"More Money, More Problems..."
A Doll's House, by Henrik Isben, is a play that focuses primarily on money and finances. The story tells of a woman who loves to spend money but does it to make others happy. Money can not buy happiness but it does often make people happy. Some would say that more money brings more problems and sometimes this is true. Nora, the main character, gets herself, and her marriage in a heap of trouble even though her husband is getting a big promotion that will bring them a heap of money. The themes of A Doll's House are the value of money, the position of women, and parental responsibilities. The tone of this piece of drama is serious, unfortunate, and bewildering.
In a family, money is very important. It is necessary in this life to provide food, shelter and other necessities. Nora is a called a "spendthrift" on two different occasions in the story.
Title page in the manuscript of A Doll's House, pl...
English: Vera Komissarzhevskaya as Nora in Ibsen's...
English: Vera Komissarzhevskaya as Nora in Ibsen's...However, her husband and Mrs. Linde do not see her as very responsible but merely very childish instead. She seems to be happy with the news that her husband will be getting paid more with his recent job advancement. Unfortunately, her attempt to save her husband actually causes her to lose him in the end anyway. She secretly took a loan out behind her husband's back to help save his life because she loves him so much. Than after learning that forgery is a unlawful offense and that her husband strictly disapproves of it through the acts of Krogstad, she still keeps her secret from him. If Nora would have told him her secret then, her husband would have forgiven her. "Men often succeed in re-establishing themselves if they admit their crime and take their punishment" (1316). This shows that Helmer...
A Doll's House
You raise some interesting issues but I had a somewhat different take on Ibsen's play. Money was only symptomatic of the much deeper problems with the marriage of Nora and Torvald. It was a very unequal relationship in which Nora was patronized as a naive child unable to act responsibly and in need of guardianship. In fact, she was a wife in need of love from a husband incapable of giving it. Sometimes people who are hurting emotionally overspend, but money and the material things it can buy are no substitute for love. Nora's story is a sad one which has been played out on the stage of real life countless times over the ages.
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