How Does Nora Change In A Doll's House

When reading A Doll’s House, one would think it’s just a normal play centered around an average family during Christmas time. They may appear perfect like a doll house, but behind the curtain they have their share of problems. This play mostly follows Nora, who is seen as a typical housewife and mother. Throughout the story, her character evolves the most in this play and one would believe she changes her life for the better; even going so far as to show feminist qualities of self-sufficiency and liberation. Not all Holidays can be joyful and perfect and her decision of leaving her family behind paved the way for many women to question their own treatment in society. It’s a decision that seemed so small but made a huge impact.

When first
seeing Nora in Act I she was upbeat and chipper after coming home from a shopping trip. Torvald her husband scolds her as one would scold a dog or child, calling her “spendthrift”. Her husband decides a lot for her, mainly money and her eating habits. She sneaks macaroons behind his back, almost like a sprout of rebellion; but is still loyal and listens to every word and demand he says. Torvald has all the power in the relationship, shown by the childish pet names he gives to Nora, “my little squirrel” or “skylark”. Nora seems to want to please her family, especially Torvald. Being a housewife is all Nora knows how to be. It is what society during that time period taught women to do. Everything seems normal and Nora seems happy but one would believe she’s putting on a façade, “To be free, absolutely free. To spend time playing with the children. To have a clean, beautiful house, the way Torvald likes it.” (Ibsen, Henrick). Nora doesn’t know what she wants in life and thinks the only way for her to be happy is to take care of her husband and children. In Act I and II we learn of a secret Nora has been hiding.
Apparently, she forged her deceased father’s name on a bond of money. Now she is being blackmailed and is trying to hide this from her husband. The title of the play suggests that on the surface everything in this house is perfect, but once those skeletons in the closet are uncovered this house is not as perfect as one would have thought. Torvald has no idea what secrets Nora is hiding and Nora is quite paranoid that he will find out. She even tells Mrs. Linde that she should wait until she’s older and less attractive to tell Torvald; she won’t have anything to lose then and knows that Torvald leave her. “Time will come when Torvald is not as devoted to me, not quite so happy when I dance for him, and dress for him, and play with him.” (Ibsen, Henrick). This shows that Nora is not as naïve as one thinks and knows that she is not happy with the marriage standards set upon her. She even goes so far as to think about killing herself just so she doesn’t have to tell Torvald. But as morbid as it sounds, the worse her secrets get the more independent she becomes. She actually starts to put herself before others and makes her own
decisions.

In Act III Nora’s secret is discovered by Torvald.
“Torvald Helmer is mildly surprised. He and his wife have come home from a late-night party and she has changed into street clothes rather than a nightdress. What’s up? In short order, as he hears what Nora has to say on this unexpectedly momentous night, Torvald’s bemusement turns to astonishment and disbelief. Their exchange—and the door slam that concludes it like a warning shot fired in advance of a revolution.” (ZINMAN, TOBY.). That’s when Nora truly finds out what her husband really thinks of her. She now knows Torvald will never appreciate her, even though she forged the money for his well-being and happiness. Nora had good intentions but because of the time and since she was a woman she could not go off on a whim and do something like that. But Torvald doesn’t care, he only cares about his name and money, not caring about Nora’s intentions or emotions, “From now on, forget happiness. Now it’s just about saving the remains, the wreckage, the appearance.” (Ibsen, Henrick). Torvald then tries to take back what he said and apologize, but it is too late. Nora sees beyond the doll house and sees the man she married for what he truly is; ungrateful, possessive and shallow. Truly one would think “did they ever love each other or did they just pretended that everything was okay when it clearly was not?” She is not convinced by his words and decides to leave her family behind. With everything off her chest and the secret she
has been hiding behind her she can start again. She was never allowed to do anything but be a slave to Torvald and her children, never having the opportunity to do anything she wanted in life, “I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald. That’s how I’ve survived. You wanted it like that. It’s because of you I’ve made nothing of my life.” (Ibsen, Henrick). So, she goes against the life she was destined to have by her gender and start a new life to find happiness as her own woman.

In conclusion, the most changed character in A Doll’s House is Nora. Her leaving her husband and family at the end shouldn’t be seen as sad occurence but a triumph to women of that time. “Overdetermined, declarative, stolid, and didactic, it's a message play. Nora, an innocent bourgeois housewife greatly wronged by her deceitful husband, Torvald, concludes the play by discovering herself, walking out the door, and slamming it behind her.” (Smith, Kyle). Nora goes from a passive housewife to an independent woman; going against what society deemed acceptable for a woman to do. She goes against what she was taught and breaks the shackles of marriage that Torvald bonded her to. She makes the ultimate sacrifice and divorces her husband and leaves her children and cookie-cutter life behind. Shedding her old skin and becoming liberated from being owned by someone else. By the end she leaves to search for her identity, to be who she wants to be in her own life.