Ibsen's 'A Doll House' - Essay Example

? Ibsen’s ic play “A Doll House” is rife with symbolism and melodrama, but one thing it is short on is characters. There are only five characters of any real note in the play, and with all that one of the, Dr. Rank, is seemingly useless. He does not drive the plot forward in any particular way, and even his death fails to significantly affect the outcome of the play. Yet he must have some purpose, for a playwright of Ibsen’s calibre would not include a play with an absolutely useless character. The question then becomes what is point is. In a play as full of symbolism as “A Doll House,” a classic explanation of his role is as a symbol for something else in a play, such as characteristics of the other characters or the degredation of society. While this is somewhat true, and there are definitely ways to read Dr. Rank as a symbol, the most compelling explanation for his role almost that of a “straight-man” whose contact with reality shows the ridiculousness of the characters around them and how out of touch with the world they truly are. There is no way to deny that there are some potent elements of symbolism in Dr. Rank’s character. Probably the most significant is his disease, what Nora calls a “consumption of the spine” (Act 2). This illness is symbolic in a wide variety of ways. Firstly, it could be seen as being a symbol for the degradation of society due to living in unnatural circumstances of intense division of power between men and women. The family is often metaphorically called the backbone of society, and Rank’s disease could represent the internal consumption that is silently and subtly destroying the Helmer’s marriage. Also, like ailments in society Dr. Rank’s illness is inherited from his father who was overly gluttonous, and so Dr. Rank’s “poor innocent spine” must suffer for his father’s misdeeds, which parallels the way that problem in society get perpetuated again and again and again. So if the family is the backbone of society, and Rank represents the decay of that backbone, then he can function as a symbol for the collapse of not only the Helmer’s marriage but also of the Victorian society which allows travesties like their marriage to go on. This symbolism can be extended even further by examining the timing of Dr. Rank’s death. Dr. Rank’s spine kills him at the same time as the internal consumption of the Helmer’s marriage destroys itself, connecting the two ideas. Furthermore, when the letters that will end up destroying the marriage come to the family, they bear black crosses, a symbol inexorably connected with death (Act 3). The timing and circumstances of Rank’s death lend credence to the idea that he functions as a symbol for the internal weaknesses of the Helmer’s marriage. And as the Helmer’s marriage is supposed to be representative of all of that class of Victorian society, he and his illness represent the ticking clock of internal decay that will bring down the backbone of the supposedly perfect Victorian family. There is little doubt that Dr. Rank has at least some symbolic value. Frankly, Ibsen uses symbols so heavily that it would be difficult to find any aspect of this play that does not have symbolic value relating to any other aspect. This is not, however, Dr. Rnak’s only purpose. Even more important than his symbolic value is his value as an outsider for the family, someone who has real-world problems (such as his impending death) that shed light on the farce that everyone in the Helmer’s house is leading. This farce first becomes apparent through Norah’s complete disconnection with the world. When she is seeing doctor Rank of for the first time, she completely underestimates the degree of his illness, saying that he “must be well enough” to come over, without even asking if he is okay (Act 1). She says this of a man who will be dead in two short acts, showing that she completely underestimates the ravages that can assault a human body. Dr. Rank draws out Nora’s inability to empathise with another person, her lack of connection with reality. Dr. Rank does not only draw out Nora’s inability to understand and deal with the reality, but also her husband, Helmer’s inability to do so. The biggest sign of this comes in the second act, when Nora inquires about whether Dr. Rank would allow her husband to come comfort him in his sick bed. His answer is worth a close look: “There is something I want to tell you. Helmer’s refined nature gives him an unconquerable disgust at everything that is ugly.” This is an incredibly telling statement. Dr. Rank, who knows Helmer incredibly well, “bars” his door from his best friend because he is unable to deal with “anything that is ugly.” But the problem is that many things in life are ugly, even things in family, and Helmer’s inability to deal with the reality of death recalls his inability to deal with anyting else in his life, from the fact that his wife needs more freedom to actually being able to take part in raising his children. Dr. Rank’s illness and death are the real world, with real world problems intruding on the supposedly perfect world, and demonstrating that they cannot possibly deal with any intrusions of the real world. Dr. Rank’s death finally throws Nora’s and Helmer’s selfishness into final contrast, by showing that they do not care significantly even about the death of their incredibly close friend. Dr. Rank serves a wide variety of roles in the text of “A Doll House,” though all of them are incredibly subtle. The first purpose is definitely symbolism, like many aspects of “A Doll House” Rank serves as a symbol for the problems in Victorian families and society through his illness. But more importantly, his presence represents an intrusion of the real world into the perfect world of the doll house, and demonstrates the two main characters complete inability to deal with the real world. His tragic illness and death show how fundamentally sheltered, out of touch and unable to deal with the real world Nora and her husband truly are. Read More