Comparing A Doll House And Belber's Tape

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When comparing Ibsen’s “A Doll House” and Belber’s “Tape” strong comparisons can be made between the characters. This is surprising given that both plays have nearly two centuries between them, but also goes to show that the base of human behaviour does not drastically change over time. Between the two plays, the characters of Torvold Helmer and Vince have the strongest connection in personality types and evolving perception. Both Torvold and Vince show a narcissistic belief that they are superior to others and use their apparent moral strengths to attempt to control people around them, but become disillusioned when faced with the real consequences at the climax of each play. Torvold and Vince both have women that they love in their respected…show more content…
When Torvold reads the letter that Krogstad sent to him, Nora and the reader of “A Doll House” are awoken to the true nature of Torvold. The greed of Torvold can be heard through lines like “You’ve wrecked all my happiness – ruined my whole future” (Ibsen 1060). This comes as a shock to Nora who felt that Torvold would step up and take the blame of the forgery onto him. Meanwhile, Vince ultimately has his morality challenged when Amy “calls” the police to report Vince and Jon for their crimes. Vince had just spent the majority of the night grilling Jon for confession, but now is yelling at Jon “They’ll arrest you!!” in an attempt to get Jon to come with him (Belber 46). It is clear to see that in times of panic and angst that both Torvold and Vince did not measure up to the moralities that they portrayed and that in a time of crisis their cowardliness came to light while their opposites Nora and Jon both became stronger. The two of these men may have a large amount of differences in their initial description, but both in the end came to know the truth through the final hardships that they faced that they just did not measure

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