I find quite a lot of the characters in the play despicable, like Krogstad and especially Nora - but the one character I cannot stand is her husband, Torvald Helmer. From just act one, we are able to see what type of character he is when he treats Nora like a child by calling her silly names like "little skylark" or "little squirrel" and scolding her for eating macaroons - not that she minded. And further on in the play, we can see that he doesn't even see her as a child but a doll when he gets her to dress up and dance for him. Torvald is also a very self-centered character, a trait that is usually considered quite despicable, when he makes everything about him - like wishing his own wife would be in danger so he risk his own life to save her, making himself the hero thus making it about him.
Krogstad is a person who has been looked down upon by society. Also Both Nora and Krogstad have committed the same crime: forgery of signatures. Though he did break the law, Krogstad’s crime was relatively minor, but society has burdened him with the mark of being a criminal and banned him from moving on from his past. Also Krogstad’s claim that his immoral behavior began when Mrs. Linde abandoned him for a man with money so she could provide for her family makes it possible for us to understand Krogstad as a victim of circumstances. One could argue that society forced Mrs. Linde away from Krogstad and thus prompted his crime. Though society’s unfair treatment of Krogstad does not justify his actions, it does put him more closely with Nora and also his willingness to allow Nora to suffer is vile, but his claims to feel sympathy for her and the hard circumstances of his own life compel us to sympathize with him to some degree thus tempers our perception of him as a despicable character considering that he does work at the bank and should have known better.
Personally, Krogstad is the most despicable character in the play so far. While I am able to sympathise with him and understand that he wants his job back, I am shocked by his methods for attempting to get it back. He is the only character capable of blackmail. While Nora is manipulative and lies, she seems to be doing it for her husband’s good and she does not threaten anyone or blackmail them. The audience is empathetic towards Nora because she is going through a mental and emotional breakdown at the end of Act 1 and all throughout Act 2. She is portrayed as relatively vulnerable, distressed, and unable to understand the seriousness of her actions. Krogstad comes in to her home where she is meant to be strongest and threatens her reputation, marriage and life all at once. Krogstad is also seen negatively through Helmer’s eyes because of the forgery he committed. Therefore, I believe that Krogstad is the most despicable character as he takes advantages of the weak women, threatens people and has given the audience no reason to like him.
In my opinion the most despicable character in the play so far is Dr. Rank. I think this because although his character does not necessarily directly affect the events that take place he has been deceitful for many years before the time mentioned. Dr. Rank works closely and has always been best friends with Torvald; he is supposed to be a trustworthy man in Torvald's life. From Act two however it is clear he has always had his eyes set on Nora. He visits the Helmers everyday and this enough is devious, as we understand that he does not do so out of the good will of his heart, to see his best friend and discuss business however we can assume it is to see Nora and to take advantage of as much time he can have with her. I think he is a very tactical character in his ways as he uses his illness as way to make Nora feel sympathy for and in turn get what he wants. I see him as the most despicable as he does not merely display devious characteristics and manipulate them in this one particular event in which the novel is based around however has been fooling the Helmers for many years. I think it is horrible that he confronts Nora and do so after many years of being close with their family and her husband’s best friend. We then question Dr. Rank’s motives to work closely to the family for such a long period of time.
In my point of view, the most despicable character so far in the play would be Torvald Helmer. This was an extremely difficult decision to make as I also found both Krogstad and Dr Rank very despicable. However, having empathy on Nora’s character, I believe that Helmer – being Nora’s husband - plays the biggest role in negatively influencing Nora’s life. Firstly, Helmer is always belittling Nora, calling her names such as songbird and squirrel. Also, he is very manipulative and authoritative over Nora even for trivial matters. His oppressive power over Nora such as this makes me believe that he is indeed the major antagonist of the play whom influences Nora to be involved in several conflicts – ranging from little lies to committing a crime of forging a signature. In fact, these deceitful actions of Nora have either been caused by the overly manipulative control of Helmer, or were done for the benefit of Helmer and his reputation in their society. Although I am well aware of the expectations of gender roles in a male dominated society during the time, it angers me that Helmer thinks of himself as a much greater person than his wife Nora, and very often objectifying Nora as an entertainer and a doll, not even caring to have a deep conversation with Nora on her views and problems. Helmer being Nora’s husband, I believe that he should be more understanding and empathising of Nora’s situation of being suppressed by the social expectations and her lack of independence, but instead he is overly conscious of his status and appearance in society rather than the happiness of his wife and his family.
According to me, Helmer is the most despicable character. We see that throughout the book, he is portrayed as a very self-centered, childish, superior and also an incredibly overbearing character. He treats Nora more like a child than a wife by consistently calling her pet names and consistently adding “my little” before them. Also, itis shown as the play first opens that it is obvious how he enjoys the position of authority in his marriage with Nora. He treats her like a child that causes her to engage in a child-like behavior plus he favors a marriage in which his wife is dependent on the husband.For instance, in the beginning of the play where he takes her by the ear calling her “little featherhead” shows how Nora is his possession. Here we can argue that Hemer calls her names for it is his way of asserting power over her which in a way looks as if he were actually paying her a compliment. In general, he is overly concerned with his status in society which again shows how self-absorbed he is.
To me I believe that Krogstradt is the most despicable character in the play. The reason being that personality wise he is immoral, and self-centered, disregarding all but himself and his needs. This is seen when he blackmails Nora as he is using her position as Torvald's wife to ensure that he is able to keep his job despite being somewhat aware of the family's economic issues. It is also through this we see that he shows no remorse for his actions, this is because if he was remorseful he would attempt to change his ways, however he shows no signs of doing so and instead manipulates Nora into doing his bidding. He threatens a woman who will have nothing if this truth is revealed, this shows that he is indifferent to the suffering of others as long as it doesn't affect him negatively as he put Nora's reputation and family at stake.
Personally I find Helmer the most unbearable, Krogstad being my second choice. His attitude throughout the play seems too self-satisfied. My thought process was if I were to live with one of the characters, which would I be most annoyed with. Although Helmer could be considered caring, for the house and the money, I imagine living with him would be frustrating. His personality shows that he doesn't respect Nora, his own wife. However, it might have been the norm, in which case I would slightly overlook that. Helmer doesn't show much empathy to Krogstad when he knows the job means a lot and would help financially. His idiosyncrasies are largely egotistical and bad-mannered. The lack of deep thought and complexity bothers me a bit, but it might be just my misinterpretation of the text. The way he speaks to Nora is too cavalier, which is another reason why he could be hard to live with. While reading the text, he seems too authoritarian all the time. There has yet to be a scene where we can see the emotions that make him vulnerable.
In the play, I personally find the most despicable character so far is Krogstad. I do believe that Torvald is despicable as well, however, Krogstad's character has convinced me more than the others to be the the worst. This is because Krogstad's way of getting his reputation and place in the bank back is really awful. Instead of trying to be a better person, he attempts to get back his standing in the world by being cruel. We see this in the way he threatens Nora in her own house. As a reader, I thought Krogstad would be able to empathize with Nora as she is in a similar situation as he has been in before. However, this is not the case, Krogstad's character has different motives, he is portrayed to be cruel and unjust and feels no sympathy for Nora. He not only terrorizes Nora but intervenes her family as a whole. He goes to the Helmer residence to threaten Nora when she was playing with her children, then he reveals his aim to take Torvald's place as the manager's right-hand man at the bank, thus making him the most despicable character in the play so far.
Personally at this point in time I feel that the most despicable character is Krogstad. This is because he is a hypocrite and manipulates Nora for the same crime he committed. Nora committed the crime in order to save her husband's life, whereas the reason why Krogstad commited it is still unknown to the audience. Furthermore, I also think Krogstad is despicable because he feels the need to drag Nora down the river with him which serves no purpose to either of them. In addition to this, he shows no sign of sympathy to Nora despite understanding the situation she is in which I believe is far worse off than the situation he was in. This is because she is reliant on her husband for financial support and has to maintain their appearance and image of a 'perfect' couple. If her shortcomings were to be exposed, she would be left in a far more difficult state than Krogstad ever was. Furthermore, he does not accept his mistakes and attempts to exist without acknowledging them as addressed by Helmer. However, it can be said that Krogstad is a victim of society as he is shunned away due to mere allegations and the lack of substantial evidence that suggest he committed the crime. I believe what will really determine my views on who is the most despicable character in the play will be when I discover regarding his intentions when he forged the signature. This is because we judge Nora on her intentions whereas we judge Krogstad on his actions, therefore I believe we should treat Krogstad in a similar way.
In my opinion the character I find to be the most despicable in the play is Nora. My reasons for this is because during the time, in that society the female role was shown as to not have a real part in the working side of the society. So in actual thought what Torvald has been doing can be considered as normal and not actually offensive in much way. Though it is seen in the book that Nora is quite deceiving right from the beginning, from the actions of Torvald it is seen that he wants a wife it can also be seen as just a way to make him feel better though in the time of the society it was a norm for everyone to do this so Nora’s actions are the ones that can be seen as offensive and not allowed. Also the way that she sometimes jumps to things without knowledge of the subject annoys me at times as she causes problems that should of not been there in the first place.
In my opinion the character I find to be the most despicable in the play so far would be Helmer. Although other male characters in the play could be considered despicable like Krogstad because of how he tries to manipulate Nora, I understand his position as she is illegally in debt with a lot of money and costed him his job. Another person other than Helmer who may be considered despicable is Dr. Rank, as Nora mentions he is a close family friend and Helmer’s best friend for over a long time now, yet he attempts to seduce Nora behind Helmer’s back and tries to take her to bed. I find Helmer to be most despicable because of the way he treats Nora, his wife. I understand at the time that females were considered much lower than males, which is no exception to the language he uses when talking to Nora, it empowers him and I find him to be a cocky individual who underestimates her. We understand their relationship more so after Nora reveals that she had gone out of her way to pay for Helmer’s medical costs. Even though her lack of understanding of business and how things work, she hides the fact she paid for his medical costs because it might put him to shame. Nora masks her intelligence from Helmer and continues to accept the fact he belittles her, the constant use of the word ‘little’ is degrading.
In the play I believe Helmer is the most despicable so far. Krogstad could be a choice but I believe that Helmer acts more selfishly in front of his own family when Krogstads immoral actions are for his family’s sake. At the start of act 3 I started to notice my contempt in Helmer. For instance “(in a lower voice) Nora- soon the whole house will be quiet.” And then when she retaliates he says “What’s that? You’re joking, my little Nora! You wont?—you wont? Am I not your husband?” This made me find Helmer despicable; he seems to have no respect for Nora whatsoever with belittling her and manipulating her for his sexual favours. In addition, in those days you had to please your husband if he wanted you to do so. It almost seems as if he could have been abusive to her if Dr Rank didn’t come and knock on the door. Helmer is selfish in the sense that he does not respect his wife’s unless she does what he says which does not make me comfortable.
I believe that the most despicable character in the play so far is Torvald. I personally can not stand him because of how he treats his wife, the way he does not see or treat as an equal but more like a possession/plaything or trophy. Although this is what women were treated most likely during these times, these actions seem normal. There are two sides of Torvalds treatment to his wife Nora, there is the part of him that is treating her nicely and taking care of here. On the other hand there is this side of him that belittles Nora and makes her feel like a doll (which explains the title a bit more) that is to be admired.
I find quite a lot of the characters in the play despicable, like Krogstad and especially Nora - but the one character I cannot stand is her husband, Torvald Helmer. From just act one, we are able to see what type of character he is when he treats Nora like a child by calling her silly names like "little skylark" or "little squirrel" and scolding her for eating macaroons - not that she minded. And further on in the play, we can see that he doesn't even see her as a child but a doll when he gets her to dress up and dance for him. Torvald is also a very self-centered character, a trait that is usually considered quite despicable, when he makes everything about him - like wishing his own wife would be in danger so he risk his own life to save her, making himself the hero thus making it about him.
ReplyDeleteMost despicable character: Krogstad
ReplyDeleteKrogstad is a person who has been looked down upon by society. Also Both Nora and Krogstad have committed the same crime: forgery of signatures. Though he did break the law, Krogstad’s crime was relatively minor, but society has burdened him with the mark of being a criminal and banned him from moving on from his past. Also Krogstad’s claim that his immoral behavior began when Mrs. Linde abandoned him for a man with money so she could provide for her family makes it possible for us to understand Krogstad as a victim of circumstances. One could argue that society forced Mrs. Linde away from Krogstad and thus prompted his crime. Though society’s unfair treatment of Krogstad does not justify his actions, it does put him more closely with Nora and also his willingness to allow Nora to suffer is vile, but his claims to feel sympathy for her and the hard circumstances of his own life compel us to sympathize with him to some degree thus tempers our perception of him as a despicable character considering that he does work at the bank and should have known better.
Personally, Krogstad is the most despicable character in the play so far. While I am able to sympathise with him and understand that he wants his job back, I am shocked by his methods for attempting to get it back. He is the only character capable of blackmail. While Nora is manipulative and lies, she seems to be doing it for her husband’s good and she does not threaten anyone or blackmail them. The audience is empathetic towards Nora because she is going through a mental and emotional breakdown at the end of Act 1 and all throughout Act 2. She is portrayed as relatively vulnerable, distressed, and unable to understand the seriousness of her actions. Krogstad comes in to her home where she is meant to be strongest and threatens her reputation, marriage and life all at once. Krogstad is also seen negatively through Helmer’s eyes because of the forgery he committed. Therefore, I believe that Krogstad is the most despicable character as he takes advantages of the weak women, threatens people and has given the audience no reason to like him.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the most despicable character in the play so far is Dr. Rank. I think this because although his character does not necessarily directly affect the events that take place he has been deceitful for many years before the time mentioned. Dr. Rank works closely and has always been best friends with Torvald; he is supposed to be a trustworthy man in Torvald's life. From Act two however it is clear he has always had his eyes set on Nora. He visits the Helmers everyday and this enough is devious, as we understand that he does not do so out of the good will of his heart, to see his best friend and discuss business however we can assume it is to see Nora and to take advantage of as much time he can have with her. I think he is a very tactical character in his ways as he uses his illness as way to make Nora feel sympathy for and in turn get what he wants. I see him as the most despicable as he does not merely display devious characteristics and manipulate them in this one particular event in which the novel is based around however has been fooling the Helmers for many years. I think it is horrible that he confronts Nora and do so after many years of being close with their family and her husband’s best friend. We then question Dr. Rank’s motives to work closely to the family for such a long period of time.
ReplyDeleteIn my point of view, the most despicable character so far in the play would be Torvald Helmer. This was an extremely difficult decision to make as I also found both Krogstad and Dr Rank very despicable. However, having empathy on Nora’s character, I believe that Helmer – being Nora’s husband - plays the biggest role in negatively influencing Nora’s life. Firstly, Helmer is always belittling Nora, calling her names such as songbird and squirrel. Also, he is very manipulative and authoritative over Nora even for trivial matters. His oppressive power over Nora such as this makes me believe that he is indeed the major antagonist of the play whom influences Nora to be involved in several conflicts – ranging from little lies to committing a crime of forging a signature. In fact, these deceitful actions of Nora have either been caused by the overly manipulative control of Helmer, or were done for the benefit of Helmer and his reputation in their society. Although I am well aware of the expectations of gender roles in a male dominated society during the time, it angers me that Helmer thinks of himself as a much greater person than his wife Nora, and very often objectifying Nora as an entertainer and a doll, not even caring to have a deep conversation with Nora on her views and problems. Helmer being Nora’s husband, I believe that he should be more understanding and empathising of Nora’s situation of being suppressed by the social expectations and her lack of independence, but instead he is overly conscious of his status and appearance in society rather than the happiness of his wife and his family.
ReplyDeleteAccording to me, Helmer is the most despicable character. We see that throughout the book, he is portrayed as a very self-centered, childish, superior and also an incredibly overbearing character. He treats Nora more like a child than a wife by consistently calling her pet names and consistently adding “my little” before them. Also, itis shown as the play first opens that it is obvious how he enjoys the position of authority in his marriage with Nora. He treats her like a child that causes her to engage in a child-like behavior plus he favors a marriage in which his wife is dependent on the husband.For instance, in the beginning of the play where he takes her by the ear calling her “little featherhead” shows how Nora is his possession. Here we can argue that Hemer calls her names for it is his way of asserting power over her which in a way looks as if he were actually paying her a compliment. In general, he is overly concerned with his status in society which again shows how self-absorbed he is.
ReplyDeleteTo me I believe that Krogstradt is the most despicable character in the play. The reason being that personality wise he is immoral, and self-centered, disregarding all but himself and his needs. This is seen when he blackmails Nora as he is using her position as Torvald's wife to ensure that he is able to keep his job despite being somewhat aware of the family's economic issues. It is also through this we see that he shows no remorse for his actions, this is because if he was remorseful he would attempt to change his ways, however he shows no signs of doing so and instead manipulates Nora into doing his bidding. He threatens a woman who will have nothing if this truth is revealed, this shows that he is indifferent to the suffering of others as long as it doesn't affect him negatively as he put Nora's reputation and family at stake.
ReplyDeletePersonally I find Helmer the most unbearable, Krogstad being my second choice. His attitude throughout the play seems too self-satisfied. My thought process was if I were to live with one of the characters, which would I be most annoyed with. Although Helmer could be considered caring, for the house and the money, I imagine living with him would be frustrating. His personality shows that he doesn't respect Nora, his own wife. However, it might have been the norm, in which case I would slightly overlook that. Helmer doesn't show much empathy to Krogstad when he knows the job means a lot and would help financially. His idiosyncrasies are largely egotistical and bad-mannered. The lack of deep thought and complexity bothers me a bit, but it might be just my misinterpretation of the text. The way he speaks to Nora is too cavalier, which is another reason why he could be hard to live with. While reading the text, he seems too authoritarian all the time. There has yet to be a scene where we can see the emotions that make him vulnerable.
ReplyDeleteIn the play, I personally find the most despicable character so far is Krogstad. I do believe that Torvald is despicable as well, however, Krogstad's character has convinced me more than the others to be the the worst. This is because Krogstad's way of getting his reputation and place in the bank back is really awful. Instead of trying to be a better person, he attempts to get back his standing in the world by being cruel. We see this in the way he threatens Nora in her own house. As a reader, I thought Krogstad would be able to empathize with Nora as she is in a similar situation as he has been in before. However, this is not the case, Krogstad's character has different motives, he is portrayed to be cruel and unjust and feels no sympathy for Nora. He not only terrorizes Nora but intervenes her family as a whole. He goes to the Helmer residence to threaten Nora when she was playing with her children, then he reveals his aim to take Torvald's place as the manager's right-hand man at the bank, thus making him the most despicable character in the play so far.
ReplyDeletePersonally at this point in time I feel that the most despicable character is Krogstad. This is because he is a hypocrite and manipulates Nora for the same crime he committed. Nora committed the crime in order to save her husband's life, whereas the reason why Krogstad commited it is still unknown to the audience. Furthermore, I also think Krogstad is despicable because he feels the need to drag Nora down the river with him which serves no purpose to either of them. In addition to this, he shows no sign of sympathy to Nora despite understanding the situation she is in which I believe is far worse off than the situation he was in. This is because she is reliant on her husband for financial support and has to maintain their appearance and image of a 'perfect' couple. If her shortcomings were to be exposed, she would be left in a far more difficult state than Krogstad ever was. Furthermore, he does not accept his mistakes and attempts to exist without acknowledging them as addressed by Helmer. However, it can be said that Krogstad is a victim of society as he is shunned away due to mere allegations and the lack of substantial evidence that suggest he committed the crime. I believe what will really determine my views on who is the most despicable character in the play will be when I discover regarding his intentions when he forged the signature. This is because we judge Nora on her intentions whereas we judge Krogstad on his actions, therefore I believe we should treat Krogstad in a similar way.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the character I find to be the most despicable in the play is Nora. My reasons for this is because during the time, in that society the female role was shown as to not have a real part in the working side of the society. So in actual thought what Torvald has been doing can be considered as normal and not actually offensive in much way. Though it is seen in the book that Nora is quite deceiving right from the beginning, from the actions of Torvald it is seen that he wants a wife it can also be seen as just a way to make him feel better though in the time of the society it was a norm for everyone to do this so Nora’s actions are the ones that can be seen as offensive and not allowed. Also the way that she sometimes jumps to things without knowledge of the subject annoys me at times as she causes problems that should of not been there in the first place.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the character I find to be the most despicable in the play so far would be Helmer. Although other male characters in the play could be considered despicable like Krogstad because of how he tries to manipulate Nora, I understand his position as she is illegally in debt with a lot of money and costed him his job. Another person other than Helmer who may be considered despicable is Dr. Rank, as Nora mentions he is a close family friend and Helmer’s best friend for over a long time now, yet he attempts to seduce Nora behind Helmer’s back and tries to take her to bed. I find Helmer to be most despicable because of the way he treats Nora, his wife. I understand at the time that females were considered much lower than males, which is no exception to the language he uses when talking to Nora, it empowers him and I find him to be a cocky individual who underestimates her. We understand their relationship more so after Nora reveals that she had gone out of her way to pay for Helmer’s medical costs. Even though her lack of understanding of business and how things work, she hides the fact she paid for his medical costs because it might put him to shame. Nora masks her intelligence from Helmer and continues to accept the fact he belittles her, the constant use of the word ‘little’ is degrading.
ReplyDeleteIn the play I believe Helmer is the most despicable so far. Krogstad could be a choice but I believe that Helmer acts more selfishly in front of his own family when Krogstads immoral actions are for his family’s sake. At the start of act 3 I started to notice my contempt in Helmer. For instance “(in a lower voice) Nora- soon the whole house will be quiet.” And then when she retaliates he says “What’s that? You’re joking, my little Nora! You wont?—you wont? Am I not your husband?” This made me find Helmer despicable; he seems to have no respect for Nora whatsoever with belittling her and manipulating her for his sexual favours. In addition, in those days you had to please your husband if he wanted you to do so. It almost seems as if he could have been abusive to her if Dr Rank didn’t come and knock on the door. Helmer is selfish in the sense that he does not respect his wife’s unless she does what he says which does not make me comfortable.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the most despicable character in the play so far is Torvald. I personally can not stand him because of how he treats his wife, the way he does not see or treat as an equal but more like a possession/plaything or trophy. Although this is what women were treated most likely during these times, these actions seem normal. There are two sides of Torvalds treatment to his wife Nora, there is the part of him that is treating her nicely and taking care of here. On the other hand there is this side of him that belittles Nora and makes her feel like a doll (which explains the title a bit more) that is to be admired.
ReplyDelete