Being Your Own Victim. A Doll's House Essay Example

Throughout the journey of life it’s common that people have obstacles that challenges their persona and their abilities to adapt or face their challenge. In moments such as facing moments of adversity, individuals such as Martin Luther King Jr, Jack Ma, Michael Jordan, etc dealt with those moments of difficulty by getting rid of the victim mentally, which will eventually bring them success and helped evolve today’s modern world. It’s easier for other people and mostly commonly seen within them that they play the role of the victim rather than having a different mindset in moments of harshness in their life.  

Dealing with adversity with the proper mentality is like going to the weight room on a daily basis, you can only get stronger than  the day you were before. Approaching life and obstacles with the right mindset could open opportunities for one’s self development.  A strenuous challenge in ones daily life can lead to moments of greatness such as being successful, however it can also lead to moments in which a person can lose control of its own mind, it will lead them to live a life of misery, and never being able to live a life of freedom with aspirations.     

The essence of  having an obstacle has an ugly beauty held within it, due to the fact that it will either destroy the human person mentally or can lead to moments of personal growth and fulfillment. Throughout  this stage in a person's life many people lack of responsibility and a non victim  response to their situation, in which in fact is the most painless decision during a short period of time, without the acknowledgement of future consequences. Lacking qualities and having the wrong mindset can lead to the downfall of a person due to the fact that unfortunately, past and current society struggle to accept their mistakes and act as if they where the victim, although it may seem as the easy way out of it, it can add up and lead to massive problems in a future.

In Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, we exhibit how having a fragile mindset and personality, will eventually shape and build the character of Nora as the  victim unlike Dr. Ramk who has a complete different point of view in moments of difficulty; “ Ah, but when it happens to be a wife with a bit of sense for business... a wife knows her way about things, then... (Ibsen 14). Not only does Nora lie about getting away about things, she pretends to know what she’s doing, while in reality she’s only digging herself in a hole deeper and deeper. 

Even though this is a description of Nora, it illustrates how its part of the human nature to approach circumstance as a victim or pretending to fool others but unconsciously deceiving yourself. Naturally humans tend to have an unreachable expectation of making everything seem perfect and it’s been demonstrated in past  and current generations where people portray a self image that they really aren't in order to exceed the expectations society puts on us.   

Throughout the journey of life and people evolving year after year, humankind can really be sucked up into the mindset of living a life of mediocrity and unfulfilled goals due to the fact of trying to live by the standards of society. A major problem in society is the lack of courage and mindset that leads us to live a life in where we imprisoned ourselves. There are scenarios in the journey of life where people can’t control what’s happening to them but responding to the problem itself with the right attitude is something we are responsible for. 

This theme can be seen through the character of Dr. Bank when he’s told that he’s going to die; “With death starting me in the face? Why should I suffer for another’s man’s  sins? What justice is there in that? Somewhere, somehow, every single family must be suffering some such cruel retribution” (Ibsen 45). In moments such as this, Dr Bank approaches his problem with serenity and with an open mind in which will bring him inner peace and freedom in its own conscious. 

Additionally, Dr. Bank reveals his love for Nora, because he didn’t wanted to live with the regret of not confession his love for her, especially  since he knew was coming. Unlike Nora both have different obstacles, one greater than the other, but the mindset both approach their situation is what separates the victims and the leaders. Through his serenity and honesty, Dr. Bank shows how to approach adversity with the mentality of not being a victim and being a fountain in a society where the majority of the people would be beating themselves for being the ones going through those moments of harshness. These qualities Dr. Bank holds, is a highlight being in control of one's own mind and fulfillment.        

There’s been many different occasions where people undergo moments of difficulty and often times they find themselves trapped within their own mind that essentially they will feel imprisoned and hopeless with no ability to respond to their current situation. There’s an ideology among our world that brings pressure to society that often times causes people to have vulnerable feelings, that will eventually control them more than they actually control themselves. 

This theme is evident throughout  the character of Nora because after she realizes that Torvald had been mistreating her all the time throughout their  marriage, she isn’t blinded by her emotions and mental weakness, therefore it leads her to making a huge decision for the rest of her live; “Nora: Never have I felt so calm and collected as I do tonight. I’m desperately sorry, Torvald..... But I can’t help  it. I don’t love you anymore” (Ibsen 83). This is a clear representation on  how humanity really starts to improve after their mindset has changed. Nora was always living as a prisoner in her own mind and will act as a victim, while in reality she was causing all the problems. The moment Nora releases  that mindset, thoughts with more clarity appear in her head, decision regarding her self and the future are being made with more responsibility, and eventually will benefit her.         

In current generations people struggle facing their obstacles that they often feel like a victim, while in reality they were the ones who put themselves in trouble, just like Nora in the play A Dolls House.  Bruce Lee, a famous actor, once-said, “When you find yourself in a room surrounded by your enemies you should tell yourself. ‘I am not locked in here with you, you are in here with me.’ This is the kind of mindset you should have if you want to succeed life. Get rid of that victim mentality. Getting rid of the victim mentality will essentially improve the odds of having a life with high aspirations, being able to fulfill them, but most importantly having inner  peace and freedom. 

Works Cited 

Citation- Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. Dover Thrift Edition. New York: Dover Publications, 1992.