Home > A Doll’s House Summary & Study Guide > A Doll’s House Group > Discussion Board

To what extent does gender predetermine the actions of the characters in A Dolls House?

I don't know if it's the same thing, but it's not so much gender as gender rolls.  Nora plays the roll of the perfect wife.  Her husband treats her like a child, a plaything --- not an equal.  He plays the role of the male, the dominant partner in the marriage, and acts as his society would expect him to.

Since the wife's role belongs to the female, and the husband's role the male, you could say that gender determines the actions.  But society's acceptance of the behavior that is associated with the husband/wife roll is really what predetermines actions.

Some, but not all, of Nora's and Torvald's actions are determined by the roles they are expected to play in society, based on their genders. Torvald provides for his wife and children and controls the money he earns, spending it as he sees fit. Nora is given an allowance to run the household, but Torvald remains the undisputed head of the family in all matters. These are the roles expected of him, and he plays them. However, Torvald acts again and again out of pride, arrogance, and selfishness, at Nora's expense; these actions result from his own self-centered personality rather than from social convention or gender roles. The best example of Torvald's failures as a husband is his response when he learns of Nora's forgery. His anger with her in her desperate situation shows his total regard for self.

Nora behaves as the subservient wife, just as she had played her role as a subservient daughter. When she must act to save her husband's life, she cannot do so openly because she is a woman. She is forced to lie in to obtain a bank loan, forging her father's signature since she could not borrow money herself. The manner in which Nora gets the money from the bank is forced upon her by her gender in her society, but the fact that she would take such a risk and make such a sacrifice is reflective of her own courage and unselfishness.

Nora's most courageous act is not one which was determined for her; it is, in fact, an act of defiance in the face of the role she is expected to play. She acts independently, again, when she leaves Torvald. She refuses to be trapped in marriage with a man who does not love or respect her. Nora's gender predetermined the role she was expected to play, but she refused to remain imprisoned by it.

I would add that gender more than anything tends to limit the actions of the character in a regular basis and this is the reason why Nora took had to take the roads and pains she took to be able to fulfill a diversity of roles  a) Entertainer, nurse, and wife   b) mother   c)daughter   d) lady of the house    e) lady of society

If Nora had not been born a female she would have been able to solve her financial problems with more ease than having to conduct hazy transactions with a stalker. All this, of course, is a consequence of her being considered an object of nurture rather than a first rate citizen.

I don't think it would predetermine the actions in the play any more than any other story. You can't say that men or women acted more or less their gender roles when the society in which the characters lived is taken into account.

In reply to #3: How about other characters not only Tovald and Nora. What were their roles in the play? could you also relate their roles to each other?

I think given the strict mold that Nora is given to fit into -females should be trophy wives, nothing more- the gifts she chooses for her children are quite telling.  She picks swords for her sons, and a doll for her daughter.  She is setting her daughter up to be a trophy wife exactly like she is.

Gender makes some of the actions in the play quite predictable. The expectation of Nora as a woman is to be completely subservient to her husband and even dependent. She show this when she asks for Torvald's help with the tarantella dance and her costume. She claims she can not do anything without his help, which he accepts as normal. However, Torvald's personality is more a result of him being selfish rather than society's expectations. For example, his reaction to Krogstad's letters made it clear that he only cared about how this blackmail affected him instead of the danger Nora would be in and why she even committed the forgery in the first place. This was not a stereotype about men, it is simply that Torvald is a horrendously selfish man.

Gender plays a huge role in the actions of the characters. From the beginning of the play Nora plays the role of the trophy wife. Nora is completely obedient to her husband and even dependent. Although throughout the play she is discovering her independence and freedom, Nora subconsciously continues the tradition of gender roles when she gives her children gender specific toys. The boys swords and the girl a doll.

This play reminds me of the movie The Stepford Wives. The women put on a perfect facade when in reality they are being tormented with the need to break free of the barriers that entrap them. Nora finally decides to do so, and it puts her jeopardy of losing everything, including her husband Torvald.