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What Are Gender Roles In A Doll's House By Henrik Ibsen

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In Norwegian society the man was meant to be a respectable and strong character in the community. The roles of men and women were drastically different compared to modern time roles. The power struggle and relationship between Nora and Torvald Helmer is reminiscent of the typical relationship in 19th century Norway. Torvald is the man of the house and Nora follows his orders because that is what society expects her to do. Nora is trapped inside her house by societal expectations while Torvald is trapped by the societal expectations to be the man of the house. In A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen uses symbolism, dialogue, and characterization to expose the theme of imbalanced genders in a patriarchal society. Out of the many symbols in the play, some are specific to revealing imbalance in the genders. In the beginning of the script, Nora is eating macaroons and Torvald forbids her to have sweets in their home. Torvald says to Nora while, “[wagging his finger at her]. Hasn’t …show more content…

Torvald has rules set in place for Nora and doesn 't allow her to do certain things like eat sweets. He also speaks to Nora in a belittling and patronizing way that makes their relationship seem more like a father and daughter than a husband and wife. Torvald and Nora have completely opposite roles in the house and seem to live in two different worlds. Torvald dominates Nora for power which exposes the difference in power between the sexes in 19th century Norway. The power struggle between men and women shows a disconnect between Nora and Torvald about their true feelings. Men and women should work together instead of one being higher on the pyramid than the other. This applies today as well, and shows how one sex should not have more power than another. If there was equality between males and females then the situation Nora found herself in at the close of the play would not

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