Patriarchy and the Law in H. Ibsen's A Doll House

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Patriarchy and the Law in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House
Literature is essential when reflecting societal issues and conditions at particular times in history (Wellek and Warren 110). It literature describes elements of society such as family life, trade, religion, and other cultural phenomena; which give insight to the reader and improves their understanding of the text. Accordingly, Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House provides important perspectives that relate to the position of women in the context of marriage and motherhood. Written in 1879 during the period of revolution in Europe, the play considers the struggles of women to realize their rights and ward off patriarchy that had been rooted in the Norwegian society. The argument in this paper is that Ibsen recognizes and adequately addresses the devaluation of women as a severe problem, which was exacerbated by the apparent lack of a legal structure to deal with the problem.
Right from the start of the play, Ibsen makes it clear how men exhibit patriarchy in the way they treat women. In this regard, Helmer intentionally offends his wife Norah because she is a woman; by referring to her using pet names like “little lark,” “little squirrel,” and “little spendthrift” (Ibsen 1-2). These names show that Helmer considers his wife to be ‘less than his equal’ and that she is just a doll to be played with or used as he desires. It follows that the play likens Helmer’s house to a child’s game with a‘dollhouse’ as the title suggests, where Helmer is the doll master who controls dolls, including his wife and children. Moreover, Ibsen expresses patriarchy by examples of Nora doing everything according to her husband’s specifications and thus seen to be stupid, weak, and wholly dependent on him.
As noted in the play, Norah does not leave the living room from the beginning of the play, and thus activities revolve around home-making duties. Her portrayal of a weak and stupid individual relying on her husband on everything is carried to Act II and III. Consequently, she is merely a source of satisfaction to Helmer in the form of a young and beautiful wife who is to be paraded before other men as a trophy or property. Therefore, a woman is seen to hold a passive position, and her life is only that of a housewife. As a woman, wife, and mother, Norah is not only controlled by her husband but also through the invisible hands of her society through its patriarchal system (Rachma 5).
Ibsen accurately shows the situation in the Norwegian society of the 19th Century, within which the play is set. In the prevailing ...