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Theme Of Feminism In A Doll's House

1371 Words6 Pages

Discuss how Henrik Ibsen portrayed Feminism through the female protagonist and the sacrificial role of women in the play.
Introduction
A Doll 's House was written in 1879, is one of the most well-known works written by Henrik Ibsen, the initiator of modern realistic prose drama. It tells us the story of a 19th century bourgeoisie woman who breaks the chains of society that institute her role in life in order to find her identity. The female protagonist Nora lives an absolutely comfortable and outwardly carefree life until her husband Torvald Helmer falls ill. She is required to forge a signature of her father on a contract that would allow her to take a loan from a lawyer named Nils Krogstad to travel to southern Italy to save his life. When Torvald finds out what she did and becomes furious rather than grateful for the wife who loves him enough to save his life, Nora realizes that his love for her is not as deep as his self-pride. At the end of the play, Nora deserts her husband so that she may pursue a life with meaning and happiness.
The play broke new ground of the realistic social drama. He was very concerned with depicting realistic social settings and illustrating a quarrel resulting from social pressures and mores. Ibsen also shows the unconcealed extensive sexism in the country at the time. This is shown in part by the asymmetrical nature of Torvald and Nora’s marriage.
We see that the establishment of the marriage is built on the absolute subservience of the

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