Masculinity in A Doll's House

Marriage has been a major part of society for as far back as history has been able to record. Each society has its own rules as far as marriage, and its own form of marriage; not every society has the same form of marriage, and with each form comes different roles that each partner must abide by based on their gender. Gender roles have been a huge factor in marriages, as people can see from the records of society. In society, men are expected to abide by the roles society places before them, and women are to do the same. Men are expected to be the bread-winner of the family and support the family financially, while the woman takes care of the house and the family. Women have been expected to be submissive to the husband’s needs, and the man is expected to be assertive and tough skinned. When a man can fulfill the roles society places on his gender he is then able to be considered a man. Torvald Helmer from A Doll’s House takes on the role of the husband, and is the portrayer of masculinity in the play. A Doll’s House is a play by Henrik Ibsen, consisting of three acts. The play focuses around Nora Helmer and her struggle to keep her husband Torvald from finding out she is in debt to Krogstad, one of Torvald’s employees at the bank; Torvald is the newly appointed vice president at the bank. When Torvald was sick a few years prior Nora asked Krogstad to loan her a large sum of money so that she could afford treatment for her sick husband; this put her in debt with Krogstad. When news begins to arise that Torvald is going to fire Krogstad from the bank Krogstad proceeds to bring Nora into the situation, resurfacing her debt to him. Nora’s options seem to be to either fess up to Torvald about the debt, or, let him find out himself. While the play seems to focus more around Nora, this response will focus on masculinity by looking at Torvald’s masculinity, how he asserts it, and how his wife Nora steps outside her gender roles and asserts her own form of masculinity.

            Tough-skinned, refusing to show emotions, and being assertive are all ways in which society defines masculinity, and how a man should act. Torvald Helmer is a good example of how society labels the male gender who takes on the character role of a husband. Torvald is the vice president of the bank, so he makes quite a bit of money to support his wife Nora, and the rest of the family; he also is assertive, and doesn’t seem to show much emotion other than happiness, irritation, and sometimes anger. These seem to be the only emotions that society deems appropriate for a man to show; emotion such as sadness was not looked highly upon as far how a man should properly perform his gender roles. Throughout the play the reader only sees slight forms of Torvald being assertive; one example is forbidding Nora from bringing macaroons into the house, he says they will rot her teeth out. The reader also sees Nora as slightly rebellious; when Torvald is away, Nora is able to sneak macaroons into the house. This is a sign that Nora is stepping outside her gender role as a woman, which society does not approve of. Women are expected to abide by the rules their husbands set, and be submissive to the husband or men in general; society views women as an inferior sex. Torvald seems to care a lot about his reputation and masculinity. In the scene where Nora confronts Torvald about firing Krogstad, she tries to persuade her husband to go against his choice; if Nora is successful, Krogstad will forget about blackmailing Nora and forget about her financial debt to him. When Nora tries to convince Torvald to keep Krogstad on his staff Torvald points out that if he lets his wife persuade him in such a way, and if others found out about it his masculinity would be ruined. It would appear to others that Torvald would not be able to make his own decisions, and he would be acting submissively to his wife’s propositions; he knows that he will be viewed as less of a man, so he chooses his reputation instead and chooses to follow up on his decision to get rid of Krogstad. The masculinity shown here is astounding, and it showed how men of this time period cared a lot about their reputation and how people viewed them. This particular scene shows the importance of masculinity and reputation in the eyes of a man.

Another form of assertiveness is Torval’s attention to detail; in the scene where Nora is practicing for her dance recital she purposely dances badly and acts childish so that Torvald will spend the rest of the evening helping her. The attention in which Torbald pays to Nora’s dancing and how strict he becomes is assertive, but at the same time Nora brought out the Torvald’s assertiveness to distract Torvald from reading the letter Krogstad placed in the letter box; this letter explains Nora’s debt situation fully, and Nora is doing what she can at all costs to keep Torvald from reading it. While society could see this as a stupid move for Nora because she is toying with her husband in this way, it shows just how smart a woman can be. This action by Nora is interesting because as far as intellect, society believes a woman should be educated, to an extent, in school and school does not teach a woman how to manipulate her husband, the woman learns that on her own.

While not much assertiveness is shown by Torvald throughout the play, his tough masculine side is revealed at the conclusion of the play. Torvald finally notices the letter in the letter box, and when he does he is enraged and takes his anger out on Nora. Not only is Torvald angry, but he becomes forceful and physical toward Nora; Torvald throws Nora on the couch to assert his dominance, and even goes as far as slapping her in the face. This scene is an example of how some believed a man should assert his dominance and prove his superiority. However, when a maid hands another not to Torvald revealing that Krogstad has wiped away Nora’s debt and made the slate clean, Torvald quickly changes from angry to joyful. At this point Nora decides she has had enough and asserts her dominance by becoming verbally assertive toward her husband. For once Torvald is not doing the talking, he is doing the listening; which is a revelation that the tables have turned and the gender roles are being switched. Nora shows a more masculine side here and leaves Torvald in shock, and sitting in silence and bewilderment; this is showing Nora proving a superiority over Torvald by being the “last one standing,” literaly.

The masculinity that Torvald shows in A Doll’s House is typical for men of this time period; men are expected to be assertive and firm when it comes to setting rules for the household. Torvald’s masculinity and his wanting to preserve his reputation shows he is the typical man who wants to be superior; he wants to prove he is the dominant sex by not being persuaded in any way by his wife or a woman in general. Interestingly enough, Torvald’s constant showing of masculinity is his downfall. Nora uses his masculinity against him, and changes up the gender roles that society placed. Henrik Ibsen’s play is obviously viewed by critics as a feminist play due to Nora’s uprising and how she steps over the boundaries of the female gender roles; but, though A Doll’s House is viewed as feminist, masculinity runs deep in the text, even in the female character at the conclusion.