Use of Irony and Symbolism in A Doll's House
Style is the vehicle through which a writer expresses his ideas and investigates important societal issues. A writer carefully selects his words and stylistic devices and employs them creatively to make his work unique and impressive to his readers. In his play A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen employs a number of stylistic devices to highlight themes and character traits. Irony, suspense, foreshadowing, and symbolism are a few examples. Today, we'll look at irony and symbolism.
Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience and some characters in the play are aware of information that another character is unaware of. Irony can also be situational, tragic, comic, or verbal. Ibsen has used situational and dramatic irony extensively to highlight themes such as deception and gender roles, among others.
Helmer tells Nora in Act One that they should not borrow money or incur debts because there can be no freedom or beauty in a home that is reliant on borrowing. This is a dramatic irony because Nora is aware that their home is already in debt due to the loan she is secretly repaying, despite the fact that her husband is unaware.
Second, Helmer claims that he cannot keep Krogstad at the bank because he is morally sick, committed a forgery that Helmer cannot forgive, and makes him physically ill when around such people. Making such a remark is ironic given that Helmer lives with such a person right inside his home. Nora had committed the same crime behind his back by forging her father's signature in order to obtain a loan to save him.
In addition, just before the secret is revealed, Helmer tells Nora, "I often wish you were threatened by some great danger so that I could risk my life's blood and everything for your sake."
The irony is that Helmer is unaware of Nora's threat posed by the impending disclosure of her secret, which will change her life forever. What's more, when the time comes for him to sacrifice and protect her, he does the opposite, scolding and abusing her for destroying his happiness and reputation. The playwright uses irony to highlight Helmer's pretentious nature as well as the theme of hypocrisy.
Furthermore, Nora insists on forgetting the Tarantella dance, and Helmer must devote himself to her and assist her in practising. During practise, she dances violently and wildly, leading Helmer to believe she has completely forgotten the dance, and he remarks that she was dancing as if her life depended on it. The irony is that Nora hasn't forgotten about the dance, but this is just her plan to distract him and delay the opening of the letterbox because she knows the letter from Krogstad, which contains the details about her secret, is lying there.
His remark about her dancing wildly is ironic because Nora's life is about to end because she plans to commit suicide after the party to avoid making Helmer suffer the shame when everything is revealed.
Nora's violent dancing is also a form of therapy for her, given the agony and pain she is experiencing psychologically.
The dance's name is derived from an Italian word that means tarantula, a poisonous spider. When bitten by a tarantula, the victim would perform a frantic dance to sweat the poison out. Nora's violent dancing appears to be an attempt to rid herself of the pain and anguish she is feeling at the time.
It's also ironic that Nora, who appears to be happy, naive, and carefree, is actually a very intelligent, decisive, and independent woman. At the start of the play, Nora is portrayed as a helpless, poor creature who is unable to make her own decisions and must rely on her husband for everything she desires.
However, as the play progresses, her true character emerges. The true Nora is revealed near the end of the play, when she engages her husband in a very intelligent conversion, following which she makes the astounding decision to abandon both her husband and children to go and understand herself.
These are just a few examples of irony used by Ibsen to reveal the characters' deception and lies, as well as the impact of these lies on their lives.
Learn how to give character traits from set books Here.
Symbolism
A symbol is something that represents or stands in for another thing. Ibsen used symbolism to express his ideas more concretely.
The Christmas Tree
The play begins on Christmas Eve, with Nora, who is in a good mood, bringing a Christmas tree to the house and instructing the maid to hide it from the children until it is dressed in the evening. The purpose of the Christmas tree is to decorate the house during the holiday season, and it must be dressed to look more beautiful and appealing.
This tree represents Nora, who serves the same function in Helmer's home. He dresses her up in costumes and makes her dance for him just to impress himself. Helmer will not see her in the new costume until the next day during the party, just as the tree is hidden until it is dressed.
Act Two begins with the tree stripped of its ornaments, the candles burned out, and the branches dishevelled. This contrasts with Nora, who is currently in poor health as a result of the psychological torture she is subjecting herself to after failing to persuade Helmer to keep Krogstad at the bank.
The New Year's Day
The New Year represents a fresh start. The Helmers are excited about the new year because Helmer's newly appointed bank manager means more financial stability and a better life for the family. This will never happen, because when the marriage fails, they will have a different start. Krogstad and Linde have a new beginning as well, having reconciled and decided to begin a life together as a couple, while all of the other characters will begin a new phase in their lives; the maid will take the place of a mother in the lives of the children, and the children will have to do without their mother.
A Doll’s House
The book's title is symbolic. It represents Helmer's home, and Nora is his doll, which he dresses and plays with for amusement. Nora tells her husband in their only serious conversation that their house has been a playroom with Nora as his doll-wife and the children as her dolls, and she thought it was great fun when he played with her the same way she thought it was fun to play with the children. When she looks back, she realises the great sin that both her father and husband have committed against her. She has accomplished nothing in her life as a result of them.
Tarantella Dance
The dance was originally performed as a form of therapy to treat a poisonous spider bite. Nora practises the tarantula at a time when her life is in disarray and she will do anything to avoid disaster. The wild and violent dancing represents her attempt to rid herself of the misery and torture in her mind, just as the spider bite would be cured by the dance. She dances violently, barely paying attention to her husband's instructions.
This could represent Nora's transformation from a calm and obedient wife to a free and aggressive individual who can do things her way without regard for pleasing others. She will change out of her fancy dress and into her regular clothes after this dance, symbolising Nora's transformation from a dependent and voiceless person to an independent and decisive one. In this gown, she confronts Helmer as a mature person, not a doll, before departing for good.
Ibsen carefully selected symbols and effectively used them to convey his message. Through this, he creates mental images in the reader's mind that allow them to visualise the type of relationship that exists between Nora and Helmer, as well as their personality traits. Helmer's treatment of Nora like a doll portrays him as patronising, while Nora's deception is revealed when she plays along.
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