A Doll's House Sacrifice

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Trevor Atwater 1 Andrea Schwenke Wyile Writing and Reading Critically- 1406 January 28th, 2015 Title: In Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, the women in the play are routinely putting themselves second for the benefit of others in their lives. The sacrifices the women make are a consistent theme throughout Ibsen's play. However, the sacrifices in the play are not a two-way street. Only ever being made by the women, while the men refuse to make such sacrifices. Mrs. Linden gave up her true love, for the stability and support of a more wealthy man to help provide for her ailing mother and two brothers. Nora sacrificed her marriage, and the integrity of her family to ensure that her husband Torvald, would remain in good health. Anne-Marie,…show more content…
474-476) Ibsen uses this conversation between Nora and Torvald to display that women were not taken seriously in a marriage during the late 1800's. Women were seen as unqualified to handle any issue of significant relevance. Nora, like so many other women, had to set aside her pride and integrity to allow society to believe that men were the superiors. Despite having the ability to handle whatever a man could handle, women were expected to sacrifice this and let her husband handle things. Much as it is expected today, the women in A Doll's House were expected to be nurturing, and loving mothers. Those who are not, are ridiculed and thought of as bad mothers. Despite these ideas, the women in Ibsen's play had to make sacrifices as a mother for the benefit of themselves, and in their eyes the benefit of their children. The caretaker, Anne-Marie, gave up her motherly duties to support herself by becoming the caretaker of Nora as a child. Anne-Marie said “When I had the chance of such a good place? A poor girl who's been in trouble must take what comes...” (Ibsen 2. 28-29) Anne-Marie gave up her child, fully understanding that she could never support her daughter and herself, without the support of a man. She made this sacrifice knowing that it was the right thing to do for her daughter, no matter how difficult it was to do as a

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