Subservience of Women in the Play

...

a better life after the truth was revealed about taking a loan out from Krogstad to pay for his medical trip.

The repetition of the word “little” emphasized the fact that Torvald had asserted his power on Nora where he made her feel insignificant, not giving her the status of being a wife; where she is just a doll that he can use and get entertained by her actions.

The quote “It’s a sweet little bird, but it gets through terrible amount of money” Torvald has scolded Nora about how much money she had spent but when he used “It’s a sweet little bird” Torvald had mocked Nora as to how she used to spend so much money but then when he used “sweet little bird” he softening it and at the same time he taunted her making Nora feel irrelevant to him. This represents women in the Victorian era how they are insignificant compared to men in society where they only had to please and work for their husbands.

At the start of the play, Nora had entered trying to hide the Christmas tree away from from her children in the quote “Hide the Christmas tree… when it is dressed” The Christmas tree symbolizes life at the start of the play and then progresses till act 2 where it lost all of its decorations in a “disheveled” state.

The Christmas tree also symbolized Nora’s position in the household where is trying to please Torvald and her children by making the place more attractive and decorating the Christmas tree. In this quote Nora told the nurse not the bring her children in the sitting area until its fully decorated which depicts Nora’s secrecy and it isn’t her first time trying to hide something from people around her until its all managed. The same situation happens when Nora told her husband Torvald that no one can see her in her dress until the night of the dance. This again emphasized on how Nora is willing to hide information and things to impress her family and stand out. This contrasts with Nora’s marriage as hiding secrets away from her family shows reveals that there are more secrets to be told.

In act two of the play the Christmas tree is set differently which is represented in the stage setting “Christmas tree is in the corner by the piano, stripped out of its ornaments and with burnt down candle- ends on its disheveled branches” compared to the first act the Christmas tree wasn’t lively and full of life instead it was disheveled and worn down. This quote had negative connotations as how to Nora’s mental state as she was slowly becoming worn out with the efforts she was putting to keep her family together, after seeing Krogtsad and learning that he wants to expose her secret to Torvald that will risk her marriage with him and her relationship with her family in the house.

Moreover, at the end of the play Nora refuses to dress up to please her husband, similarly to how the Christmas tree was in act 2 because she did not want to keep her act going on around Torvald and that includes dressing up in beautiful dresses so Torvalds image would stay positive around the people he knows.

This emphasizes on how women in the Victorian era and in the play were forced to comply the men’s desires and keep up with fashion so their reputations wouldn’t be effected.

To conclude, the symbols used in the play portrayed how women were subservience in the play and the Victorian era where it was a patriarchal society with men dominating women.