Comparative Study dy dy


Leaving Certificate Ordinary Level – Excellence in English Language and Literature


Social setting in A Doll’s House


Social class A Doll’s House is set in a distinctly middle-class environment. The stage directions describing Nora and Torvald’s home, ‘a room furnished comfortably and tastefully, but not extravagantly’, perfectly refl ect the characters’ middle-class values. The Helmers have known what it is to be short of money and Torvald in particular worries that they may lose their social standing if they do not keep a close eye on their fi nances.


Respectability is hugely important in this middle-class world, and the male characters in particular fear that it could be taken away at any moment. Krogstad knows only too well how fragile social status is: he is desperate to ‘win back as much respect’ as he can in the town, but fears Torvald will kick him ‘downstairs again into the mud’. For his part, Torvald fears Krogstad will undermine his position as bank manager by being overly friendly. He tells Nora that, although he and Krogstad were great friends when they were younger, Krogstad mistakenly ‘thinks it gives him the right to adopt a familiar tone’ when they are working together. It is a sign of Torvald’s snobbery and insecurity that he worries about this.


Keeping up appearances is of paramount importance to Torvald, which is why he is so appalled when he thinks his respectability might be threatened if the news of Nora’s fraudulent loan comes out. He wants the matter ‘hushed up at any cost’ and tells Nora that, although all will remain the same ‘in the eyes of the world’, their future life together will be a sham. However, Torvald believes the personal sacrifi ce will be worth it: ‘From this moment happiness is not the question; all that concerns us is to save the remains, the fragments, the appearance’. The world of A Doll’s House is one in which keeping one’s place in society is so vital that it excuses any amount of hypocrisy and personal misery.


Although the play is mainly concerned with middle-class life, we do get a glimpse into the limitations of lower-class life when Nora raises the subject of motherhood with her children’s nurse. It is only as she begins to consider her own role as a wife and mother that Nora fi nally asks Anne how she coped with having to give her own child away in order to come and take care of Nora when she was young. Anne replies that as a single mother she had to do anything she could to ensure she got a position in a good family: ‘A poor girl who has got into trouble should be glad to’. In nineteenth-century society, a woman who became pregnant outside of marriage had lost all hope of respectability. It is not surprising, therefore, that Anne is grateful to have a job with the Helmers, even if it means sacrifi cing her own family life.


Gender


A Doll’s House depicts a patriarchal society in which the men are expected to be the breadwinners and bear the burden of providing for their wives and children. They must also be seen to be in charge, which is why Nora hides the fact that she has taken out a loan to pay for the trip to Italy. She believes it would be ‘painful and humiliating’ for Torvald, with his ‘manly independence’ to know that he owed his wife anything. When Torvald discovers the truth, he is appalled and tells Nora that while he would ‘gladly work day and night’ for her, ‘no man would sacrifi ce his honour for the one he loves’.


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