Marriage Flashcards
what does Torvald link? what does Nora recognise? what might Ibsen be suggesting?
Torvald closely links the role of husband and father — Nora is now not only his wife but also his child
Nora recognises that he is perpetuating behaviour initiated by her own father — “I passed from papa’s hands into yours… I’ve been your doll wife, just as I was papa’s doll child” + “I feel the same about Torvald as I did about papa”
perhaps Ibsen is suggesting that marriage is simply another form of patriarchal power and authority
how does Torvald describe Nora’s plans to leave him and their marriage? what does this reflect?
Torvald describes Nora‘s plans to leave him and their marriage as “madness”, “blindness”, “monstrous” and says that she is “ill”, “feverish” and “out of her mind”
the lexis of illness and disability reflects the late Victorian tendency to pathologise female rebellion as abnormal and unhealthy, reducing any ounce of resistance to hormones and hysteria
demonstrates how women in this era were viewed for leaving their marriages
where can the pathologisation of female resistance be seen in the play?
this pathologisation of female resistance is something we see happen throughout the play
even Rank, a close companion of Nora’s, joins Torvald in reducing her behaviour to hormones (e.g. after the tarantella dance, he asks whether she might be behaving oddly due to being pregnant)
in what ways is marriage presented as a damaging institution?
the sacrificial role of women within marriage and how damaging marriage is as an institution can be seen in how Nora was initially willing to kill herself to prevent her husband being disgraced
but by the end of the play, she comes to see marriage as an economic transaction which is not worth giving up her life for
she tells Torvald “I performed tricks for you, and you gave me food and drink”
what were Mona Caird’s views on marriage?
in 1888, Mona Caird wrote an article titled ‘Marriage’
she said “common respectable marriage… is the worst, and most hypocritical, form of woman-purchase”
she called marriage a “vexatious failure” and argued that “the economical independence of women is the first condition of free marriage”
women “ought not to be tempted to marry, or to remain married, for the sake of bread-and-butter”
Caird wrote about marriage in the same capacity as Ibsen — both seemed to view marriage as an economic transaction and an ultimately possessive institution
she was very much a ‘new woman’
what is the sexual double standard within marriage? how does ADH confront this?
sexual double standard within marriage — permissive attitude to male extramarital sex, but a huge stigma attached to the idea of the ‘fallen woman’
ADH confront this — Torvald says that “no man can be expected to sacrifice his honour, even for the person he loves” but Nora responds by saying that “millions of women have done it” (sacrificial role of women)
