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THEME OF RESPECT AND REPUTATION IN A DOLL'S HOUSE


In Victorian society, a society within which the play is set, people believed in being respectable and honourable. Within this constructs, Torvald would do anything to safeguard his reputation including bending to the whims of Krogstad. 

The biggest irony in A Doll’s House is that the play takes place in the living room of Torvald Helmer but, the men in the play are constantly haunted by their public image. In A Doll's House, one's standing in the society transcends family.

Having been promoted to a bank manager, Helmer plans to fire Krogstad because of his tainted reputation. Helmer is afraid that associating with such characters would ruin his reputation.

Krogstad, on the other hand, plans to redeem himself through the Helmers. On learning that he is to be dismissed, he digs up old dirt on Nora and plans to use it to his advantage. At first, he had planned just to extort from Nora using her forgery as a yardstick. Realising that extortion won’t work, he pulls out the big gun. He plans to reveal Nora’s forgery to her husband and threaten to release it to the public unless the Helmer’s agree to his demands. This scares Nora. As things stand, Nora is more afraid of ruining her husband’s reputation than death. Like cancer, she is ready to cut ties with her husband for the sake of his reputation. On the other hand, when Helmer learns of Nora's forgery, he is horrified and quickly switches to survival mode. He is ready to do anything to appease Krogstad than have his name disgraced. 

 As can be seen in the play, the members of A Doll’s house are keen on individual reputation and respect. Lack of these two virtues is considered as a contagious disease. Helmer believes that Krogstad’s children will be poisoned by their father’s crimes. In this respect, Helmer forbids Nora from raising their children after he learns about Nora's transgressions in the letter. 

Helmer also faces another agonising situation. He knows his wife committed a crime. Given his good reputation and moral standing in society, he cannot live with such a disgraceful person in the house. But he cannot also separate with his wife since that would be more humiliating than the forgery. Therefore, the only way is to let Nora act as his official wife for the sake of their public image. 

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