A Doll's House, By Henrik Ibsen

“I believe before all else I am a reasonable human being, just as you are – or, at all events, that I must try and become one” (p.76). What possible factors can influence a woman to leave her husband and children behind? In the play, A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen wants to prove the importance of people finding themselves. A Doll’s House demonstrates a woman who takes on her wifely duties and behaves as her superior initiates. After being emotionally sheltered her entire life, Nora Helmer finally finds inner strength and chooses to live for herself. Because of Nora’s doll-like upbringing, she was never fit to be a mother; she is a wife and a daughter, but Nora never identifies with the role of motherhood. The character Nora Helmer, a beautiful,
Nora wears her fancy dresses and keeps her makeup as flawless as usual. Nora’s looks ultimately mock those of a doll. Torvald considers his wife an incompetent “poor little girl” who “has the best intentions to please all” (p.8). She is considered more of a “treasure” to look at rather than a mother figure (p.65). Nora Helmer feels as if she were her father’s first doll and passed into her husband’s hands. Her entire persona is based on being Torvald’s “doll-wife and her father’s doll-child in a home that has been nothing but a playroom” (p.74). Despite Nora’s perfect physical appearance, her inner conflicts are the real challenge. The sound of Nora’s inner voice is self-assuring but problematic. She doesn’t know which voice is the one of wisdom, something innate to many mothers. Regardless of portraying herself as an eager-to-please wife, Nora is accused of being a flippant, “spendthrift” woman (p. 4). She constantly dismisses her husband’s
Nora took out a loan for a year-trip to Italy when Torvald was deathly ill. Determined to save her husband, Nora forges her father’s signature to get the funds to keep Torvald alive. Nora struggles with the need to prevent the outburst of the secret versus revealing it to her husband herself. Despite Torvald’s assumptions, Nora Helmer is the opposite of a “little spendthrift” (p.4). Her secret loan has been near paid off by taking responsibility and pinching from her own allowance. She ultimately feels as if her actions are justified but is not sure if Torvald will agree. She stalls to keep Torvald from reading a letter from Krogstad explaining the fraud she committed behind his back. When Torvald discovers that Nora previously took out a loan, he becomes irritated, but forgives his wife immediately. Nora is furious at his willingness to forgive so hurriedly after finally learning he cares more about appearance and decency than her happiness. Mrs. Helmer realizes that the relationship between Torvald and herself has been imaginary. Torvald is muddled as Nora expresses to him that she “has never been happy even when she thought she was” (p.74). After coming to this realization, Nora “must try and educate herself” to find out who she really is (p. 75). Underneath her falsely portrayed character was a woman yearning to be