Literary Analysis Essay on "A Doll's House"

Introduction

The union of two people, also known as marriage, can be a beautiful thing a human being can experience, or it can be their worst nightmare. It is not apparent to hear some stories from individuals who divorced because their marriages failed. The rate of family failure has increased since people no longer want to sacrifice their entire lives to attempt making their marriage blossom. It is true some persons marry for love while others for selfishness or convenience. In Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House." The most significant theme of the story is marriage. The marriage vows treasured today has become nothing but a broken promise. Doll's House is an excellent example of a romantic relationship which did not work. To maintain marriage well and alive, it should hold certain qualities such as loyalty, trust, communication, and love. With the absence of love, the relationship cannot begin. The basis for Torvald and Nora was characterized by love, although this was not precisely acquired. In the play, A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen demonstrates the struggle of marriage through self-sacrifice, secret-keeping, and unethical desires.

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Nora and Kristine Sacrifice to Get Married and During their Marriage

In some societies, females are perceived as inferior gender and incapable of performing vital roles in the family and community at large. However, women have proved their capability in the smooth running of their households and are influential in the community matters. In a "Doll's House," females have made sacrifices for their families and to prove their self-realization and potential to the undermining society. Christine, an old friend of Nora, is an example of characters who sacrifice for the sake of the family. The sacrifice of Kristine and Nora before marriage is shown through sharing the information which could help them establish their lives for a happy future. Christine set an excellent example of self-sacrifice for Nora and others. She denies genuine love to assist her young brothers and bedridden mother. She also becomes Christine (Christ) to redeem the Satanic Krogstad where she ushers Nora into mature "reconciliation of personal values and external realities."

Besides, Linde holds a "therapeutic conversation" with Nora and brings a sense of responsibility. She says, "A mature, independent woman." For Nora, her doll-like nature and inferior shows the more profound passion of individuality. For example, she yearns for independence, where he tells Kristine, her friend about earning her cash through copying (Mays 20). Nora explains, "It was amazing fun sitting working and earning money." Linde gives Nora inspiration since she has encountered independence that Mrs. Tovald longs. In short, self-sacrificing Christine Linde illustrates the ideal image of a female who focuses on life meaning and services to others.

During the marriage, Nora was innocent as the play reflect her character has child-like wife, bubbly, who could yearn for independence. She makes sacrifices when her husband Torvald, falls sick and decide to forge the signature of her father to secure a loan to save his save life. Nora eventually works secretly in paying credit since the community does not allow a female to take a loan without the husband's permission (Wang 25). She knows it hard for a husband to accept that his wife saved his life. Nora also sacrifices her love for her kids by leaving them under the care of nanny because her dishonesty could corrupt their morals. She sacrifices her marriage to pursue freedom of exploiting her potential and understanding herself in performing motherly and wifely duties at the expense of her happiness, which is limited in a patriarchal society (Wang 25). Her role manifests how society should change how they perceive women since they can recognize their potential and cater to the family.

The union between Krogstad and Kristine explained as "two partners of the same importance" illustrates the ideal marriage. Their romantic relationship was open, frank unlike that of Nora, who was full of evasions and lies. If Linde holds the paragon virtue, there could be no problems in the institution of marriage. The investigation of Kristine life's experiences before, within, and after the wedding shows self-sacrifice and generosity in nature. For instance, before marriage, Christine was behaving like a predator hunting for prey to cater to her helpless and bedridden mother and young brothers (Tufts 150). The man she loves, Krogstad imposes her the burden of providing the family until she decides to ensnare a rich man. She marries a wealthy man to able to cater for her two brothers and sick mother. Christine continues to make sacrifices even after the death of the wealthy husband by trying small businesses to proceed to provide for the family. She also goes to Nora's households, who promises to persuade her husband Torvald to give her a job. She makes these sacrifices on the contrary to societal expectations, which views only men as the provider of the families.

Therefore, Ibsen shows the position of the female in the society which are brought to life throughout the novel. He hoped that women have the freedom and the right to develop their individuality through self-sacrificial for happy future. For example, Nora and Linde have sacrificed themselves to survive and be accepted. Nora not only sacrifices to lose kids, she undoubtedly love in pursuit of her identity but also in borrowing credit to save Torvald life(Tufts 150). Christine sacrifices her true love and marries a wealthy man who she does not love to maintain her dependent family.

How Secret-Keeping and Choices Made During the Marriage Can Lead To Failure

Keeping secret in the marriage can lead to relationship failure due to mistrust and conflict. In the play, there is a lot of deceit and lies in the lives of notable characters. Nora is seen happy, childlike and naive and a content mother and wife who dedicate her energy in pleasing her children and Tovarld. The play manifests her real character, where she makes decisions and takes risks for the love of her family. Nora keeps the secrets of forging her father signature to secure a loan to save husband life with the expectation of his appreciation, which he does not accord her (Tufts 150). Instead, Tovarld discovers the secret Nora has been keeping where he becomes reprimands, paranoid. He threatens her not to cater to kids because her dishonesty behavior would corrupt their morals. Her husband becomes worried about what the public would perceive and confesses of not sacrificing honor for the sake of love. This situation makes Nora realize that she was living with hypocritical and selfish stranger man who minds only his reputation rather than family or wife.

Marriage without communication is hard. Lack of sharing information makes the couples not to relieve their choices, which may result to marriage failure. For instance, Tovarld secrecy made him lose money and asked Nora to look for support and money. It was the only moment which they shared information because their marriage was full of secrecy leading to failure. Secret choices in marriage can also lead to mistrust. For example, Tovarld lacked trust in Nora because he lacked the ways his wife could spend money and tagged her as a spendthrift. Also, Nora was not respecting her husband since she could not involve him in decision making as much of work she was doing privately, resulting in mistrust. For example, Nora acquires credit, which used in Italy trip and forges the signature without husband knowledge (Wang 25). Trust comes along with loyalty, and both wife and husband should achieve it. The burden of relationships would be possible if both couples settle the problems. If one fails, it should be the responsibility of the other to join and help in distress. In Trovarld and Nora marriage, only the husband was responsible for solving obstacles, although he was not doing it for the sake of love but dominant the relationship. Thus, no perseverance is shown in the couple since Torvard lacked the necessary love and trust for her wife.

The Unethical Desires That Affect Marriage

The play of "A Doll's House" shows the wrong desires that influence marriage. A good marriage consists of four distinct qualities, such as perseverance, communication, love, loyalty, and trust. Marriage also goes along with respect, but Helmer's couple failed to attain the requirement where "A Doll's House" explains problems of their relationship life and how it fails. The play illustrates the unethical actions of the main characters, which resulted in marriage issues.

First, the desire for family dominant is one of the unethical behavior that may result in marriage failure because one partner may seem powerful than the other. For example, Torvald shows disrespectful to Nora when he gives her nicknames of "spendthrift, skylark, and squirrel" and always treats her like a child that is unacceptable from a loving man (Wang 26). He asserts his authority and power to her during their interactions. Torvald uses even oppression words when addressing her as when he comforted her for acquiring a loan with his permission. Torvald does not manage the house which Nora's domineering father owned it before they got married. After the wedding, the title was handed to him but eventually started manipulating Nora's Life due to his liking and will. Hence, lack of respects and love due to superiority desires ruined the marriage.

Secondly, the desire for self-freedom and recognition can lead to marriage failure since every person wants to become dominate family decision making. For instance, there was trouble in Torvald marriage due to lack of honest and open exchange of opinions. For example, Nora decides to secure credit without asking his husband permission, which was contrary to the expectation of society. Then Torvald is afraid of tarnishing the reputation once the community realizes the vices. In this antagonist scenarios, Nora's verdict results to a problem because his husband criticizes and threaten her not to corrupt the children by her dishonest behavior. Also, her desire to acquire self-freedom makes her leaves the marriage because it was not working. Nora's action was not right because she bore three children, and yet she was claiming her husband was a stranger for eight years in marriage (Wang 27). Nora could give her husband a chance to rectify his behavior instead of divorce. Also, she could change her ways of liar and hypocrisy and become obedience to Tovarld by engaging him in the decision to avoid secrecy.

The desire for money can also result to marriage failure. For example, the marriage of Krogstad and Kristine lacks happiness due to the financial crisis. The greed for money makes Linde divorce her lovely husband and get married to a wealthy man to cater to her sick mother and young brothers (Mays 20). It was not a wise decision to divorce the marriage because of money issues as no situation is permanent. Christine could have shared ideas with her husband Krogstad and open a small business or look for the job the way she did when the married wealthy businessman died. The desire for money makes Torvard term Nora as a spendthrift because he believes the one who controls money in the relationships should be dominant (Brooks 17). While Nora attempts to control cash partially, she acquires through a loan which becomes a disaster at the end.

Conclusion

Marriage is an institution in the community that engages the union of two with different sexes. The individuals who involve in a relationship should be mature and socially acceptable. However, many marriages collapse due to lack of respect, poor communication, mistrust, and financial constraints. In the play, A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen demonstrates the struggle of marriage through self-sacrifice,...