Notesale: Turn your study into money

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“In his presentation of Nora, Ibsen offers a more effective questioning of morality in A
Doll’s House, than Osborne does through Jimmy in Look Back in Anger
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I
believe that morality is much more of a central theme in Ibsen’s play, indeed, most of the
characters come under the question of morality in several scenes in the play
...

The main issue of the questioning of morality in Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ is seen is
the theme of debt and borrowing money
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This was due to the Victorian-originating belief
that one was to die without sin and without debt, meaning that sin, one of the greatest evils,
was equated to something which we now see to be not a criminal behaviour
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No debt
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” As Torvald represents the black and white morality of the Victorian
era, we can see that this is a dominant view, further shown in Mrs Linde’s comment that, “A
wife cannot borrow without her husband’s permission
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Therefore, in

these opening scenes, we may be quick to judge Nora on the basis of her borrowing
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Nora:

Nonsense
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Through the difficult circumstances Nora finds herself in, we have to allow for some degree of moral
relativism to consider her situation
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Therefore, through the theme of debt in the play, we can see a more effective questioning of
the absolute morality of the Victorian era
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We see this in the opening scenes of the play, in
which Alison tells Cliff, “Jimmy’s got his own private morality
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This could be seen in Act II Scene I, in which Alison and Helena leave for church
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” Jimmy rejects all
dominant values of 1950s post-war Britain, and it is possibly these beliefs that have shaped his
morality
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Leading up to
its release as a “bombshell that blew up the old British theatre,” British theatre reflected only the
middle-class lives, and was stagnant and unexciting
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These “kitchen sink dramas” were social dramas set in ordinary working class homes
which deal with contemporary social class issues
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Therefore, we could argue that, although Jimmy is justified in his morality and that
Osborne does offer some questioning of post-war Britain morality, Osborne does not offer a full
examination of morality, as we only see it in Jimmy’s absolutist terms
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physically sick is addressed
frequently
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This is possibly
most seen in the qui pro quo moment in Act One of the play, in which Torvald tells Nora, “Almost
always, when people go bad young in life, the cause is a deceitful mother
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However, a
modern audience would judge Nora’s, and to some extent Krogstad’s, reasons to be moral, and indeed
their actions to be for the better cause
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Therefore, the
audience is prompted by Ibsen to question their own morality, as they may believe that Nora is
justified in her reasons
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In Act Two, he tells Nora, “My father indulged himself;
my poor blameless spine has to pay the bill
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Therefore, the audience
may be motivated to consider the discriminatory morality of the Victorian era; we may see how unjust
it is that Rank is forced to pay for his father’s immorality
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However, in Osborne’s ‘Look Back in Anger’, through his characterisation of Jimmy, we see
only his sense of morality
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He sees his father as being victimised by the Establishment, “And
certain God-fearing gentlemen there had made such a mess of him, he didn’t have long left to live
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Jimmy’s insecurity, hopelessness and the fact that he is only one working class man

shows that he is a microcosm of Britain’s place in the New World Order
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The Butler Act of 1944 and the
broken promises of the Labour government in post-war Britain had not delivered what was hoped, and
so Jimmy feels betrayed by the Establishment
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Therefore, Jimmy’s one-sided morality, in arguing on the behalf of working class men, shows that,
while Osborne does show the disillusionment and betrayal felt by the younger generation, Osborne
does not offer a more effective questioning of morality than Ibsen does in ‘A Doll’s House
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It is known that Ibsen openly condemned patriarchal control, by
saying, “These women of the modern age, mistreated as daughters, sisters or wives,” acknowledging
that women were not seen as people; more as the property of their fathers or husbands
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At the time, a wife was a direct reflection of her husband, and so Torvald is very
concerned with appearances
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This is symbolic of Nora shaking,
or literally dancing, off society’s morals as she begins to recognise that, in order to save her husband’s
reputation, she must kill herself so she can take the fall for it
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However, after
Torvald reads Krogstad’s letter in Act III, Nora realises that the “miracle” in which Torvald saves her
is not going to happen
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Nora:

Hundreds of thousands of women do just that
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Nora’s moral relativism is epitomized in her declaration, “I’ve got to find
out, which of us is right- society or me
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The issue of the patriarchal control of women is also seen in Osborne’s ‘Look Back in
Anger’; however, it is not shown as immoral, in the way Ibsen portrays this issue
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At any point in which Jimmy discusses women, it is
always with misogynistic and derogatory language, “Slamming their doors, stamping their heels… the
eternal flaming racket of the female
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” He also has both Alison and
Helena wear his shirt, reinforcing his control over them, as they develop their lives around him, “He
still smokes this foul old stuff
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” While Jimmy’s
morality focusses on the perils of the working class man, it is obvious that women are left out of his
fight for rights
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In conclusion, I believe that Ibsen offers a more effective questioning of morality through the
characters of ‘A Doll’s House’, especially through Nora, as he addresses the black and white
Victorian morality which Nora starkly contrasts with through her moral relativism
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Therefore, Ibsen offers a more effective questioning of morality

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