^^Courtly love tradition parody, bawdy humour to mock the medieval tradition, fabliaux genre^^, %%“cynical condemnation of courtly convention“ David L. Shaws%%
May flushes Damyon letter @@“down the privee”@@, mocking of his weak attempt at ‘noble knight’
^^Church saw sex as a sin, only allowed once a week^^
January uses ‘Song of Solomon’ as reason for sex, ^^original audience knows this is incorrect interpretation so portrayed as ignorant^^
^^Chaucer’s diplomatic service in marriage counselling^^
%%Hussain “in marriage women either become tools and toys”%%
Biblical examples of good wives e.g. Rebecca but actually exemplify bad wives
%%Brunner “Both the merchant and Januarie consider their wives as products purchased for a price and become bitter when they realise that product is flawed”%%
%%“Characteristically, the tale shows Chaucer’s disapproval of marriages in which there was a great disparity of age, and his sympathetic attitude towards women” Elizabeth Brewer%%
Both husbands are disillusioned to marriage, ^^patriarchal values haven’t much changed over 100s of you^^
Marriage is a part of social reputation and standing, January wants and heir to pass on his fortune and status to, huge public wedding, Nora is displayed during tarantella, ^^ideal husband and wife of Victorian society^^, @@“You'll see tomorrow how nicely I can dance”@@
Marriage doesn’t equal love, Mrs Linde and Krogstad representation of healthy love compared to the married couple, @@“Two ship wrecked souls”,@@ ^^Nora and Torvald who choose to uphold Victorian societal tradition rather than love^^, January shops around for wife, @@“As whoso tooke a mirour, polisshed bryght, and sette it in a commune market-place”@@ wants young and beautiful wife, ignores her actual personality, calls her @@“fresshe may”@@ despite her affair
%%Gordon and Eidenstein film changes Nora to wearing jeans and t-shirt at end of film, ‘New woman’%%
Marriage is more like ownership than partnership, January keeps his hand on May at all times, thinks of May only in terms of her use to him, @@“to love and serve”@@, Nora is Helmer’s @@“doll wife”@@
Children used as leverage and pawns in marriage, Nora worries she is infecting children with her immorality, Helmer threatens to banish her, May fakes her pregnancy in order to keep January around @@“stroketh her wombe”@@
Helmer’s failure to recognise the love of his wife and instead focus on his reputation means he ends up as his fear, a piece of gossip as a failure in marriage, %%“Torvalds's moral code is entirely derived from society's expectations” Ian Johnston%%
%%H.A Kelly “'mutual love between spouses is notably absent'“ about medieval marriages%%
^^Chaucer translated the most important French courtly love text The Romance of the Rose, into English^^
Deception
Key motif in both texts, key to letterbox in ‘A Doll’s House’ prevents Nora from hiding her deception any longer, key a phallic shape to represent the masculine control over her life, Nora says immediately after Krogstad leaves it, @@“We are lost.”@@ Nora’s attempts to stall Torvald from reading the letter represent her denial of truth in their relationship, %%Koht “its demand for truth in every human relationship”%% May makes key out of wax to deceive January, irony as January wanted a wife made of wax her could mould to his liking, @@“in warm wex hath emprented the clicket”@@, January’s garden @@“walled with stoone”@@ interpreted as Garden of Eden reference, ^^links to Eve and original sin, deceitful women all through history^^
^^Deception are both results of patriarchal societies,^^ Nora is not allowed to borrow money under ^^Napoleonic laws^^, @@"a wife cannot borrow without her husband's consent"@@ May has no autonomy must use deception to get anything she wants, %%“May needs to appropriate the male discourse as a way of asserting herself” Stevens%%
Both women deceive in small ways in order to regain some power, Nora eats macaroons secretly, @@“Miss Sweet Tooth”@@ harmless deception but still going against her husband, May takes the full 4 days after consummating the marriage, avoids and deceives her husband, ^^medieval custom wives had up to 4 days to rest after marriage^^
Deception focused solely on women’s actions, first word of play and Nora’s first line begins with @@“hide”@@, already sets up scene for Nora to be deceitful from the very beginning, house reflects her ability to uphold her deception, tree originally beautifully decorated but becomes @@“stripped and dishevelled@@”, ^^Victorian society women expected to stay home and take care of the house so contextually logical for Nora’s deception as a ‘perfect housewife’ to be reflected in her home^^. May is purposely ^^likened to Eve and many illusions made to the Garden of Eden^^, @@“And then he made him Eve”@@ idea that wife is made for men like Eve was made for Adam, garden imagery and pear in tree like Original sin story, ^^religion played a large role in literature and society at the time, especially for the higher classes who could read the poem and who Chaucer is mocking so Eve references imply deceitful nature of not just May but all women, the Host and Merchant also allude to bad wive^^s @@“though that she povre be but of hir tonge”@@, %%Martin Stevens “story intending to show the deceitfulness of women”%%, %%Laura Varnam “Chaucer's garden in this tale is no longer a place of courtly love or intellectual debate but of lust and sexuality“%%
Vanity and Selfishness
Both men are vain in their idea of an ideal women, January shops around for wife, %%Tolliver “January shops for his bride”%%, ignores Justinus’ pleas and marries for looks and youth, Helmer wants a wife who is pretty, doesn’t allow her to eat sweets as may rot her teeth
Women have to act selfishly under their conditions, Nora acts selfishly leaving her children, is childish towards Mrs Linde, %%“Leaving her beloved children in the hands of a monster to be distorted as she says she has been” Rosenburg%%, however %%“Ibsen does not separate Nora as a mother from Nora as a wife because he is identifying the whole source of her oppression, the belief in female nature”%%, ^^Hedwig wouldn’t perform as Nora, endings changed in some productions,^^ May manipulates January even when he is blind, she is adulterous, ^^original audience saw adultery as a sin,^^ physically puts herself higher than January when in the tree
Dr Rank and Justinius act as foils to their selfish counterparts, Rank sees Nora for herself and Justinius gives January unbiased advice despite knowing it wouldn’t be taken as well
Selfish characters act as a social critique, ^^January is the ridiculous upper class who Chaucer mocks and Helmer’s behaviour reference to Ibsen’s belief that truth is necessary in relationship^^
Money
May has no means of her own, January blinded believed May from a well to do family as he was ignorant to her truth, only took in appearance, believes she is @@“Her wise governance, her gentleness”@@, ^^money linked to status in medieval times due to feudal system, knight was relatively high standing^^, %%Brunner “[January sees May as a] product that has been purchased for a price”%%
Merchant lies about being rich, @@“there wiste no wight that he was in dette”@@, %%Dr Jenny Stevens “ultimately, it is left for the reader to decide how far to trust Chaucer’s choice of ‘worthy’ as an epithet for the Merchant”%%
^^Nora must borrow money illegally under Napoleonic law to help Helmer then must work secretly to pay it back^^
Helmer gets new job at bank, more financial freedom as ^^new middle class appeared in society, status linked to money^^, can get Mrs Linde a job and views Krogstad as lesser “@@We're going to have heaps and heaps of money”@@,
Nora has to illegally borrow money, ^^Napoleonic law^^, tries to manipulate Rank in order to gain more money, %%Oswald Crawford “[Nora is a] heartless flirt up to the point of endeavouring to extract money from a friend of the family"%%
Mrs Linde must source her own money and support her family, proto-feminist idea of the ‘new woman’, @@“I have no papa to pay for my holidays, Nora“@@
Nora’s father has money issues, as does Krogstad, ^^idea of inherited immorality and sickness of soul, Darwin theory^^
Appearance vs Reality
Appearance of Torvalds home reflects state of their family, starts seeming perfect, becomes dishevelled and stripped but Helmer still insists home must be beautiful, appearance of January’s garden as place for January and May but actually a secret meeting place for May’s affair
Both women appear as perfect wives, but audience know that they are not, May is adulterous, Nora is illegally borrowing money, going against societal standards of wives at the time, some critics argued Nora’s transformation to a women so far from the Victorian ideal was ridiculous, %%"It doesn't work for Torvalds's "sweet little skylark" suddenly to turn into Emily Pankhurst" Janet McTeer%%
Merchant appears wealthy, but know he is not, @@“there wiste no wight he was in dette”@@
January attempting to be younger, but is still repulsive and old, @@“I feele my lymes stark and suffisaunt to do al that a man bilongeth to”@@, self deception
Justinius vs Placebo, Placebo lies in order appease, Justinius tells the truth
January chooses appearance over reality, metaphorical and physical blindness, %%“January is blind to the deception of his wife” Tolliver%%
Helmer has the false ideals Nora, as virginal and his new bride, and he has a false image of himself as the saviour but that falls apart when he has to face the reality of Nora’s actions
First impressions of Krogstad are undercut by appearance vs reality, destroys idea of clear-cut heroes vs villains, ^^more naturalistic approach rather than typical Victorian melodrama^^
Whole play climax is the resolution of appearance vs reality, Nora can finally allow her appearance and reality to mix and meet, taken poorly by many critics^^, A punch cartoon called 'Ibsen in Brixton (1891) showed an enormous grim-faced woman poised at her open front door while two servants stagger out with her luggage. Confronting her cowering husband she proclaims "yes, William, I've thought a deal about it and I find I'm nothing but your doll and dickey-bird, and so I'm going"^^
Seemingly kind-hearted Mrs Linde refuses to help Nora, allows her to be exposed to Helmer, but allows Nora to finally give up her act
%%Erica Wagner “This conflict between reality and appearance is what still draws audiences to Ibsen's work”%%
%%William Archer “the doll pulls out of her masquerade dress and turns out to be a woman after all”%%
Religion
@@“If religion cannot guide you, let me at least appeal to you conscious”@@ Both men use religion to exert power and keep their wives
^^Religion key for morality in Chaucer but Ibsen relies on Darwin theory to explain immorality^^, Rank is physically sick to appease for his father’s sins, @@“But he's got a terrible disease”@@, assumed sexual immorality
Classical and Biblical crossover, Pluto present in Garden of Eden, dissonance, January lacks loyalty to religion, comedy as January constantly misinterprets Bible, %%“religion itself if bemocked” JSP Tatlock%%
‘Song of Solomon’ misinterpretation, January wants to justify his immoral urges for carnal love, ^^religion had a great sway on literature and society at the time, misinterpretation alerts audience of January’s ignorance and ability to be fooled easily^^, %%John Thorne “January's bending of religious authority to his own selfish purposes leaves religion untouched but adds to our sense of his delusion and error”%%
^^Chaucer based on ‘Decameron’ where characters meet in church but in his tales speakers meet in pub, shows change in nobility/morality of characters^^
Nora somewhat explores Madonna/whore complex, Torvald cannot respect her as only sees her sexual object, he has fantasies of her as his young virginal bride, @@“often I wish some terrible danger might threaten you, so that I could offer my life and my blood, everything, for your sake”@@
^^Nora also a mirror of Pat More’s ‘The Angel in the House’^^, Biblical imagery of angel applied to women, must be something beyond human, act selflessly and purely, connotations of innocence and youth, %%R.M Adams “Like angels, Nora has no sex, Ibsen meant her to be everyman”%%
Christmas is a central image in the play, time for birth and joy, Winter symbolises end, Nora at end of play is reborn as a ^^‘new woman’, proto-feminist idea^^
%%Baruch “rehabilitated Eve who has the courage to leave her garden to search for knowledge”%%
Truth
Nora is released by truth at end of play, @@“my duty towards myself”@@ but May is still trapped in the marriage by not telling the truth “stroketh on hir wombe”, Ibsen wrote play to explore truth in relationships and society, not outwardly feminist, %%“the spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom, these are the pillars of society” Ibsen%% whereas ^^Chaucer mocks the medieval higher classes, mixing fabliaux humour (e.g. May faking her pregnancy and wanting a pear, a phallic symbol, whilst having an affair) with the courtly love tradition^^
Mrs Linde and Justinus act as voices of truth for the characters but whilst Mrs Linde uses this to help Nora, @@“This unhappy secret of Nora's must be revealed”@@, Justinius is ignored because he didn’t align with January’s false reality. ^^Non traditional ending of ply a stark contrast to melodramas of the time, not taken well, proto-feminist interpretations not favoured by Victorian society^^, ending deemed %%“illogical and immoral” by Die Gengenwart%%. Connotations of name Justinius imply ‘just’ or ‘fair’ so audience understand that his opinion is one to be trusted more than Placebo (fake), thereby signifying January’s blindness to truth, %%“January is blinded by the deception of his wife” Tolliver%%, ^^Chaucer mocking the illogical marriages of medieval society and the business like nature of pairings^^
Links to appearance vs reality
Motif of keys, key to letterbox is used to access the truth of Nora’s illegal borrowing, May uses the key to lie to January and have her affair
Links between truth and power, female characters withhold truth in order to gain what they want, May lies in order to stay one step ahead of January, manipulating him in order to remain married, @@“on hir wombe he stroketh”@@, c^^ontextually women were often deemed “shrewish” and given very little power in patriarchal; society, Wife of Bath mentioned in tale, only crossover of Chaucer’s tales, further reinforces the message of deceitful or immoral women^^. ^^Nora must lie in order to illegally borrow money^^, her manipulation of truth is not selfish like May’s but still the only way Nora is able to gain money to save the @@“frightfully ill”@@ Torvald. Nora puts %%"love before legality" according to Sophie Duncan%%, the ^^oppressive patriarchal laws meant women were forced to acquire power or resources through lying^^