My interpretation of Torvald Helmer is a character who embraces the belief that a man’s role in marriage is to protect and guide his wife. He clearly displays his enjoyment of the idea that Nora needs his guidance, and he interacts with her as a father would. Although Torvald appears to hold the power in his relationship with Nora, it seems that Torvald is actually the weaker and more childlike character despite referring to her as a “girl” or “child”. Torvald is very conscious of other people’s perceptions of him and of his standing in the community and prioritizes his reputation over his wife’s desires.
Through workshops during class, we wrote our own monologues, sampling the text from the play and creating an emotive piece. Furthermore, we focused on key areas putting emphasis on pitch, tone and line delivery. This consequently allowed us to develop our character and understand the hidden meaning and connect on an emotional level to improve my representation of the character.
The extract chosen provided us with numerous opportunities for not only me, but the group, to portray the challenging view of a woman standing up to her husband and taking back the control which was a controversial act within society at the time the play was written in 1879. At the beginning of the scene, I used a confused and worried facial expression in response to Nora’s change of attitude, on her line “Sit down… I’ve a lot to say to you”. Consequently, this showed that I’m not used to Nora acting in that way. I also adapted a strong, open body language show that I still have authority over her and to show that she is inferior to me. Additionally, I also decided to wear a suit to show my reputation, class and wealthy background. The general rhythm of the scene was slow in order to emphasize each line and the emotion conveyed.
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However, as our extract progressed, I wanted to portray a change in Torvald’s character as he begins to lose his control over Nora. I began to lose eye contact with Nora to reveal my sadness and concern for her. Furthermore, through workshops and independent work, we experimented with the impacts on voice and the effectiveness of varying tone and pitch. We then tried the scene with different pitches and tones to see what would be most effective. I came to the conclusion that I would sustain a low pitch throughout with a slightly lower tone to convey the how the conversation is having a negative effect on me. When I said, “Haven’t you been happy here? …Not- not happy?” I also feature a slight stutter and shake of the head to portray how surprising and saddening her response of not being happy was.
In the last section of the play, I decided to change Torvald’s character again and show a new side of his emotions. It is evident in the last part of our extract that Torvald begins to show his annoyance at Nora and her remarks. I returned to my stern facial expression and regained strong eye contact with her at the mention of “That’s why I am leaving you”. At this point the pace of the extract quickened and I began to use forceful pointing gestures out of anger, especially on the line “You’re out of your mind! You can’t do this! I forbid you!” At points I also put my head in my hands to show absolute disbelief at Nora’s actions and decisions to leave me, her husband and her children.
