Flaws Portrayed Within the Helmer Marriage in Henrik...

Marriage is a union between two people who communicate and love each other. A love so pure and unconditional that only in death can they part. In a Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, Nora and Torvald appear to portray the perfect marriage. However, throughout the play flaws within the Helmer marriage are exposed: a lack of communication, love and selflessness. A relationship based on lies and play-acting; A marriage condemned by the weight of public opinion. Nora and Torvald lack one of the key elements needed to make a marriage work. Good communication allows you to better understand your partners needs and to unite as a team to solve problems or comply. When Torvald got sick and the only thing to save his life was to move to the south;†¦show more content†¦I say that we have never sat down earnest together to try and get to the bottom of anything.†(66) Communication is important in a relationship because it gives you a good understanding of who your partner is, the refore Nora and Torvald do not know each other at all. The Helmer marriage is very deceptive. They appear to be happy, but it’s all an illusion. Marriage is like a flower; It needs sunlight, water and soil to grow. For a marriage to work, there must be love. Torvald does not respect Nora as a man would if he considered his partner as equal. He talks down to her, considering her inferior by using terms of endearment. This is exemplified by the names he calls her such as, ‘my little skylark’, ‘ my little squirrel’, ‘my little singing bird’ and ‘sweet-tooth’. Nora does not know any better from early childhood. She has been pampered for the greater part of her life through first, her father and then her husband. This mentality makes their relationship much like that of a father and a child. â€Å"Your squirrel would run about and do all her tricks if you would be nice and do what she asks.† Torvald asks her to speak plai nly. â€Å"Your skylark would chirp, chirp about in every room, with her song rising and falling----†. Torvald answers, â€Å"Well, my skylark does that anyhow.†(34) The communication between the Helmer’s displays no signs of a love between a man and a woman, but rather that of a doll’s house. Nora is a doll living in a doll’s house controlledShow MoreRelatedA Doll’s House and Top Girls2459 Words   |  10 Pagesof A Doll’s House and Top Girls Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls both are a pillar of critical writing about the society they were originally produced in and have a central theme of the oppression of women, which makes them great sources of feminist reviews. Although Ibsen â€Å"abandoned the concept that the play was about gender roles† (Urban, 1997), the central question is beyond the original context within which the plays were produced and received. A Doll’s House canRead More Symbolism in A Dolls House. by Henrik Ibsen Essays1637 Words   |  7 Pages Henrik Ibsen’s â€Å"A Doll’s House† a nineteenth century play successfully uses symbolism to express many characteristics of Helmer’s life, together with the way that the main character Nora feels towards her marriage at the end of the play. Ibsen’s use of symbolism to convey about the social setting, including the harsh male-controlled Danish society, seen m ostly in Torvald in the play and the role of women, signified mostly in Nora. These symbols act as foretelling before the tragic events