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Nora Helmer

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Nora Helmer
A Doll's House character
Betty Hennings dressed up as Nora Helmer for the 1879 play, A Doll's House.
Nora Helmer as portrayed by Betty Hennings in the Royal Danish Theatre (1879)
First appearanceA Doll's House (1879)
Created byHenrik Ibsen
Based onLaura Kieler
In-universe information
GenderFemale
OccupationHousewife
SpouseTorvald Helmer
Children3
NationalityNorwegian

Nora Helmer is a fictional character of Henrik Ibsen's 1879 play A Doll's House. The character is a submissive and observant housewife who lives in a middle class household with her husband Torvald, a recently promoted bank manager, and their three children. Although initially a highly controversial character, she has been praised in retrospect through a feminist lense, with her character often described as a heroine.

Fictional character biography

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Nora met her future husband, Torvald Helmer, whilst he was a civil servant investigating her father's business ventures.[1] She later married him and had three children.[2] Early into their marriage, Torvald became seriously ill, and doctors advise him to stay in a region with a warmer climate. Nora secretly borrows the money from Torvald's colleague, lawyer Nils Krogstad, in order to finance the family's one year stay in Italy, and forges her dying father's signature whilst doing so.[3][4] Nora saves the allowance she receives from her husband to pay back her debt to Krogstad.[3]

At the beginning of the play, Nora is presented as living a content life as a housewife and mother, with Torvald having several affectionate pet names for her, including "skylark", "squirrel", and "little bird".[5] Torvald has recently gotten a promotion and is now the bank manager, to Nora's joy. Nora's childhood friend, Mrs. Linde, arrives at their house, requesting a job at Torvald's bank.[6] Nora persuades Torvald to give her a job, which he does, replacing Krogstad with her.[7]

Later, Krogstad arrives at the house, furious as he is now dismissed from his role at the bank in favour of Mrs. Linde. He threatens to tell Torvald about the deception unless he is allowed to keep his job. Nora falls into despair, however, is convinced that Torvald's love for her will lead him to take responsibility for her actions. Nora considers asking a family friend, Dr. Rank, for the money, however dismisses the idea after he confesses he is in love with her and tells her he will soon die from a terminal illness.[6] When Torvald discovers Nora's deception and the forgery, he is enraged, and blames her for damaging his reputation.[4] Soon after, Mrs. Linde, Krogstad's former lover, convinces him to withdraw his threats. Although Torvald now forgives Nora and declares that they can continue to live together as usual, Nora decides to leave her husband and children.[6]

Creation

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Ibsen's inspiration for the character of Nora Helmer was his close friend, journalist Laura Kieler.[8] Kieler secretly borrowed money to finance a journey to Italy, in order for her husband to recover from tuberculosis, with Ibsen claiming she forged a check whilst doing so.[8] On discovering the crime, Kieler's husband divorced her, and Kieler was put in a lunatic asylum.[9] Kieler later denied committing forgery, and asked Ibsen to publicly state such, which he declined.[10]

Reception

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Nora Helmer received immense controversy upon the debut of the original play due to her leaving her husband and children at the end of the play.[11][12] Nora's departure from her domestic life has been a focal point in feminist literary analysis, particularly regarding gender roles and society.[13] Joan Templeton, in her article "The Doll House Backlash: Criticism, Feminism, and Ibsen," addresses the debates surrounding Nora's role as a feminist icon. Templeton discusses how some critics perceive Nora as inconsistent or unwomanly, while others view her as a symbol of women's emancipation.[14] Academic Arthur Ganz wrote of Nora, stating she was "consumed by the desire for love".[15] The metaphor of the 'doll' in relation to Nora's character has been explored to understand the constraints imposed upon her by societal norms, with analysis noting that the title reflects Nora's position within her marriage and society, symbolizing her lack of agency and autonomy.[16] In the decades following the play's release, Nora Helmer has frequently been described as a heroine.[17][15][18]

Michael Gelber proposed that Mrs. Linde giving up her independent life to be with Krogstad at the end of the play was symbolic of what Nora wanted, "a sense of self-fulfillment in love".[19] Nora has drawn frequent comparasions to Hedda Gabler from the eponymous play, also written by Ibsen.[20][21] Nora Helmer dancing the tarantella has been described as one of the most iconic scenes of the play. Vicki Mahaffey for the South Central Review described the dance as "frenzied", and a metaphor for the internal struggles of Nora. The dance was noted as being wordless, as an expression of Nora's fear.[22]

Notable portrayals

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Film

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Year Title Actress Director Ref.
1918 A Doll's House Elsie Ferguson Maurice Tourneur [23]
1922 A Doll's House Alla Nazimova Charles Bryant [24]
1959 A Doll's House Julie Harris George Schaefer [25]
1973 A Doll's House Claire Bloom Patrick Garland [26]
A Doll's House Jane Fonda Joseph Losey [27]
1992 A Doll's House Juliet Stevenson David Thacker [28]

Plays

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List of actors
Year Title Actress Adapter Notes Ref.
1879 A Doll's House Betty Hennings Henrik Ibsen [a] [29]
1889 A Doll's House Beatrice Cameron Richard Mansfield [30]
1890
1899 A Doll's House Janet Achurch William Archer [31]
1936 A Doll's House Tore Segelcke [32]
A Doll's House Bobbie Peacock Robert Mitchell; Miriam Graham [33]
1937 A Doll's House Ruth Gordon Thornton Wilder [34][35]
1968 A Doll's House Pamela Withers Clyde Jones [36]
1975 A Doll's House Liv Ullmann Tormod Skagestad [37]
1982 A Doll's House Cheryl Campbell Adrian Noble [38]
A Doll's Life Betsy Joslyn Harold Prince [b] [39][40]
1984 A Doll's House Priscilla Gray Penny Tuerk [41]
1988 Nora Joyce Fideor Ingmar Bergman [42]
1997 A Doll's House Janet McTeer Anthony Page [43]
1999 A Doll's House Karen Walker Sheila Burbidge [44]
2009 A Doll's House Gillian Anderson Zinnie Harris [45]
Nora Maja Izetbegović Haris Pašović [46]
2011 A Doll's House Louise Bakker Roger Beaumont [47]
2012 A Doll's House Hattie Morahan Carrie Cracknell [48]
2017 A Doll's House, Part 2 Laurie Metcalf Lucas Hnath [c] [49]
Cherdonna's Doll House Leah Salcido Pfenning; Cherdonna Shinatra Cherdonna Shinatra [50]
2019 Wife Sirine Saba Samuel Adamson [d] [51]
Nora: A Doll's House Amaka Okafor (1918); Natalie Klamar (1968); Anna Russell–Martin (2018) Stef Smith [e] [52]
2023 A Doll's House Jessica Chastain Jamie Lloyd [53]
A Doll's House Vaishnavi CG Tanika Gupta; Olivia Chakraborty [f] [54]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ Premiere of the play.[29]
  2. ^ Sequel to the original play.[39]
  3. ^ Sequel to the original play written by Lucas Hnath, and set 15 years after the conclusion.[49]
  4. ^ Nora is portrayed under the name Suzannah.[51]
  5. ^ The play portrays Nora in the years 1918, 1968, and 2018, each portrayal having a different actress.[52]
  6. ^ Nora is portrayed under the name Niru.[54]

Citations

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  1. ^ Jakovljevic 2002, pp. 438.
  2. ^ Dukore 1990, p. 310.
  3. ^ a b Brinkmann 2009, pp. 12.
  4. ^ a b Carbone 2020, pp. 103.
  5. ^ Jakovljevic 2002, pp. 437.
  6. ^ a b c Brinkmann 2009, pp. 12–13.
  7. ^ Pearce 1970, p. 336.
  8. ^ a b Templeton 1989, pp. 35.
  9. ^ Jakovljevic 2002, pp. 446.
  10. ^ Ochshorn 2005, p. 100.
  11. ^ Popovich 1977, pp. 5.
  12. ^ Weinstein 1999, pp. 106.
  13. ^ Carbone 2020, pp. 102.
  14. ^ Templeton 1989, pp. 28–40.
  15. ^ a b Bird 1980, pp. 106.
  16. ^ Khurram 2016.
  17. ^ Hrybyk 1983, p. 42.
  18. ^ Lowy 2004, p. 75.
  19. ^ Gelber & Templeton 1989, pp. 360–361.
  20. ^ Masters 2012.
  21. ^ Bird 1980, pp. 105–107.
  22. ^ Mahaffey 2010, pp. 62–63.
  23. ^ Exhibitors Herald 1918, p. 1052.
  24. ^ Exhibitors Herald 1922, p. 1178.
  25. ^ The New York Times 1959.
  26. ^ Canby 1973.
  27. ^ Sayre 1973, p. 24.
  28. ^ O'Connor 1992.
  29. ^ a b Xia 2021, p. 219.
  30. ^ IbsenStage.
  31. ^ Kelly 2008, pp. 13.
  32. ^ Holledge et al. 2016, pp. 71–110.
  33. ^ The Tower Theatre Company 1936.
  34. ^ Archives at DU Catalog.
  35. ^ Hewitt 1959, pp. 110–120.
  36. ^ The Tower Theatre Company 1968.
  37. ^ Kalem 1975.
  38. ^ Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
  39. ^ a b Galskap 1981, pp. 18–19.
  40. ^ Suskin 2010, p. 344.
  41. ^ The Tower Theatre Company 1984.
  42. ^ Goodman 1988.
  43. ^ Brantley 1997.
  44. ^ The Tower Theatre Company 1999.
  45. ^ Benedict 2009.
  46. ^ Desire festival 2009.
  47. ^ The Tower Theatre Company 2011.
  48. ^ Billington 2012.
  49. ^ a b Marks 2017.
  50. ^ Kiley 2017.
  51. ^ a b Billington 2019.
  52. ^ a b Williams 2020.
  53. ^ Oladipo 2023.
  54. ^ a b The Tower Theatre Company 2023.

Works cited

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