Torvald can be dumb as instrumental in elaboration of the pattern of ideas rising in the play. In this regard, Johnston refers to Nora's ethical awakening as jump of a pattern of awakening in When We Dead Awaken, and more than generally to A biddy House as typic of the "direct ethical confrontation and collision . . . with the protagonists taking on a single identity" (51). such a interlingual rendition of A Doll House is therefore consistent with the consequences of an milieu in which (Hegelian) Reason is Lawgiver and a Test of Love. Undoubtedly, Torvald personifies such Reason in his relationship to Nora, although by the end of the play it becomes clear that Torvald is "more subtly the puppet of others' expectations, namely of his co-workers at the bank and, in a larger sense, of public opinion, of what they stand for" (Fjelde xxvii).
The action of the play concerns real-world issues such as modern (i.e., 1879) marriage, the profound position of women, and the state and emergence of the human spirit. A Doll House explores the confrontation of Nora's spiritual, however unrealistic, ideal, with social reality, which is most seemingly represented by Torvald. Torvald, a member in groovy standing of th
When the behavior of others, especially Nora, violates his assumptions and expectations, Torvald behaves with more direct seriousness. Upon his return home after Krogstad leaves, Torvald challenges Nora's misbehavior, ab initio with playfulness but ultimately in all seriousness, from the rack of reasoned judgment. Nora lied about receiving Krogstad, and Torvald chides her gently: "My little songwriter must never do that again. A songbird involve a clean beak to warble with. No mendacious nones" (I:574). But when Nora steps out of her songbird role to advance Krogstad's cause, Torvald marshals the weight of his reasoned judgment--which is the received wisdom of pagan platitudes--to inform Krogstad's record of forgery and the unsuitability of continued friendly relationship with such a degenerate.
He then proceeds to explain what Everybody Knows, the basis of Krogstad's degeneracy, which is why the little songbird really should not plead his cause: "Almost everyone who goes bad early in life has a mother who's a chronic prevaricator" (I:574).
In this scene, what Torvald thinks is that Nora is something less than a fully rational human being and something more than an inanimate toy, something perpetually on the termination of mischief that needs to be petted and treated like patiently, a child on one devolve, and to have guidance and focusing on the other. What Torvald feels is the most tolerant tenderness toward Nora, partly for her decorousness, partly for her cheerfulness, partly for her desirability, partly for her position as mother of his children. Such feeling proceeds in part from his self-satisfaction; he is looking forward to dining with Dr. Rank tonight, to celebrate his "safe, fixate job, and with a comfortable salary" (I:564). What Torvald wants is for Nora to behave in uniformity with the way he feels about her on one hand and with what he thinks about social propriety and decorum on the other. As she is desirable and cheerful he is willing to concede her, and as she is scatt
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