The Power Battle in 'A Dolls house'
In ‘A Doll’s House’ by Henrik Ibsen there is a power battle between Nora and Helmer. This is shown by the stage directions and who has control of the text. At the beginning of the text we see Nora come home and tiptoe around the house, sneaking around a lot. ‘[Takes a bag of macaroons from her pocket and eats a couple; then she goes cautiously over to listen at her husband’s door] Ah yes, he’s home.’ The word choice of ‘cautiously’ has connotations of careful and suspicious. This suggests that Nora is scared of her husband, showing us that Helmer has more power. However this switches at the end when Nora announces that she is going to leave the house. ‘HELMER: Nora, Nora, not now! Wait till tomorrow. NORA: [puts her coat on]: I can’t stay the night in a strange man’s rooms.’ This suggests that Nora, now that she has told Helmer how she feels, is now in control of what she does. Helmer no longer can control what she does and how she acts, instead he now has to deal with what she does. In this part of the text Nora has longer paragraphs, demonstrating that she’s more important in this section of the story. In some interpretations of the play the director choreographs the scene so that at the start Helmer is standing up and Nora is sitting, giving a visual demonstration of the power dynamic. Then throughout the scene they keep switching. At the end, Nora is then standing and Helmer is sitting. This clearly shows us the switch in power from the start to the end. Representing Nora’s newfound freedom she feels.
Original Ending
The original ending of Ibsen's ‘A Doll’s house’ was at the time viewed as scandalous, iconoclastic, and attacking of the long-held view of women in the home. We see Nora finally packing and leaving an environment that made her feel like a prisoner in her own home. From a modern perspective, this is seen as a triumph for Nora and is a positive political statement.
However, this was not the case in 19th century Norway and there was uproar when the play was first shown. So much so that the Alternate ending, as discussed by Caragh, had to be created to appease the audience.
The original ending, I believe to be much more impactful. We see Nora take a hold of her life and break free of the social, and financial chains that have kept her prisoner. She chooses to not let Torvald undermine her, and by leaving her children, although hard and abrupt, we see how desperate Nora is to escape this landscape of social oppression.
In the alternate ending, Nora falls to her knees in front of Torval. When I imagine this I am filled with dread for Nora and for the overall message. What was it all for?
I find the original ending empowering. Nora, a woman, stands up for herself and shows the audience what she is capable of, creating an atmosphere of motivation and hope.
Zara Etchells
Alternate Ending
When A Doll’s House was originally released, it was translated and performed outside of Norway. During production in Germany, actress Hedwig Niemann-Raabe refused to perform the written ending where Nora leaves Torvald and the children, stating that she’d never leave her kids and couldn’t possibly fathom, as a mother, leaving her kids and couldn’t believe any woman would. This company would decide to create and rehearse their ending. Which, when the writer of the play, Henrik Ibsen, found out, didn’t stand for it, instead of devising and handing out his alternative ending which they performed.
Ibsen referred to this new ending as barbaric out of violence which begs the question, should art be censored?
The new alternative ending had Nora stay, collapsing in the doorway as Helmer pushes her to the door to see her kids and say goodbye, letting them know they’d be motherless if she does leave. This revelation causes Nora to sink to the floor, where she stays as the curtains close. The implication very clearly, that she stays.
Maybe a little unsurprisingly, this alternate ending wasn’t widely used, performed a few times as Niemann-Raabe concluded, the original was better.
But this wasn’t the last time this ending was used, as when the play travelled overseas to America, it was this rather horrific alternate ending that was used. Along with the introduction of an Irish woman (aka the comedic relief).
There are several ways you couldn’t look at this alternate ending, with her realising she needs to stay as a mother or she believes there’s no hope for her regardless of whether she stays or goes.
In any interpretation, whether you think she falls to the ground from stress or sinks out of despair, the alternate ending is a horrific display, stripping Nora of the freedom she had at the end and her ‘heroine’ status. She’s no longer a strong, confident woman. She’s now someone who has been shepherded back into a life she didn’t want.
This is maybe a more realistic book at what would’ve happened, but it strips the story of the hope it could’ve provided women in similar scenarios, instead stating they have to stay as wives and mothers, doomed to be unhappy and unable to leave if they wish.
Caragh Hird and Katarina