A Doll House (Autosaved)

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Nov 24, 2024

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Surname 1 Professor Course Date Role of Minor Characters in ‘A Doll House’ The role played by minor characters in plays is usually assisting or influencing the major characters. Such characters also exist in the play ‘A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen. The minor characters have the ability to alter the play’s outcome. In as much ‘A Doll House’ is majorly ruled by the two main characters, Nora and Torvald, there exist other minor characters with equally important roles since they also experience similar problems like the main characters, including urban parallels. The minor characters perform a fantastic job as they drop major hints in relation to the key themes of the play. Some of the minor characters of the play include Nora’s father, Anne Marie, Mrs. Linde’s husband, Krogstad, and Mrs. Linde. The above characters perfectly play their roles in supporting and reflecting themes in the play and the main characters. Nora’s father is an example of a minor character in the play, which supports its plot. Nora’s father plays the role of supporting Nora as a person. For instance, according to Torvald, Nora, just like her father, appears to allow money to slip her. Another aspect regarding Nora’s life in connection with her father concerns how his father treats like a doll, which cannot reason on its own. In their marriage, Torvald treats Nora like an empty-headed fiance, similar to how Nora’s father treats her like a child (Gussow n.p). In Act III, Nora explains the treatment when she affirms that she was a doll wife to Torvald just like she was a doll child of her father. As a result, the children had turned to be dolls. Basically, Nora’s father functions to support and hold Nora’s hand.

Surname 2 Christine is also a minor character in ‘A doll House’ where she plays a crucial role. Towards the start of the play, Christine appears at the front door to Helmer’s house. Christine has a major influence on some major events in the play. Typically, she is fast in realizing that Nora is not a child anymore, and it is a mere pretense in a bid to fit into the character which Torvald has created of her. Christine has had a rough past, and she already has experience with what Nora is going to face. Therefore, she had the ability to see much compared to what Nora could see. She also assists Krogstad in improving his life through renewing their past relationship (Gussow n.p). The change is beneficial to Nora’s life in numerous ways as it first enables her to admit all that had transpired between herself and Krogstad without coercion. It further helps her to leave without ruining Torvald as it was necessary for her children’s wellbeing. In a play, the minor characters are usually tasked with generally helping or influencing the main characters. In the case of ‘A Doll House,’ we find Mrs. Linde who is a primary minor character, as seen in her role. She is the protagonist and also Nora’s childhood friend. She is used in highlighting Nora’s egotistic and childish behavior while contrasting it with the sensible and selfish character of Linde. She assists in the development of the play’s plot through introducing to Nora the self-satisfaction idea as she represents the fulfillment of the role of women in the household. Eventually, Mrs. Linde is identified as a significant minor character since she helps in changing the plot as well as character development. Helmer is the real villain of the play and a minor character. He has an obsession with sustaining his control over Nora. Furthermore, his selfish actions allow the audience to take him as the actual problem among the characters readily. In case Linde did not convince Krogstad of forgiving the loan, it would never have come to Nora’s realization that the real conflict is their relationship. Rather than leaving Korgstad as well as her family, Nora might have decided to

Surname 3 commit suicide according to her previous plans. It appears inconsequential that an individual would have to take their life due to something quite small. Helmer’s possession of the above flaw is important in depicting drama in the play, and a small admission of guilt would be sufficient (Gussow n.p). Nonetheless, the flaw existed, and Linde was capable of shedding light on the issue through convincing Krogstad. Eventually, Mrs. Linde also emerges as a prominent minor character who is critical in the shaping of the plot trough the creation of conflict with Krogstad in relation to the new job. As a result, he plots the notion of the development of a new lifestyle for Nora while managing to convince Krogstad to forgive the loan by Nora. Additionally, Mrs. Linde also helps to point out the character development of some main characters, such as Krogstad and Helmer. At the beginning of the play, Nils Krogstad is the play’s antagonist. He is known as a dishonest and unscrupulous character to the rest as seen where he blackmails Nora, who had borrowed some money from him using a forged signature, this is after he learned of the termination of his job. In the past, Nils Krogstad committed the offense of forgery, a crime that he was not accused and imprisoned, although it ruined his reputation, making it extremely difficult to be employed in a respectable occupation. Later on, it comes to light that Krogstad had been involved in an intimate affair with Kristine Linde. Kristine has ended up as another man’s wife to have sufficient funds to support her brothers as well as her dying mother. The act by Kristine had left an embittered, unhappy and lost Krogstad in his marriage. The latter is perhaps the reason behind Krogstad’s moral corruption. Initially, Krogstad treated Nora mercilessly due to the fact that he had not been shown mercy in life (Gussow n.p). However, following his and Mrs. Linde’s decision to get married, he rescinds intimidations against Nora and becomes

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Surname 4 happier, asserting that he bemoaned his previous actions. Typically, Krogstad is an example of a character being led to questionable moral behaviors due to merciless and rigid societal forces. In sum, the play ‘A Doll House’ is full of minor characters who play vital roles in highlighting the main characters as well as plot development. It is further evident that these minor characters add flavor to the plot of the play as their roles are critical. Furthermore, they are also efficient in their roles as some main characters are able to fully fit their roles due to the efficacy of the minor characters. As such, some main characters attain their chief roles as an effort of the minor characters.

Surname 5 Work Cited Mel, Gussow. “Review/Theater; Bergman's 'Doll's House' Completes a Hat Trick”. New York Times, June 20, 1991.

A Doll House (Autosaved)

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