Outsiders

• Nora is seen as an outsider as she is simultaneously the domestic wife but an outsider in her own home as the office doors are closed to her
• If Nora went outside she would have to be protected from the elements
• "What out again? In this horrible weather? You will catch a cold" maid
• The first interaction Nora has with Helmer is "she tiptoes across and listens at her husband's door"
• "You will remain in my house"
• Doors spell a danger to Nora as her antagonist enters through one, but they also spell opportunity
• The patriarchal world creates a sense of danger for women and the illusion of safety indoors whilst in the house she is accountable for who she is speaking to all the time and all the men who come to visit her
• Nora's past is seen as an outsider in her relationship with helmer
• "He seemed almost jealous if I mentioned any of the dear folk at home"
• A03: Nora is an outsider due to financial, democratic and home restrictions
• Ibsen's inspiration was his understanding that women were assessed on their behaviour in a patriarchal system and this was unfair, it set them as outsiders. For example women can't borrow money, society forces Nora to act in a fraudulent manner and then society judges her actions as harshly as helmer does when he calls her "A liar... worse - a criminal". This is the female predicament: you win you lose
• "A liar... worse - a criminal"
• We hear very little about Nora's mother in the play, is she an outsider too?
• Mrs Linde is an outsider as she has no children and is a widow
• "The last 3 years have seemed like one long working day, with no rest" Mrs Linde
• A03: Ibsen's father had financial issues as he drank heavily and was abusive to his wife, hence the exploration of women in marriage and their sense of being outsiders in their own relationships
• A03: Ibsen knew a woman called Laura Patterson who married a school master that contracted tuberculosis and she took a loan without his knowledge so he could recover in Italy. He recovered but the bank wanted repayment and she had no money so she told her husband and he treated her like a criminal to which she had a nervous breakdown, he had her committed to a mental asylum and demanded a separation so he could take the children away from her