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Dramatic Irony
Foil
Explanation and Analysis—Torvald and Krogstad:
Torvald and Krogstad are foils for one another. Both men are extremely ambitious, to the point where their desire for success and respectability can lead them to cause harm to others (even if, in Torvald’s case, this is done unintentionally). When the play begins, they are in very different places in life: Torvald has just been promoted at the bank where he works, he is happily married (supposedly), and a father. Krogstad, on the other hand, has just learned that he is going to be fired from that very same bank, has no partner, and no children.
Although the pair of men each experience love and loss, their trajectories are very different. In Krogstad’s case, his relationship with women improves over the course of the play as he transforms from a man embittered over his lover’s rejection to one who earns a second chance at happiness. His rekindled romance with Mrs. Linde positively affects his relationship with Nora, leading him to forgive her debt. By contrast, Torvald’s relationship with women grows dramatically worse as the play, and his marriage, nears its end. Torvald’s stubborn, selfish inability to set aside his pride until it is too late is what ultimately prevents him from making amends with Nora. These differing examples of masculinity demonstrate a spectrum of behavior, much like Nora and Mrs. Linde are foils of each other’s versions of femininity.
Related Themes:
Foil
Explanation and Analysis—Nora and Mrs. Linde:
Throughout Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House, Nora and Mrs. Linde are set up as foils of one another, demonstrating two different examples of femininity. Both women struggle to find meaning in their lives beyond the influence of the men they are beholden to (Nora contemplates suicide, while Mrs. Linde feels her life is pointless as a widow). When the play begins, Nora appears to be the ideal woman—a loving wife and mother of three, dutifully devoted to taking care of her family—while Mrs. Linde is a childless widow who had a loveless marriage. Ibsen directly contrasts Nora’s deception for a good cause (i.e. the saving of her husband’s life via a secret loan) with Mrs. Linde’s strict devotion to the truth, traditional values, and rule-following.
However, despite their very different personalities, Ibsen does not favor one woman’s perspective over the other, instead presenting their versions of femininity on a continuous spectrum. As the play goes on, these two women go on a journey of self-discovery, learning what it might mean to find a new purpose. For Nora, this means leaving her husband and children for a life of autonomy on her own, while for Mrs. Linde this means finding a second chance at love. The fact that Nora and Mrs. Linde remain friends for the duration of the play reinforces Ibsen’s refusal to condemn Nora for her particular version of womanhood. Through the ways that their lives, opinions, and actions diverge, Ibsen explores the constraints of society upon women, as well as the levels and means by which women exercised their autonomy during the period in which he was writing (if they could, in fact, do so).
Related Themes:
