"A Doll’s House": Literary Theory and Criticism

“A Doll’s house” is a play filled with deep storylines and character interactions that have a deeper meaning than what is being said. The old fashion play is based in 1879 and is a look into the Helmar household of Nora and Torvald. This married couple and its family and friends go through a deep dialogue of lies, confessed love, money problems, health issues, and heartbreak. All emphasized by the abundance of imagery and symbolism the author Henrik Ibsen uses to depict the well-being of the characters and their lifestyles.

Imagery and symbolism are both subtle and unique ways for the author to give great value to everyday objects. Symbolism gives an entirely different meaning to an object, much deeper and more significant than its everyday literal sense. The imagery on the other hand appeals to our physical senses and for the most part, creates a distinct visual image that can be used to relate to and understand a character on a deeper level.

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These two methods are extremely effective in this play because it offers a better understanding of what each character is going through in the play and how small things can have an effect on a person in a big way.

The first big usage of symbolism in the play starts with the delivery of the Christmas tree to Helmar's house. The tree is a big part of the decorations during Christmas times and most of the time the centerpiece of a house because of its beautiful lights and ornaments.

This relates directly to Nora as Torvald only sees her as an object that is pleasing to look at and play with and nothing more valuable than that. Another way the Christmas tree symbolizes Nora is how she directed the maid that she and Torvald’s three children could not see the tree until it was fully decorated, the same way she told Torvald that no one could see her in her dress until the evening of the fancy-dress ball. This shows how the author tried to coin symbolizes symbolize everydayand ect the tree and Nora as being something that at its best is beautiful to look at and nothing more. The imagery used connects the tree and Nora and how they both started the play full of life and are put together beautifully. As the play moves forward you can see the decline in both Nora and the Christmas tree directly connected as Nora starts to lose her mind over the letter that Krogstad is going to give to Torvald, the same way the Christmas tree “is stripped of its ornaments and burnt-down candle-ends on its disheveled branches.”(Ibsen 33)

The next usage of imagery and symbolism in the play also revolves around Nora and her relationship with her husband Torvald. Ibsen uses chocolate macaroons as a symbol of dishonesty, disobedience, and deception from Nora toward her husband. Torvald banned Nora from eating the macaroons but she continued to eat them behind his back. This first shows how easily Nora can keep secrets and lie to her husband which creates one of the main storylines of the play when she tries to keep her secret about receiving a loan from Krogstad. Second, this shows how controlling Torvald is in his married and hoa w he treats Nora like a child, trying to control even the smallest things like what she can and cannot eat. The imagery the macaroons creates for the audience from Nora is that she may be intimidated by Torvald but he hasn’t yet broken her independent spirit entirely as a woman and she still owns enough of herself to eat the macaroons because she enjoys them.

Just like the macaroons, Nora had more symbolism and imagery involved with her performance of the tarantella at the Stenboge’s fancy-dress ball. The tarantella was a popular form of dance from the late 17th century that was used to try and escape the disease from a tarantula spider bite. For Nora, the dance symbolizes a side of herself she does not normally show because she is afraid of losing the image that Torvald has of her being the perfect mild-mannered stay-at-home wife. Nora is only performing to please Torvald and his desires. Torvald only allows Nora to dance the tarantella because he has control to show her off as an object and allow everyone to know he has the “perfect wife” not to be genially proud of her ability. This feeds back into the imagery of how Torvald is portrayed in the play as a controlling husband to Nora.

The last big usage of symbolism and symbolizes symbolizeeveryday imagery comes from both Nora and Torvald as they both look forward to New Year’s as a start of a new and happier life. Torvald will be starting his new job as a bank manager while earning more money and admiration from his small community. Nora is also looking forward to the New Year and Torvald’s new job because with the extra money she could finally pay off her loan from Krogstad. However, symbolize as the play moves forward the nature of the New Year and what it represents for the married couple changes dramatically. Since Nora decided to leave Torvald and their three children the New Year becomes a time that symbolisessymbolizes them becoming totally different people than they anticipated. The imagery of the New Year is to represent the mark of the beginning of a truly new and different period in both their everyday lives moving forward.