.

Nora was almost like a puppet to Torvald. In the end, Nora realizes that

Torvald is devoted not to her but to the idea of her as someone who depends

on him and she decides abandon him to find independence. This breaks the

dollhouse setting and undermines the male dominance over women. The

author uses point of view to convey the glittery sense of society’s view of

women. In the beginning of the play Nora is happy to be who she is and

happy about her husband ignorant of her private dealings. But towards the

end is realizes that Torvald cares only for his reputation and the appearance

of things.

In conclusion, we can see that Henrik Ibsen carefully uses certain

literary devices to convey the message of a doll trapped in the dollhouse of a

man’s mind. To add to the list of many clues that Ibsen uses we can see

Torvald’s image of women. Torvald, enthralled by Nora's beauty in her fancy-

dress costume, fantasizes about how he might rescue her from some great

danger. This comment has great dramatic irony, as very soon, when her

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6th - Lauve

secret is revealed, he will have the opportunity to do just that. Indeed, Nora

is expecting him to do it, but he fails miserably. Far from rescuing her, he

only thinks of his own ruined reputation, and of the necessity of keeping up

appearances. “A Doll’s House” is a fitting title and the author uses subtle

notions throughout the play so that the significance is slowly developed all

through the literary work.

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