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A Doll's House Play Review

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A Doll’s House Review Ibsen’s 1879 play a Doll’s House is a classic for not only the way it takes the viewer or reader through the everyday struggles of a marriage but also for the way it demonstrates how society has still not evolved much from perceiving a man as the breadwinner of the household. Men are frequently viewed as the victor of their family. Whereas women’s qualities are expected to be nurturing and submissive to their spouse. Men have continuously been portrayed as the dominant species. Even though the play takes place in the Victorian era when these types of beliefs were the social norm, these stereotypes and gender roles are still pleasing in society today in the 21st century. Ibsen reinforces the idea that man is the leader of the house and a wife should submit to him through the play with symbolism and more.
At the beginning of the play, Torvald Helmer positions the tone for controlling his wife Nora Helmer by taunting her with money during the Christmas season wherein the room there is a Christmas tree. The tree is symbolic of Nora, it depicts her as pretty home décor that brightens their household. A Christmas tree is spruced up to what one finds favorable and aesthetically pleasing to the eye and then put on …show more content…

Nora could possibly be reinforcing these traditional gender roles by obeying what Torvald tells her. Nora does attempt to break from Tovald’s shackles and find her autonomy by indulging in macaroons. This is Nora’s secret bit of pleasure, it's forbidden and it's her way of breaking from her husband's shackles, but she is still trapped by the Victorian ways of her society. However, when Nora decided to eat the macaroons she has to sneak to eat them. There is no liberation in sneaking around and hiding to eat macaroons. Once Nora makes the decision to hide, she is unconsciously reinforcing Torvalds controlling

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