Though Siddhartha and A Dolls House share a completely different storyline, they are very much similar because of the development of the main characters throughout the two stories. Nora, from the play A Dolls House, changes her image after recognizing what kind of life she was living. Siddhartha, from the book Siddhartha, becomes aware that life cannot be taught, and that it had to be experienced first-hand. Both of the main characters seemed to have suddenly awakened from what I consider enslavement of the mind.
I believe this because they are not free to think about things without the influence of their surrounding society. Nora notices that she is living her life in wretchedness at the end of the play, when she says, here is your ring back. Give me mine. (Act III) This quote displays Noras ambition to move on in life and free her mind from the interrogations brought to her from Torvald. Siddhartha reaches this awakening while he is young. He mentions to his father about leaving the house to join the teachings of the Samanas.
He moved on again and began to walk quickly and impatiently, no longer homewards, no longer to his father, no longer looking backwards. This quote shows that Siddhartha is ready to move on and leave the everyday society, and beliefs of his parents. These quotes convey the spark of these characters new beliefs. Nora, appearing as the ordinary housewife, really is not what she appears to be. The play greatly lets off the vibe of the saying, ignorance is bliss.
I receive this vibe because Nora seemed mentally enslaved and totally ignorant to what was going on around her. Her father owned her and made her do everything he wanted, and now her husband is playing that role. Her whole life seems to be awful, but then the plot thickens, and Nora awakens from her everyday, coma of ignorance. Nora has morphed from a housewife into a liberated woman. These changes occur throughout the three acts of A Dolls House, and are the basis of the play.
Nora, the innocent little housewife, starts off as a harmless little doll but soon changes. She is Torvalds perfect wife in the beginning of the play, but little does he know that she has a mind of her own and isnt really his little doll. The opening of Noras ulterior personality starts when she opens up to Mrs. Linde (Act 1). Nora bleeds to Mrs. Linde her financial problems with the trip that she spent two hundred and fifty pounds on, on her husband. Being the reader, I was shocked to hear so knowing how harmless and perfect Nora appeared to be.
Then later on, the plot unfolds and reveals the incriminating fact that Nora had been owing Krogstad this money the whole time and had been paying him back in increments with the allowance given to her by Torvald. It is crazy that Nora had been so sneaky all along and had been keeping it away from Torvald all along. Nora is then stuck in a dilemma when Krogstad blackmailed her by telling her that she has to get his job back or hell reveal the whole thing to Torvald. This means that Noras life is not as simple as it seemed.
Towards the peak of the play Nora is a much different character than in the beginning. The plot twists and turns due to her sneakiness and her image changed from a boring housewife to a full-fledged woman. Siddhartha, on the other hand, didnt as much change his views, but traveled a path to enlightenment. If he had not left his home, he would be the average individual, and not the enlightened one. Siddharthas experiences are a bit supernatural. It would definitely be hard to undergo the life of Siddhartha in todays society, even though it sounds like it is the right path to take.
Society cannot be escaped like it could have been years ago. It holds bonds to people, and keep them from escaping to a freedom of mentality. The natural items such as life, liberty, and happiness, are something that has to be worked for in todays society, rather than found. Siddhartha, not like most in his time, freed himself and found happiness. A Dolls House and Siddhartha both shared common themes of finding ones self. Despite their different time periods, and storyline, they are very much alike when analyzed closely.
