Question 2: "Try to state the theme of the play. Does it involve women's rights? Self-fulfillment?"
Nora, the main character of the play A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, experiences a prominent change in outward character from the beginning of the play to the end. As more is discovered about her, the more complex of a character she becomes. At the beginning of the play, the reader is likely to see Nora as a frivolous and carefree woman, but as Nora comes to take herself and present herself more seriously, the reader begins to understand her as a more well-rounded character. Nora's path to self-discovery and self-assertion is the focus of this play, and it reveals a society in which there is hardly a place for a woman to simultaneously be married and to be intellectually independent. Thus, this is a play about self-fulfillment and the lack of opportunity for women to find it during the time in which this play takes place.
When Nora discovers that her forgery of her father's signature on the loan paperwork was a serious infraction, the unfair circumstances for women in her situation become clear to her. Several times she expresses her frustration at there being laws preventing her from protecting the people whom she loves, her father and her husband, by not allowing her to complete any official independent actions. This society in which women are so clearly seen as subordinates has engendered romantic relationships in which women are rarely taken seriously. At the end of the play, Nora realizes that the men in her life have always seen her as a fragile, sweet, and quaint object who cannot think and act for herself. She has never been given the opportunity to discover her own likes and dislikes or to make her own decisions. In the end, she decides that the only path to self-fulfillment available to her is an independent one in which no man can claim possession over her (313).
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6 comments:
Good Job! I definitely agree with your idea that society made it virtually impossible for women to become independent while being married. You made a very clear and well though argument!
Nice job! Your arguments are well thought out and I agree with you in the fact that the story centers around Nora's journey to self-discovery and self-assertion so it is more of self-fulfillment story since Nora cannot be both intellectually independent and a married woman.
Nice job! Very well thought out blog with many valuable insights! I completely agree about the lack of opportunity for women and that being the driving force in her later actions!
Arianna,
Great job! You do a very good job of laying out the way in which Nora is hemmed in by society. I agree -- Nora doesn't have the opportunities that she both desires and deserves. Well done!
Arianna! great job! I found your blog to be both interesting and well-written. I agree that Nora's character becomes much more well-rounded by the end of the story and that this directly connects with her new found discovery that she can be an independent woman. I had never really connected the two like that before.
Arianna
This is a great explanation of Nora’s progression towards self-realization! I particularly liked when you said, “she decides that the only path to self-fulfillment available to her is an independent one in which no man can claim possession over her.” You completely hit the nail on the head!
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