Question

Paper One (on Drama)

1.    In A Doll House, why does Nora have to lie? What do those lies say about about her, her marriage, and the society she lives in? You need to give reasons for your opinion and back them up with direct and paraphrased quotes from the text

3 - 5 pages

Answer 1

• The most obvious character in Ibsen's A Doll's House that leads a double-life, hiding it with lies and deception, is Nora Helmer. And while her actions may not seem horrific to a modern audience (for Nora saves her husband's life and assumes the responsibility of repaying the loan), at the time the play was written, her actions would have been socially abhorrent.
• The lies that Nora tells throughout Henrik Ibsen's play, The Doll's House, stem from living a life of being protected, and not being taken seriously, being treated with little respect by both her father and husband, as many women in her society were treated. Nora's lies are less a reflection of her own character, or personality, and more a reflection of the characters of the men surrounding her.
  
• The reader first sees Nora’s dishonesty when her scheme to forge signatures and get a loan illegally was introduced. Because she committed this first act of dishonesty, Nora began to turn her life into a giant web of lies that was doomed to fail.
• Nora tries to save herself from blackmail by protecting Krogstad’s job from her husband, saying, “It’s for your own sake.Nora lies because of Torvald’s unfair stereotypes about gender roles. If Torvald could accept his wife’s help and didn’t feel the need to have control over her every movement, Nora would not have to lie to him.
• Eventhough her marriage is based on love, it is nonetheless still governed by the strict rules of society that dictated the roles of husband and wife. It is clear that Nora is expected to obey Torvald and allow him to make decisions for her; meanwhile, it is important for Torvald’s career that he is able to show off a successful marriage to a dutiful woman.
• At first it seems that Nora and Torvald both enjoy playing the roles of husband and wife in a way that is considered respectable by society.
• However, Nora soon reveals to Mrs. Linde that she went behind Torvald’s back by borrowing the money from Krogstad, and therefore has already broken both the law and the rules of marriage at the time.
• This creates a dilemma: Nora broke the rules of marriage, yet did so in order to save her husband’s life a true act of love. Yet this is an act of love that society condemns, thereby placing the rules of marriage above love.
• In the final moments of the play, it's revealed that Nora's fear of the secret getting out is not a fear that she will end up shamed and punished, but rather is based on her certainty that Torvald will protect her by taking the blame, and in so doing will ruin himself.
• Nora is certain that beneath the role Torvald is playing, that he loves her just as deeply as she loved him when she secretly broke the rules of society. Of course, Torvald's reaction reveals that he's not in fact "playing a role" at all he really does put his reputation first, and he would never sacrifice it to protect Nora.
• What Nora thought was role-playing was in fact the entire reality. This cements Nora’s disillusionment with her marriage, and with marriage in general,she comes to the conclusion that not only does Torvald not love her, but that the institution of marriage, as it is conceived and practiced in her society, may make love impossible.
  
• This play does reflects somewhat the gender bias role of women still existing in societies of just being a "wife" and a "homemaker" and obeying your husband.It does indicate the subservient role of women in a marriage.