Abstract

This essay argues that in Ibsen’s A Doll House, both Nora and her husband, Torvald Helmer, exhibit a “religion of Torvald” characterized by their respective devotion to Torvald himself. However, while Torvald’s devotion to himself is characterized by self-love and self-centeredness, Nora’s “religion of Torvald” is based on her expectation that Torvald will exhibit the Christlike office of bearing Nora’s sins by proclaiming himself guilty of her crime of forgery, thus rendering her blameless. After Torvald shatters Nora’s expectations by reacting with abuse and cowardice to the news of Nora’s forgery and Krogstad’s consequent blackmail, Nora loses her previous faith in Torvald and instead exhibits a preoccupation with her own self that, ironically enough, imitates the self-love of the “religion of Torvald” that Torvald has practiced all along.

Highlights

  • While Torvald’s devotion to himself is characterized by self-love and self-centeredness, Nora’s “religion of Torvald” is based on her expectation that Torvald will exhibit the Christlike office of bearing Nora’s sins by proclaiming himself guilty of her crime of forgery, rendering her blameless

  • If Nora has suffered a loss of faith, it is Torvald’s own lethargy toward Christian practice that largely precipitates Nora’s religious confusion

  • Christian piety is dwarfed throughout the play by his devotion to himself—a habitual self-focus, quite opposed to Christianity, that I will call the “religion of Torvald”

Read more

Summary

Introduction

While Torvald’s devotion to himself is characterized by self-love and self-centeredness, Nora’s “religion of Torvald” is based on her expectation that Torvald will exhibit the Christlike office of bearing Nora’s sins by proclaiming himself guilty of her crime of forgery, rendering her blameless. I argue that framing Nora’s ironic longing in dialogue with a Reformed Christian understanding of self-sacrifice complicates the feminist reading that Moi offers and the play’s ending invites.

Results
Conclusion
Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.