Henrik Ibsen's 'A Doll's House'

Film Accounts - Part One 

Despite wanting to study Octavio Paz's novel 'The Labyrinth of Solitude' as my text in translation novel I was pleasantly surprised to find that I would be learning about Henrik Ibsen's 'A Doll's House' play which has been translated from Norwegian, as I had recently been to the performance at the Young Vic Theatre in the West End. I remember the play specifically due to the rotating set of the house that some what mimicked the name of the production and also for the repeated use of bird names that Torvald uses for his wife Nora. 

Having done some research I learnt that the play was written in 1879 and that it sparked a lot of discussion and controversy regarding women's rights in the late nineteenth century. Ibsen argued that it was not a form of propaganda for women's rights but instead it was more to draw attention to 'the need of every individual to find out the kind of person he or she really is and to strive to become that person' due to the end of the play being Nora's (the main female character) departure to find who she truly is. Therefore having learnt this from both research and gaining a personal response to the play when having seen it but not completely understanding the background to the story I am aware that when watching the movie and studying it again I must pay attention the expectations that society has between husband and wife, as well as the role of men and women. 

Anyways, now I begin the film...

Immediately I noticed how Torvald uses terms symbolic of birds to describe his wife Nora, often calling her a 'swallow'. Birds are known to be small and beautiful creatures, singing all the time with a beautiful bird call. This reflects the character of Nora who is adored by her husband for her beauty and the way she indulges him. Although Torvald appears to love her and adore her in the opening scenes he does not seem to respect her, but instead controls her. Nora is shown as devious to begin with as she is secretly eating chocolates that her husband has forbade her from doing as she thinks he is 'worried about her figure'. This makes her seem like an object, as merely a toy to Torvald to enjoy than an equal being who can have her own freedom and equality to a man. 

The expectations of women were much less of men in this time period and Nora succumbs to the stereotypical roles that women had as she discusses a period of hard times for her family with regards to financial support as herself starting up 'needlework', which frankly isn't hard at all - but for a lady having to work was not a normality. Later as she discusses to her friend Christine, a single and independent woman who is looking for work, about how she gained money to save her husband, she describes the process of gaining money 'like being a man'. Later Nora describes how it is her husband's 'job to look after me' and also that it was her job to 'dance for him' and 'dress for him'. She degrades herself by only caring about appearances and amusing her husband as he gains the right to have an education and to rule the household. 

I perceive Nora to be quite a childlike and naive character which is slightly ironic given that she is living within the doll's house which is a child's toy. Nora has no manners and she constantly discusses herself with Christine regardless of her idyllic life compared to her friends. Nora is obsessed with money,  she shows off about it to Christine even asking if she was shocked by the amount Torvald would earn with his promotion in the bank. This foreshadows the plays underlining plot which is that Nora has forged a signature with regards to a loan and therefore has committed fraud. Later when Mr Krogstad, whom she owes money appears, he discusses doors being closed to him when he committed fraud. The dramatic tension which had been building up, to reveal whom had lent Nora the money, is extremely effective as there is a form of dramatic irony as the audience knows what all the other characters are unaware of. The motif of doors is important as when Mr Krogstad walked in he described that the 'door was open' where as when he was accused of committing fraud 'every door was closed' to him - therefore it shows the juxtaposition of the current situation he is in now and how he doesn't want to go back to where he was before. Therefore Nora must pay him back or pay for her hasty actions.