A Doll’s House Analysis of Nora

A Dolls House Analysis of Nora â€Å"I must stand on my own two feet if I am to find out the truth about myself and about life,† To what extent is Nora a tragic heroine? -1497 words (excluding title) A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen is a modern tragedy that is centred around the life of a typical Norwegian household in the Victorian era, focusing on the trials and tribulations that face Nora Helmer in this patriarchal society. A Doll’s House explores not only the status of women, but how they are victims of social forces to the extent that they are left with the role of a â€Å"dollwife†. During the course of this essay, I intend to study the character of Nora and to what extent she qualifies as a tragic heroine. As the curtain opens to the first act, we are introduced to Nora as an â€Å"extravagant little person†, a â€Å"sweet little spendthrift†; giving the audience the impression that she will be yet another undeveloped female character as seen in previous tradition al tragedies. Ibsen uses patronizing language to portray Torvald’s view of his wife, how to him she was just a â€Å"sweet little skylark†, the word â€Å"little† emphasizing Torvald’s misogynistic ego, and how he uses typically ‘loving’ terms but makes them seem condescending and demeaning. Aristotle’s description of a tragic hero as outlined in his book Poetics , is where he discusses the aspects of one’s character which qualify one to be a tragic hero, ideas which have been accepted and expanded for several centuries, and often used as a ‘mould’ for tragic heroes. In order to reach my conclusion and decide to what degree Nora is a tragic heroine, I will compare Nora’s character to some of the ideas Aristotle discussed in his book. According to Aristotle, ‘the tragic hero is a man who is a mixture of good characteristics and bad characteristics’. Regardless of the ‘requirement’ of being male, Nora fits this aspect of his definition perfectly as she can be seen as both the epitome of good and evil within the play, depending on one’s perspective. Ibsen establishes Nora’s character as not purely vapid (as we perhaps thought based on our first impression of her) but a woman who gave up the â€Å"necess[ities] of life† and went to extreme lengths to â€Å"save [her] husband’s life†, even though it was considered â€Å"imprudent† in Victorian society, where a woman was â€Å"transferred† from being, firstly a good daughter, secondly a good wife and finally a good mother. Consequently, Nora’s character can also be seen as having ‘bad characteristics’ (one of Aristotle’s prerequisites of being a tragic hero) as she undoubtedly â€Å"commit[ted] a fraud† and as Krogstad says, â€Å"the law cares nothing about motives†, even if Nora â€Å"did it for love’s sake†. Ib sen stated that ‘a woman cannot be herself in modern society. It is an exclusively male society, with laws made by men’ with no regard to female emotions. Torvald â€Å" shakes his finger† at Nora and says that â€Å"a songbird must have a clean beak to chirp with†. Ibsen’s use of stage direction clearly shows Torvald’s condescending behaviour towards his wife. It also shows that even after eight years of marriage, Torvald Helmer underestimates his wife’s character or capabilities to the extent that it is questionable whether he knows her at all. Ibsen suggests that even though the plot unfolds in a male dominated society, those same men could be easily deceived by their wives, as shown by Torvald and Nora’s relationship. Even though Ibsen has followed Aristotle’s idea, he has left it open to interpretation as Nora’s actions can be interpreted as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.