Torvald’s Sympathy Scale: “Oh Hell Nah!”
Before watching the 3rd act I had a very negative perspective towards Torvald. I viewed him as a self-centered, egotistic, dominant figure that is more reliant on his SuperEgo as he lets it govern his decision-making skills and characteristic choices. However, this is approached differently when understanding the method to his madness and realizing that what he does is just for show. After watching the beginning portion of Act 3, I understand his point of view but that still doesn’t give him the right to treat Nora in that way. Throughout this act contrary to the whole book, we see Nora for a split second as the dominating one in their relationship and their conversations. Torvald seems quite needy and clingy in this part as he is constantly seeking affirmation and gratification from Nora. Him being drunk makes him lose that sense of SuperEgo and refer back to his unconscious ID which represents his true wants and needs. Torvald seems much more affectionate towards Nora in this part as he loses his sense of awareness and his care for what society may think. Although he is more affectionate he still attempts to dominate her as he attempts marital rape. During the Victorian Era, this was unheard of as it was not thought of as rape but as the man’s right.
Nora: “Go away Torvald! You must let me go. I won’t–“
Helmer: “What’s that? You’re joking, my little Nora! You won’t –you won’t? Am I not your husband–?”
In this quote, we can easily determine the fraction of consciousness that Torvald has while forcing himself on her and attempting to rape her even when she clearly said no. We can rationalize that due to his intoxication or that he doesn’t know that what he is doing is wrong, nevertheless, his actions make it harder to sympathize. Additionally, the usage of the word MUST which is a model verb shows that she is attempting to dominate him but is failing miserably as she is helpless in this situation. On the other hand, I sympathize with him because he doesn’t know how conniving and manipulative his wife is and the lies that she weaves constantly. But that’s not enough for me to completely understand and excuse his behavior towards Nora in front of society. this split-personality of Helmer when dealing with Nora is understandably quite aggravating as she wouldn’t know which Torvald she is dealing with during each moment. Overall, on the sympathy scale, I think I am around a 2 because I feel some sympathy towards Torvald but his action makes it very difficult to sympathize further.
I was very skeptic of Torvald’s role in “A Doll’s House” and, much like the rest of my peers, regarded him as controlling and nothing close to an innocent. The reading of Act 3 has only further grounded my opinions. I found myself feeling some sort of empathy towards Torvald in this act as a cause to his interaction with Ms. Linde, when he was unforgivably drunk. It can be said that ones ID shines through when they are drunk, as they have no control over their actions and any reliance on EGO and SUPEREGO becomes non-existent. And thus, when Torvalds goes on about how Ms. Linde “ought to embroider” (Ibsen, 54), going into intricate detail on how she should “hold the embroidery thus in your left hand… with a long, easy sweep” (Ibsen, 54), it is hard not to have pity on the man. With such sensitive knowledge of a stereotypical feminine task, and this knowledge belonging to a man, it is easy to imagine Torvald as being nothing more than a man suppressed by his SUPEREGO. This, of course, coming about from the strict and constricting ideology imposed by Victorian society, in which existed specific roles for each gender. I feel this gravitation towards the feminine may be an ode to Torvald’s own teachings as a child, in which his mother steered his attention towards usually feminine tasks. It was Victorian society that forced this interest into his ID, which he shows off when drunk.
This empathy towards the “misunderstood” husband would have lasted, were it not for Torvald’s attempted rape on Nora. I would classify this act as “attempted rape” due to Nora’s dissent, which includes lines such as “Go away, Torvald! You must let me go. I won’t-” (Ibsen, 55) when Torvald attempts to assert himself onto her. As we are speaking of ID, this act can easily be seen as his inner longings urging him to commit such a heinous crime. However, society may play a big part in this again, thus making Victorian society, and not Torvald, the true villain. It was the norm at the time for a wife to serve her husband almost as an object and offer her body whether she was willing or not. This is further reinforced by Torvald’s comments after the fact: “What’s that?… you won’t? Am I not your husband?” (Ibsen, 55). This act, whether under the influence of alcohol or not, is truly appalling and, quite frankly, should be seen as disgusting to any 21st century viewer today. Women are not objects and will not be treated as such.