Patriarchal Society In A Doll's House

The author of the book “A Doll’s House”, Henrik Ibsen, challenges how the patriarchal society is perceived in 19th century Norway. He makes his characters blindly accept the unwritten rules of society at the beginning of the society and indirectly criticizes these rules. However, by the end of the book, Ibsen makes his characters, and in some ways, his audience, realize that these rules need to be broken.
Torvald Helmer’s morals and beliefs are similar to those many men in Norwegian Society in the 19th century. Ibsen shows that women had few rights and if they had a job, their family was automatically considered to be poor or their husbands were weak because, during this time period, the unwritten rule of Norwegian society was that men were strong regardless of what they faced and were supposed to control their family. Torvald represents conforming to society and likes to follow the rules. This is shown through his miserly personality. Though him being a miser shows that he doesn’t like to spend much, it also shows that he doesn’t like to ask for anyone’s help. We see this when he talks to Nora about spending more money this year in Christmas shopping, saying to Nora “You always find some new way of wheedling money out of me, and, as soon as you have got it, it seems to melt in your hands. You never know where it has gone“(Ibsen 4). He doesn’t like to even think about getting loans from anyone and believes that it is better to be safe rather than sorry.
In 19th century