A Psychoanalytical Perspective Of a Doll's House

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A Psychoanalytical Perspective of a Doll’s House David Gloger English 1002/SUO Dr. Campbell March 1, 2012 A Psychoanalytical Perspective of a Doll’s House Literature can be analyzed in many different ways. A psychoanalytical approach probes the inner motivations, desires, unspoken emotions and feelings of the playwright, characters, and even the audience. With this type of analysis it is believed that the conscious and subconscious mind play and import part in how all of a person’s decisions are made. This analysis applies to Nora Helmer the protagonist where through lies, deceit and even boasting about borrowing money without her husband’s consent, starts the out of control spiral that ultimately ends her marriage. In A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen sheds some light on how these aspects of her personality helped shaped the decisions that Nora Helmer made. Nora Helmer appears to be a happy wife and mother. She loves her lifestyle and seems to be looking forward to her husband’s new position at the bank. Her outlook seems rosy and she loves to spend money and get her husband’s attention in ways to that he will give her more of it. The context of these excerpts reveals just how much Nora wants nothing but money. “But seriously, Nora, you know how I feel about that. No debt, no borrowing. There can’t be any freedom or beauty in a home life that depends on borrowing and debt (Ibsen, 2011, Act 1). Nora isn’t getting what she wants and by this time she is acting dejected and in comes Torvald again wanting to give her more money. Nora has had to use any means of conniving, saving and thrift spending in order to repay the loan she has taken out to take her husband to Italy to recover from his illness. She plays the part of the doll, or any type of character, whether it be some type of animal to get a hold of Torvald and get him to give her the money she needs.
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