Free Essays on A Dolls House: Irony :: A Dolls House Essays

Irony in A Dolls House A Dolls House contains many instances of irony. The main contributions, Nora and Torvald, are curiously involved in this.Many of the examples of irony in this dissipation are types of dramatic irony. Dramatic irony usually refers to a situation in a play wherein a characters knowledge is limited, and he or she encounters something of greater significance than he or she knows. Throughout the play, most of the dramatic irony displayed is between Nora and Torvald, with Torvald being the character whose knowledge is limited. Early on in the play, when Mr. Krogstad is threatening to tell Torvald of Noras secret, Nora pleads with him and asks him not to. She says to him that It would be a rotten shame. That secret is all my pride and joy - why should he have to hear about it in this nasty, horrid way........hear about it from you (1431). This is ironic in that her pride and joy is something that her husband would completely disapprove of. Torvald tells Nora No de bts Never borrow Theres something inhibited, something unpleasant, about a home built on credit and borrowed money (1415). But nevertheless, she has borrowed money, and it is her pride and joy. She takes pride in the fact that she was commensurate to borrow money, since women are not supposed to be able to, and that she has been able to save and work for enough money to be able to make the payments on her loan. What makes it even more joyful for her is that she knows this helped save her husbands life. The most joyful thing in Noras life is something her husband disapproves of. What makes this even more ironic is a narration Torvald makes to Nora after discovering her secret. He says to her Oh, what a terrible awakening this is. All these eight years...this woman who was my pride and joy...a hypocrite, a liar, worse than that, a criminal (1462). He similarly uses the words pride and joy to describe Nora, just as she describes her secret. Another illustration of irony is the way Nora treats her children as if they were dolls. This is situational irony because Nora is treated like a doll by her husband, and by her father when he was alive. She says I passed out of Daddys hands into yours.