Nora Flashcards
first appearance
she seems like the perfect bourgeois wife
girlish extravagance, shown by her desire to spend Helmer’s new salary
sulks
when Helmer points out that they shouldn’t be spending lots of money
uses moodiness to get her own way
Nora and Helmer’s relationship
rests on his Paternalism and her childlike qualities
“takes her playfully by the ear”
her secrecy when eating macaroons is childlike
sexual
she delights in the power her sexuality and attractiveness give her
cosiness of the house
depends on any unpleasantness staying at a distance
impractical
didn’t think in advance about the effect of borrowing a debt that she couldn’t repay
or the results of committing forgery
her children
she undresses them because “it’s such fun” and plays hide and seek
child-wife
of Helmer
uses sexuality to get her own way and is happy to be pampered and protected
with Linde
she portrays herself as an energetic and supportive wife, capable of independent thought and action
with Rank
she is flirtatious, amusing and youthful
takes control at end of play
“our home has never been anything but a playroom”
looks at their marriage in a new light
wedding rings
she hands back her wedding ring
now has to challenge reality
her realisation
when she realises that Torvald will put himself and his reputation before her, she understands that she must now stand on her two feet
as a child
she was her father’s “doll child” and he played with her
little change between the treatment of her father and Torvald
influence of her father
“he told me his opinions about everything, so I had the same opinions”
influence of Torvald
“you arranged everything according to your taste, and so I got the same tastes as you - or else I pretended to”
her development
has been criticised by reviewers, who claimed that it wasn’t a serious statement about women’s rights as the heroine of act 3 is an incomprehensible transformation from the woman in acts 1-2
performance
“I must give a performance” (For Torvald & society) representing all women to that time
play room
she knows nothing beyond the “play-room”, which both her father and Torvald have seen as her natural sphere.
her relationship with Rank
in her relationship with Dr Rank she passes from sexual manipulativeness to honesty, at some cost to herself
as once she knew that he is in love with her, she aborts her mission to ask him for money - an ethical choice
her personality
By the end of the play, Nora is aware that her personality has been constructed by others - by the men who love her, and beyond that by the male authority of the church.
she treats Torvald
Nora would rather lie to Torvald than challenge him out of deference to his masculinity
Nora is purely a
source of “enjoyment and pleasure” for Torvald - Baser, 2013
Ibsen uses the Tarantella
as a motif for female sexuality and repression - Nora’s “hair comes down” and that fact that she “pays no attention to it” suggests a lack of adherence to the constrictions surrounding female appearance
