care for them, like in Freddy’s case. "You really are very helpless, Freddy. Go again; and don’t come back until you have found a cab"(Shaw 574). Because Freddy is a male, he is expected by his mother and sister to find a cab for them in the rain when there are none in sight. Even on the streets men will defend women who they don’t even know. "What business is it of yours? You mind your own affairs....Nice thing a girl cant shelter from the rain without being insulted,"(Shaw 576). Bystanders noticing the flower girl is upset by the note taker, they defend her, if she were a man they would have expected her to fend for herself. The second requirement that makes a man a man in Victorian times is his perfect family. "There they are!...Look at them, Christine! Aren’t they darlings?"(Ibsen 19). Nora is showing off her perfect little children to her friend Mrs. Linde. "Yes, take a good look at her. I think she is worth looking at. Isn’t she charming, Mrs. Linde?"(Ibsen 53). Torvald is now showing off his prize trophy, his wife, as if Mrs. Linde really cares. With a perfect wife and children Torvald can be seen as a true hard-working, good man. Yet, many times these seemingly good values are flawed underneath. There are many problems with these values imposed on men in Victorian times. In the case of protecting his woman, we see Torvald’s true ‘colors’ in the end of the play after he discovers Nora’s criminal act. "All these eight years-she who was my joy and pride-a hypocrite, a liar-worse, worse-a criminal! I ought to have suspected that something of the sort would happen"(Ibsen 59-60). Torvald himself is really the hypocrite, wasn’t he longing for something to protect his wife against? Now that the time is come he blames her for burdening him to have to make the situation right. Nora has real guts, guts more than her overbearing husband, in that she never has really needed his help...
