Factors That Limit Freedom in A Doll’s House: Critical Analysis

“In ‘A Doll’s House’ the most significant limit to freedom is gender” to what extent do you agree?

There have been numerous productions that highlight how gender limits freedom. In ‘A Doll’s House’ Ibsen demonstrates a woman’s struggle for independence by depicting the harsh realities of marriage and the social world.

In ‘A Doll’s House’ there are many factors that limit freedom but one of the key limits to freedom is gender. Ibsen set his play in 1879 in Norway – a time where women were viewed as the ‘comforter’ or ‘carer’ of the home. Women did not have dominant roles, and this is evident in Ibsen’s characterisation of Nora as the perfect “doll wife”- rather than having an important role in the household Nora is portrayed as a “doll” on display whose only role is to stand and make the house “pretty”. This then links in with the idea of freedom – Nora and many other females have no freedom they are confined both mentally and physically to their homes. Although women didn’t have dominating roles they still had to adopt very specific roles on how to be a good wife and mother, we see this view mirrored in Torvald whose behaviour is typical of the bourgeois husband of the time. Torvald’s conversation with Nora represents what society expected of women, he tells Nora that “almost everyone … who has had a deceitful mother” turns “bad” Ibsen could perhaps be using this quotation to highlight a very clear but narrow definition of a women’s role in the household. From this one-sided assumption we can see that Torvald believes that it is the sacred duty of a women to uphold a good reputation in order be a respected mother and wife to her family. This therefore links in with the idea that women were considered “physically weaker, yet morally superior to men” ( library – Professor Kathryn Hughes), this idea of women being “morally superior” meant that women had greater influence on their children and this limits their freedom a lot because it signifies how women were made just to look after their children and their only purpose was to breed whilst the men’s behaviour had no impact on the children – this represents the inequality of the time and conveys how gender does in fact limit one’s freedom because women had to behave a certain way in order to appear ‘morally superior’. Looking in more closely at the quote it could be argued that men ultimately hold more power over women because they’re responsible for the upbringing of their children whereas the men are most commonly overlooked in their part. Ibsen could be using this idea of a woman’s influence to demonstrate how imprisoned women were in their homelife, supporting this idea AS Byatt stated that “Nora is one of a wonderfully varied string of trapped and angry women” and in one of the many productions of ‘A Doll’s House’ we see that the stage is possibly a microcosm of society and the characters are trapped in the roles that society prescribes for them just as they are confined in a claustrophobic atmosphere on stage. In contrast to this AS Byatt also suggested that “the men are too trapped in their beliefs” this then exemplifies how gender limits freedom in both male and female.

Although gender does seem to be a factor in the limitation to freedom it doesn’t apply to all. Mrs Linde is unaffected by the stereotypical way women were expected to act around men for example she may be tired, she may resent having to ask people like Torvald for a job, but she has a true passion for work as it has been her “only joy”. This demonstrates her independence and modernity which in turn makes her highly unusual she represents the new women theory. Also, the fact that she works almost “like a man” could be Ibsen’s way of showing that women can do things without men and women can be independent without the help of the opposite sex thus showing how gender isn’t a limit to freedom after all and Mrs Linde has got freedom. Another way in which Mrs Linde shows that gender isn’t restricting her freedom is by making her own choices in life and she doesn’t rely on men to make choices for her for example she deliberately chose not to marry Krogstad because she wanted to put her family first before her feelings which demonstrates how she has a mind of her own and does whatever suits her purpose – she doesn’t get tempted very easily she acts as a foil to Nora who we know gets tempted very easily by the opinions of others – she takes what Torvald tells her about the mother’s influence very seriously and this leads to her ultimate departure. Mrs Linde is an example of a new woman because according to Sally Ledger “Christine Linde acts as a catalyst for Nora’s rebellion” and the new women was this idea in which women would go against the norms of society and the fact that Mrs Linde manages to convert Nora exemplifies how gender doesn’t oppress the way she sees life and she’s a free woman. Mrs Linde is very independent, and we learn that nothing limits her from her freedom – however it’s a mistake to see her as a fully formed ‘new woman’, free of ties and content with a room of her own. We learn that Mrs Linde does have some conventional views for example she tells Nora that a “woman cannot borrow without her husband’s consent” this then shows that gender does play a part in limiting freedom because women need permission to do simple things like borrowing money. Although Mrs Linde does adopt some characteristics of the new woman Ibsen portrays her as a bit needy and demonstrates how a woman is dependent on man to help provide for her. Mrs Linde reveals how she is a “shipwrecked woman clinging onto some wreckage” the verb “clinging” demonstrates her neediness and displays how she’s hanging on a thread and in fact she isn’t a new woman on the inside because she is still looking for a man to support her financially which therefore conveys how gender is a limit to freedom.

Alternatively, Ibsen could be suggesting that upbringing is an even bigger limit to freedom than gender. Ibsen displays some of Nora’s less attractive qualities as products of her upbringing which then limits her freedom, for example it could be argued that Nora’s father groomed her to act as his attractive consort – almost a child-bride, and this has resulted in her becoming a child-like bride towards Torvald which then limits her freedom and Torvald now perceives her as his “little doll wife” and gives her instructions as a father gives his child instructions thus playing a part on her freedom. Convention “caged her within a child’s toy structure” (Kate Millet) An example of this would be when Torvald infantilises Nora and prohibits her from eating macarons because “he is afraid they will spoil (her) teeth” which depicts how he cares about her well being just as a father would, alternatively it could be the opposite Torvald could be aestheticizing Nora’s appearance in order to keep her as the perfect “doll” in their ‘doll house’ therefore showing how gender is an important contribution in the limitation of Nora’s freedom. Towards the end of Act 3 we see that Torvald describes Nora’s plan to leave him as “madness”, blindness and monstrous and he claims that she is “out of (her) mind” he also calls her “foolish”, this lexis of illness and disability reflects the late Victorian drive to pathologize woman’s rebellion as abnormal and unhealthy – reducing everything to hormones and exterior. This therefore supports the predicament that gender distances women from freedom and that they can’t be free.

Moreover, gender isn’t solely responsible for the limits to freedom – the angel of the house also depicts the harsh realities women had to face and acts as a strong limitation to freedom. The ‘Angel in the house’ was a popular Victorian image of the ideal wife/woman and it restricted many women and resulted in them hiding their identity to match the identity of the ‘Angel’. The Angel was a passive, powerless and self-sacrificing idol to many women and it originated from an immensely popular poem by Coventry Patmore, in which he holds his angel-wife (Emily) up as a model for all women. The ‘Angel in the house’ plays a part in restricting freedom and George Bernard Shaw stated that woman were the “immediate slave of duty” and this links in with the theory of the angelic wife because she was powerless and self-sacrificing, and all women must sacrifice themselves to the “slave of duty” to be accepted by society. This limits freedom because women must be submissive and obedient towards men because it is their “duty”. In ‘A Doll’s House’ we see that the angel of the house is mimicked through Nora – she acts like an angel in front of Torvald to impress him but behind his back she is disloyal and habitually follows her heart. She perhaps must act this way because she’s scared of the consequences that could follow if she doesn’t behave in an angelic manner and she doesn’t want Torvald to disown her because she’s going against the social norms. Virginia wolf described the angel as “utterly unselfish” and we see this trait lying with Nora because she saves Torvald’s life out of love which shows a sign on unselfishness and she sacrifices herself by working secretly to earn money to repay the debt.

Ultimately, Ibsen’s aim of this play was not to address the idea of femininity his intentions were to explore how men and women operate in entirely different ways and he stated that there are “two kinds of conscience, one in man and a completely different one in women”. Ibsen wanted to show that a woman finds it impossible to be herself in the late nineteenth–century bourgeois society because of the dominance of man-made laws and conventions this then supports the argument and gender does have an influence on the amount of freedom one can receive.