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Context: Victorian Women

• Victorian idealised woman - ‘Angel in the house’ (Coventry Patmore)

  • “You are a child, Nora” [Mrs Linde] (pg12)
  • Women keepers as morality

• New Woman: rebuked tradition role of ‘wife and mother’

  New Woman: rebuked role of housewife

• Characters limited by their societal roles

  • “It was his duty as my husband”

• Torvald: Borrowing money, calling her bird names, dominance over Nora and household - juxtaposition to start of text (”Hide the christmas tree carefully”) to (”I have ordered some good wine”) — clash of power.

  • Nora’s power is limited to façade to strangers

• Nora’s stepping outside of femininity - borrowing money leads to her faliure

  • “It was I who saved Torvald’s life” (pg 12) - legitimised reason.

• Play about Nora & Torvald or play about relationships in society of the time

• Ibsen - said he’s not a feminist, play as a simple outlook on the state of society. - Exploration of people

Context of Reception

End of the play: abandoning family

• Free, but with the caveat of abandoning her children
• Possibly failed as mother
• Nora saving children from her mental illness by leaving them with the nanny - Victorian understanding of disease
  • Disease / any negative qualities seen as genetic - “[Nora spendthrift] It is in the blood”, “very like your father”

Victorian fear of evolution - Darwinism, fear of immigration

Victorian Marriage

• Tainted by money :
  • Mrs Lindie’s husband - married for money, no love
  • Nora & Torvald - Torvald as a safety net for Nora, but married for love.