‘’Ibsen’S_Play_‘a_Doll’S_House’_Offers_a_Challenging_View_of_the_Ideas_of_Love_and_Marriage_‘’_Discuss_This_Statement_with_Reference_to_the_Text.

It is completely fair to say that Henrik Ibsen uses A Doll’s House to challenge the ideas of love and marriage. In the play, the two main characters, Nora and Torvald ,are going through a marital struggle. Ibsen uses their relationship to distinguish between true love and marriage. At the start of the play, the Helmers appear to be very happy in their marriage. They portray the perfect marriage when we are first introduced. They have it all; a lovely home, are financially stable and have 3 beautiful children. They are a couple to be envious of. Both Nora and Torvald believe they really are in true love and that their marriage is completely legitimate. Not only do they believe that they are perfect, they are also aware of their apparent perfectness to other people. ‘’So you are quite alone. How dreadfully sad that must be. I have three lovely children.’’ Nora willingly acts to maintain the status quo of her marriage. Like Torvald, she wants her marriage to appear perfect to others. For Torvald's benefit, she acts merry, speaks in baby doll talk ‘’May we be a wee bit more reckless now, mayn’t we' Just a tiny wee bit!’’ , uses pretty mannerisms, and above all, keeps any distasteful matter (household finances, raising children) from him. However, as the play progresses, it is revealed that their marriage is extremely flawed. It is a meaningless marriage, as Nora and Torvald have no real feelings of love between them. Ibsen has used their marriage to challenge true love in marriages, as their marriage is just an illusion of love which was built only on appearances. Both Nora and Torvald pretend they are in love throughout the story. They love the idea of being in a happy loved-up marriage more than they love each other. In reality, Torvald has no feelings of true love towards Nora. Torvald is so obsessed with Nora being perfect, that he really is not in love with her. For example, he forbids Nora from eating sweets because he does not want her teeth to become rotten. He says to her, " Surely my sweet tooth hasn't been running riot in town today has she'". He continues to pester her after she denies it several times. This shows how shallow he actually really is. If Torvald really loved Nora, he would not care about petty things like that. If he truly loved her, he would not care if her teeth were ruined. He likes Nora for her looks and beauty, not her personality or character. Nora’s feelings towards Torvald are more about dependence than about love. Nora agrees with everything Torvald tells her. "Yes, whatever you say, Torvald" She needs him to fend for her, and depends on him for money. . " Ten...Twenty...Thirty...Forty. Thank You Torvald; that will keep me going for a long time!’’ Besides money, Nora depends on Torvald to be an almost father figure. She wants him to teach her. Nora begs Torvald to help improve her dancing. "Criticise me, and correct me as you play.’’ At the end of the play, Nora finally realises this. She had never loved Torvald, and he has never loved her back. She finally tells him, " I can't help it. I don't love you anymore" Unlike Torvald, Nora knows this marriage was a fantasy, the core of the relationship was an illusion. ‘’You have never loved me. You have only thought it pleasant to be in love with me.’’ Another way in which Ibsen critiques love and marriage in a Doll’s House is through the inequalities, the dishonesty and lack of communication between Nora and Torvald. HE shows that marriage is not easy, as The play centers on the dissolution of the marriage that doesn't meet these standards. At first the Helmers seem happy, but, over the course of the play, the imbalance between them becomes more and more apparent. It is evident that Nora is subjected to Torvald having the upper hand in their marriage, emotionally and economically. The weight of power in their marriage is hugely uneven. Torvald will never view Nora as an equal to him. He calls her silly nicknames ‘’my little squirrel’’, scolds her like a child ‘’my little songbird must never do that again.’’ , and views her as his possession. Nora and Torvald operate within their marriage according to the rules Torvald has set forth; ‘’I should not think of going against your wishes.’’ It is clear that Nora has no explicit power in the marriage, and may not have an input into important decisions. ‘’Do you suppose I am going to make myself ridiculous before my whole staff, to let people think that I am a man to be swayed by all sorts of outside influence'’’ Torvald and Nora do not know how to work as equals and this adds generously to their dysfunctional marriage. Dishonesty plays a huge part in their marriage. Nora is consistently dishonest with Torvald as she is keeping a marriage-threatening secret from him. This is not a way a good marriage should be. Nora has never been honest with Torvald about her forgery throughout the entire play. Even though it was for his benefit, she knows that it would damage his pride and their marriage. ‘’And besides, how painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald to know that he owed me anything!’’. Nora creates a string of other lies in order for her forgery to remain a secret from Torvald. She first asks him for money for ‘’housekeeping’’ things, when really it’s to pay off her debt. She tells Torvald that cats tore ‘’everything to pieces’’ the previous, when she had no evidence of the Christmas ornaments she lied about making. She tells him that Krogstad must keep his job as she is ‘’frightened to death of him’’ as he ‘’writes in the most scurrilous newspapers’’ and can do Torvald an ‘’unspeakable amount of harm’’; when really it is because Krogstad is threatening to tell Torvald about her debt. She lies about forgetting her Tarentella dance so that she can delay Torvald checking his mailbox. She later on contemplates suicide rather than telling her husband the truth. ‘’’’I have courage enough for it now’’ Also, Nora and Torvald lack communication between one another. If there is no communication in a marriage, it is much harder to stay in love with the other person. Torvald likes to keep himself distant from Nora and even has his own private office, which Nora must ask permission to enter. Together, they talk about silly things, like Nora’s ‘’little spendthrift’’ ways, and Nora also mustn’t bring up any distasteful manner with him; like the children’s upbringing. Nora realises this horrible fact at the end of the play,and tells him; ‘’ We have been married now eight years. Does it not occur to you that this is the first time we two, husband and wife, have had a serious conversation'’’ Ibsen shows here, through this struggling marriage that unless marriage is based on love, it will be thoroughly problematic. The lack of these things in Nora and Torvald’s challenges the idea of marriage, as it shows that the marriage was in fact, empty. Ibsen also uses other characters to challenge the ideas of marriage and love in A Doll’s House. For example, Mrs. Linde is another prime example of marriage without love. She had to marry a man who she had no love for, just to help her bed-ridden mother and her brothers. She was forced to give up her true love and stay in a marriage where she was not satisfied. When he passed away, she was left with nothing. No dependant family to care for and nobody to love anymore. She was just a broke widow in the eyes of society. But she was finally free. Here, Ibsen also shows a critique of marriages, showing how empty they actually are unless they are true love. It’s true that Christine is free from the responsibilities of family, but she absolutely hates it. She's not happy again until she reunites with her true love, Krogstad. Krogstad was able to forgive her and move past the pain to go forward in their relationship. She reassures him that her love for him is legitimate "Nils, a woman who has once sold herself for another's sake, doesn't do it a second time." And for once in the entire play, we see true love between individuals. It completely contrasts Nora and Torvald’s marriage and Mrs.Linde’s previous marriage, such that it’s not driven by appearances or money, but for mutual love. it seems that when Christine reassuringly says, "Nils, I have faith in your real character," Krogstad is finally able to once again find faith in himself