Keziah Tutu Tutu ENG201 102
ENG201 102
Prof. Whitley
11/25/12
The Dangerous Games of Society
"Helmer: I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora--bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves" (Ibsen, 80). The book A Doll's house by Henrik Ibsen is about a woman finally figuring out that she is more than just her husband’s play thing, which he can tell what to do at any time of day, she discovers she has self-worth and in order to break free of the tyranny she feels herself worth has been under all these years by her families quest of perfection in there patriarchal society; she must abandon everyone and everything, in order to end the abandonment she had been doing all her life, towards herself. At a first glance I made a quick judgment about the story and the main characters, I blamed Nora's husband for patronizing her, and acquiring the image of an average 19th century patriarchal male, however after some research I've come to realize that the characters were just acting upon what they thought was right and acceptable in their society. Articles like "Gender Struggles over Ideological Power in Ibsens's A Doll's House" by Guo Yuehua, explained the gender struggles between both males and females, how both sex are trying to fit into that perfect image of a perfect organized family, and when Nora finally "discovers" herself or has a break though, she becomes out spoken and takes a stand in what she believes in. This goes against everything that society has in a way advertised about the "perfect family, so it brings even more trouble to the house hold, and Louis Tyson's book on critical theory used for reading and writing literature called Learning for a Diverse World would argue the power categorization has when it comes to gender and especially relationships, once categorized, both women and men are labeled and they are either with or without society, and when you are with society you are looked upon as normal and intelligent, however once you go against society it is presumed that there is something wrong somewhere. The only way the two categories can be identified is if a family follows or abandons the rules of society. Then lastly the article "Intertextuality in Eleanor Marx-Aveling's A Dolls House and Madame Bovary", by Denise Merkle dissects two literary works which holds a common theme of gender struggles in society for males and females caused by society. The combination of all these works together deliver an in depth explanation of Ibsens's A Dolls House they come together and explain that these men who portrayed overbearing, un-emotional, power hungry figures were just mear "doll's" themselves.
They were acting upon what they have lived around and what society has been feeding them their entire lives, however Nora was the only character to realize the life she lived was not her own, she was the one brave enough to stand up for herself in the end and walk away from the "doll's house" she once called home, and the life she soon realized was being played with instead of lived. In the end it becomes clear that society’s strict rules influences both men and women into living artificial lives, portraying models of perfection in a perfect patriarchal society.
In Tysons book she explains the difference between males and females in a perfect patriarchal society, what they are expected to do, and if they do anything but what is expected they are seen as negative, bad, or wrong, basically they are either with or against society. In Ibsens's book, there are clear examples of gender roles in a patriarchal society, Tyson starts of by first explaining what patriarchy is, she states "a patriarchy is any society in which men hold all or most of the power. Usually, a patriarchy gives men power by promoting traditional gender roles." (86). Already we can see that society has laid a foundation of the way things are supposed to be ran, society is telling men and women in the patriarchal society that all men must take the leadership role and claim "all or most of the power". The system does not give leeway to the men who are more laid back, men who don't want so much power, what about those men who don't want such power, or gay men do they abandon all their power or do they share it equally between them and their partners, the laws of the system is very authoritative and vague, it's either men and women who engage in a heterosexual relationship follow these rules or not, either way society has a hand in their relationship. Tyson goes on to speak about the traditional gender role in this type of society, she states "According to traditional gender roles, men are naturally rational, strong, protective, and decisive, In contrast, traditional gender roles define women as naturally emotional (which, in a patriarchy, usually means irrational), weak, nurturing, and submissive." (87). The characteristics of these gender roles fit Torvald and Nora's characters, (in the beginning of the play) however, the roles that Tysons explains are not really asking both men and women to follow these qualifications but they are telling them "this is the way it should be". The patriarchal society in my view likes to keep everything organized and in control, it tells people how they should be instead of giving them an option, and for those who don't fit into these criteria’s they are seen as "bad" or "wrong" in the image of society, these rules strip people of their identity, instead of giving people the room to be themselves, the freedom of expression their freedom is narrowed and lives become more structural, organized, and artificial because they begin to live a life that is not their own, which is the same argument Nora brings up at the end of the play. In the Patriarchal society a woman is either a "good girl or a bad girl" in the words of Tyson the good girls are those who are submissive and fit the gender role in the society, and the bad girl is the one who does not, so we can say that if we were the supreme overlords in the Patriarchal society we can place judgment on Nora by saying she was "a good girl gone bad". Tyson states good girls are seen as "…pure, angelic creature whose sense of self consist mainly or entirely or their usefulness to their husbands, fathers, or brothers." (87) "Bad girls" are those that do everything a traditional patriarchal woman won't, in other words a "bad girl" is herself. Even though Tyson focused on females because she was giving her thoughts based on the feminist theory, I’m sure the same rules for women that are put in place to protect the image of the society goes for men as well. Even though the rules may be different when it comes to gender, they are the same when we look at it from the basis of protecting the image of the Patriarchy society. This can be seen in the play when Torvald goes a bit insane when he finds out that his wife borrowed money from his employee and has not paid it back, even when she is willing to kill herself to save his name he does not try to stop her because he need to save his image. In his view his status in society is far more important than the love he and his wife share. This is seen clearly when he states "Helmer: I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora--bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves" (Ibsen, 80). His character may come off as a heinous person, but we must also remember the kind of society he lives in, he may love his wife unconditionally however, how he has been brought up and the rules he has been exposed to by society has altered that love, now status is love, it’s important, and its life instead of one’s own family and their wellbeing.
In the article by Guo Yuehua "Gender Struggle over Ideological Power In Ibsen's A Doll's House", Yuehua explains the gender roles of all the characters and the dilemma it brings, but if we take a closer look it is clear that the artificial life that Nora and Torvald lived ends in ruins because of their obsession with societies expectations of perfection, however the life that Ms. Linde lived ends in complete bliss and joy. Even though Torvald may come off as an over protective, controlling, and at times authoritative man, he was only doing exactly what society expected him to do, nothing less. In Yuehua’s article he stated this about the men in the book “In A Doll’s House, men are seemingly in the dominant position, and they manipulate their power to control women in ideological sphere so that their own identity and social status may be retained and be acknowledged by the society.” (80). Even though Torvald calls her a child because he sees himself as not only a husband but a father figure because he is the dominant male figure he himself is also a child in the eyes of society. In the words of Yuehua Torvald wants to be “acknowledged by the society” he wants to be noticed that he is doing the right thing, just like the way I child wants a parent to see and acknowledge them whenever they accomplish something great like riding a bike without training wheels or tying their shoe laces on their own, Torvald is seeking that same attention and acknowledgement, that why he is very strict when it comes to his image in society. Another phase Yuehua uses was the word seemingly, when he spoke of the power Torvald has, in the beginning he has all the power he is like a king and the people in his kingdom are his servants obeying and catering to his every whim. However when Nora becomes a “bad girl” and speaks about their lack of communication, and teamwork he shows a weaker more exposed Torvald because this is something he has no control over, society has not prepared him to lose power, his wife speaking out, leaving, and telling him what he must do in front of him, and him having no power to tell her to stop was a loos of power he was not prepared for. Yuehua’s article goes on to state “As Bertens points out: Once the social and cultural restraints on women have been lifted, women will be as autonomous and self-determining as men” (Bertens, p. 101)” (83). When the women speak out or turn bad in this society it becomes something un-usual and it is clear that Torvald could not control Nora’s behavior, he became powerless and Nora had the power, in the end of the book when Torvald is doing his best to try to get Nora to stay he is almost beginning which is very new for him, it almost becomes sad, it’s almost as if he has become the victim in this society, when all he did was try to follow the rules and his life was brought to ruins. Yuehua goes on to say “Now her resentment is not only directed against individual man, but the whole patriarchal system”.(83). At the end of the story it’s hard to tell who the dominant being in the home really is, the law says Torvald but the messages goes for Nora, Yuehua goes on to quote another writer who sums up the whole war and power struggle issue. He states “There is, in the lives of men, a strange combination of power and powerlessness, privilege and pain. Men enjoy social power and many forms of privilege by virtue of being male. But the way we have set up that world or power causes immense pain, isolation, and alienation not only for women but also for men…This combination of power and pain is the hidden story in the lives of men. (Kaufman, p. 23)” (84). We can see the pain that Torvald and Nora are experiencing when we compare their love and life to that of Ms. Linde and Mr. Krogstad. Ms. Linde is a widow who has lost her job and husband Mr. Krogstad is a man with two children and no wife, even though they are not the perfect image of love or fit the ideal model of the perfect patriarchal family they end up together in perfect joy. These two were not wealthy or high in society like Torvald and Nora but they were not obsessed with the views and patriarchal laws in society so they expressed their selves and found happiness in the end.
In the third and final article by Denise Merkle, the ideology of society and their obsession with order and gender classification is also one of the factors that brought the marriage and artificial love Nora and Torvald shared to an end.
Society played a major role in the lives of these two characters Nora and Torvald, it was as if society symbolically represented the hand that played with the doll house and it played with the marriage of the two characters until Nora realized this was not life but she and her family were just dolls. Having structure and order is important in ever society however when that becomes obsessive and begins to tamper with the personal lives of people, that’s when things turn ugly. Torvald and Nora were both victims to the dangerous games which society was playing, they thought life was supposed to be like this, submissive childlike women, and an overbearing husband. Everything was going just the way it was supposed to be in the society until Nora realized she was just a doll being played with in a dolls house, and Torvald lost her when he lost the power society gave him in the game, this just goes to show that the Doll’s House is a dangerous game to play.
work cited
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. New York: Pestwick House, 1910. Print.
Tyson, Lois. Learning for a Diverse World. New york:The Haworth Press, 2001. Print
Yuehua, Guo. "Gender Struggles over Ideological Power in Ibsen's A Doll's House". Canadian Social Science 5.1 (2009): 80-87. Print
Markle, Denise. "Intertexuality in Eleanor Marx-Aveling's A Dolls House and Madame Bovary". Communications & Mass Media Complete 50.2 (2004): 97-113. Print