Paper 2 practice

Chosen question: There is no love without suffering. Discuss the extent to which the two works you have
studied support this view

In both A doll´s house by Henrik Ibsen, published in 1879, and A view from the bridge by Arthur miller,
published in 1955, the idea that there is no love without suffering is present through the constant
hardships that characters in either works go through. These hardships' importance in creating love is
represented through themes like jealousy, power dynamics in between characters and tension. In A
doll's house, this is seen through Nora´s silent suffering at the hands of her husband, Torvald, who is
very overbearing and stern with Nora. In A view from the bridge, it is explored through Eddie Carbone
and his dilemma of being righteous or being loyal to his moral code, which he feels bound to.

Tension is one of the key elements in both works, and it is most clear in the play A doll's house.
It is clear from the start that the main character, Nora, is tense all the time, as she is always
expected to be on her best behavior for her husband Torvald; on many occasions, we see Nora
acting abnormally, in a form that upsets her and the reader alike only to make Torvald joyful.
This is case when Nora has incessantly danced the tarantella, just for her to please her husband,
and it is clearly something she is not enjoying, “Torvald wants me to appear as a Neapolitan
fishing girl and dance the tarantella.”. Here, Ibsen shows how Nora is only doing this because
Torvald wants her to, and that she doesn't feel comfortable doing so, but would never question
her husband's authority. Nora gets nervous when she notices that the costume is damaged due
to its lack of use “now it's all torn, I don't know-” and moments after this, proceeds to sew it
back to a usable condition. We see here the lengths Nora will go to avoid conflict with her
husband and she feels the need to have everything in perfection, leading to her always being
tense because of it and seeing how her love for Torvald comes at the price of her peace of mind
and relaxation, as she is constantly aware that any lack of attention from her will cause a heavy
strain in her superficial love with her husband. In a view from the bridge, we see instances of
tension in scenes where Eddie interacts with Catherine. In a particular scene, in which
Catherine tells Eddie and Beatrice about her plan of getting a job in the docks, there is a sudden
rise in tension, as Eddie affirms his niece that “you´ll get nowhere unless you finish school” and
he denies her the freedom she is seeking as an adult. From that point onwards, there is tension
in between Eddie and Catherine, as they do love each other, but Eddie wants to maintain a tight
grip around Catherine, and she wants to go out in the world, as she is already a young adult by
this time.
The power dynamics in both the stories are something which is also very prevalent. The most
obvious power dynamic comes in the form of Eddie and Beatrice´s marriage. Eddie and Beatrice
´s marriage have the following power dynamic: Eddie tells Beatrice what to do and she doesn't
question it. A very clear instance of this is when Beatrice lets Eddie know that she wants to be
intimate with him and implies that they should have sex, since they haven't done it in a while.
Eddie gets angry at his wife for suggesting he does something he is not in the mood for, “I dont
know B, I don't wanna talk about it.”. Eddie not giving his wife satisfaction on his choice and
choosing not to explain himself, followed by Beatrice not questioning his choice shows the
power dynamic in the Carbone household, and it is one of the prices Beatrice pays for their
love. The same applies to Torvald and Nora in the Helmer household. After the guests leave,
Torvald almost demands that Nora has sex with him, “I see you are teasing me? Wont! Wont!
Am I not your husband?”. Here, the repetition of the words won't imply as a sense that Torvald
is almost daring Nora to oppose him and doesn't take her refusal seriously. This interaction
shows how the power dynamic in their household is limited to Torvald getting what he wants
from Nora, whenever he desires, whether she wants to or not. It is very similar to Eddie and
Beatrice, in the sense that neither she nor Nora will question either of their husband´s orders,
and it is the price they pay for loving them.
Another way in which we see the price of love is jealousy by part of either male figure in the
stories. It is very evident that Torvald is quite jealous of Nora and wants her only for himself.
We see this in instances such as when Dr. Rank visits, when she is conversing with Mrs. Linden
and after Tarantella. The way Torvald addresses Nora by calling her small, vulnerable animal
names, such as “lark”, “songbird” and “squirrel” and always using “my” beforehand shows how
possessive she is of her, and this is further emphasized when he says, “the loveliness that is
mine, mine only, wholly and entirely mine.”. Torvald is also annoyed at times when people
impede him from being left alone with Nora, “At last, we got rid of her; she is an awful bore.”.
The use of such aggressive language through Torvald shows how he wants Nora to be only with
him, and dislikes others being around her. In A view from the bridge, jealousy plays a big part in
Eddie and Catherine´s relationship. Though not explicit, Eddie has an incestuous attraction to
his niece, and because of this, constantly tries to shield her from external male attention that
isn't of his trust. This is the case of when he tries to emasculate Rodolpho in front of Catherine
to prove he was the better man, and invites and unexperienced Rodolpho to a boxing bout,
“Betcha you have done some, heh?”. Though Rodolpho rejects this many times, Eddie
insists that the unexperienced Rodolpho boxes with him, only for him to lose and look bad. He
also is against Catherine getting a job, as he fears the idea that other men will look at her and
discourages her from doing so, also saying that she must change her look, “you´re walking way”
and “heads are turning like windmills.”. This shows Eddie´s jealousy of his own niece and links
to the point that he and Torvald want the women to themselves, and because of this, they must
shield themselves from any other people that they think could take them from them.
In conclusion, we have seen how the authors have highlighted the idea that there is no love
without suffering in A doll´s house and A view from the bridge. The use of the themes of
Jealousy, tension and power dynamics show to what extent do characters have to go just love
somebody else.