Escaping the Cage of Marriage in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s...

Escaping the Cage of Marriage in A Doll House A bird may have beautiful wings, but within a cage, the beautiful wings are useless. Within the cage, the bird is not fulfilling the potential for which it was created - it is merely a household decoration. In Ibsens symbolic play A Doll House, Nora is the bird, and her marriage is the cage. Externally, Nora is a beautiful creature entertaining her husband with the beautiful images of a docile wife, but internally, she is a desperate creature longing to explore her potential outside the cage of her marriage. In a society dominated by the expectations of men, Nora must choose between the obligations determined by her role as wife in opposition to the obligations of self, in†¦show more content†¦Like the marriage, the tree is center stage and requires the focus of the audience. While Torvald tells Nora how deceit poisons families, she is busy decorating the tree. Nora cannot believe she will destroy her family, poison her home (1582-1583). At the beginning of Act II, the tree is in the corner stripped of ornament with burned-downed candles littering the ragged branches (1583). Likewise, the Helmers marriage is no longer an image of beauty, but just an illusion of beauty. The relationship between Torvald and Nora is based on the assumption that women are beneath men. Torvald treats Nora like a girl would treat a doll. Torvald refers to Nora as his lark, squirrel, and his beautiful songbird throughout Ibsens play, except when he is angry; then she becomes a woman. Elaine Baruch adds insight: At the moments that Nora angers him by her seeming stubbornness, she becomes the terrifying creature, a woman, which is a term of abuse for Torvald [. . .]. He cannot handle her then, for she no longer fits into the doll house. (376) In Torvalds mind, she is his delicate little creature that he must protect, and without his guidance, he believes that she would be devoured by the world she is incapable of understanding. He treats her like a doll; for example, when Nora is talking with Mrs. Linde about the masquerade party, she says: Look, theres