How Does Nora Change Throughout The Play

Throughout books, short stories, and plays we witness as characters evolve and grow into their roles. These changes sometimes occur as a result of an event or possibly through the influence of another character. Nora Helmer in Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll House” is a character that finds her true self through her interactions with several minor characters. As the play opens, the reader sees Nora, the protagonist of the story, as what appears to be a prancing doll-like wife happy living under her husband’s possessive thumb. Her character give the feeling that she must please her husband by acting the role of the perfect wife. However, all of this changes with the assistance of several of the minor characters as her actual character personality
is exposed. She comes to the realization that her life has been more of a forced fairytale than reality. The dependence on her husband, Torvald, which she has come to live by, is not necessary. By the end of the play her character has transformed into a woman with a strong mindset who is ready to break free of her life in a doll’s house.
No one character in the play appears more opposite from Nora as her long lost friend Mrs. Kristine Linde. Kristine is first introduced in act one of the play as she comes calling on the Helmer’s in hopes of finding employment with Torvald at the bank. Through the conversation of Nora and Kristine, the reader learns that Kristine is worldly and has lived a life of sacrifice to ensure her and her family’s survival. Instead of marrying her true love, she is marries a man of convenience. The childless Mrs. Linde finds her freedom when her husband leaves her a penniless widow. Mrs. Linde’s character is a stark contrast to Mrs. Helmer’s.
Even though their differences are apparent, Kristine is Nora’s confidant and advisor. Kristine is upfront and frank with her as she upsets Nora by reminding her that she leads a sheltered life compared to her own:
Mrs. Linde: How very kind of you, Nora, to be so concerned over me – doubly kind, considering you really know so little of life’s burdens yourself.
Nora: I - ? I know so little - ?
Mrs. Linde (smiling): Well, my heavens – a little needlework and such – Nora, you’re just a child.
Nora (tossing her head and pacing the floor): You don’t have to act so superior.
Mrs. Linde: Oh?
Nora: You’re just like the others. You all think I’m incapable of anything serious – (Ibsen, 1112)
Kristine is the adult, levelheaded thinker of the two. The seriousness of Kristine’s character brings to light how child-like and irresponsible Nora’s character truly is.
Kristine’s relationship with Krogstad helps to deliver one of the final blows to Nora that moves her character through its evolution. As Kristine and Nils once again become intimate, there is that opportunity for the condemning letter to be removed from Torvald’s grasp. Instead of encouraging him to do away with the evidence, Kristine pushes Nils to leave the letter so that the truth may come out:
Mrs. Linde: No, Nils, don’t call the letter back.
Krogstad: But wasn’t that exactly why you wrote me to come here?
Mrs. Linde: Yes, in that first panic. But it’s been a whole day and night since then, and in that time I’ve seen such incredible things in this house. Helmer’s got to learn everything; this dreadful secret has to be aired; those two have to come to a full understanding; all these lies and evasions can’t go on. (Ibsen 1142)
This move by Kristine forces her friend to come clean to her husband about what she has done.
Nora must be truthful to Torvald and by doing so she becomes truthful with herself. Mrs. Linde is a strong influence for this change in Nora. In the beginning of the play, she is everything that Nora is not; however, by the end of the play when the door slams, the two have almost switched roles. In the play, another character appears in the first act that doesn’t initially seem important. This is Nils Krogstad, a member of the staff at the bank in which Torvald is employed. He is Nora’s antagonist, and even has the undertones of a villain, which like her has committed an indiscretion of forgery in the past. In more ways than one, his character puts Nora on the path that leads to her transformation. He helps in opening Nora’s eyes that possibly her perfect life isn’t so perfect.
When he discovers Nora’s secret, Nils uses the weight of the situation in his favor as he attempts to blackmail her. This is useless however as Torvald condemns Nils for his actions: “I can tell you it’d be impossible for me to work alongside of him. I literally feel physically revolted when I’m anywhere near such a person” (Ibsen 1124). Through the irony of the situation, Nils has an effect on Nora that brings her to realize that she has committed a crime and is a person like her husband
described.
Nora’s world begins to shatter as she begins to come to the realization that her husband may not accept what she has done.
That possibly Torvald will look down upon her as he does Nils. His character causes Nora to re-evaluate how her life may turn out. She also begins to fear that she will corrupt her children as her husband believes Nils is “poisoning his own children with lies and pretense” (Ibsen 1124). She fretfully states as she becomes pale with terror, “Hurt my children- ! Poison my home? That’s not true. Never. Never in all the world” (Ibsen 1124). It is noticeable that her character is changing as she begins to parallel herself with Krogstad and begins to consider the consequences of her actions. With each visit from Krogstad, Nora finds herself dealing with increasing unease to her
situation.
Lastly, the character of Dr. Rank seems to play a more subtle role in the storyline. His character draws out the true nature of Nora. When she visits with him, she is more herself and converses freely with him. She values their interactions and tells Kristine how she can talk with Dr. Rank of things that Torvald would not approve:
Nora: But it’s all true, Kristine. You see, Torvald loves me beyond words, and, as he puts it, he’d like to keep me all to himself. For a long time he’d almost be jealous if I even mentioned any of my old friends back home. So of course I dropped that. But with Dr. Rank I talk a lot about such things, because he likes hearing about them. (Ibsen 1126)
She can be a part of conversations where she is treated as an equal. She becomes the adult Nora and not the doll that Torvald would rather her be.
Through her exchanges with Dr. Rank it becomes apparent that she is not blind to the role she is playing for her husband and that she is not all together happy being his twittering plaything. Her relationship with her husband reminds her of her relationship with her father. She discloses this to Dr. Rank:
Nora: Yes – you see, there are some people that one loves most and other people that one would almost prefer being with.
Rank: Yes, there’s something to that.
Nora: When I was back home, of course I loved Papa most. But I always thought it was so much fun when I could sneak down to the maids’ quarters, because they never tried to improve me, and it was always so amusing, the way they talked to each other.
Rank: Aha, so it’s their place that I’ve filled.
Nora (jumping up and going to him): Oh, dear sweet Dr. Rank, that’s not what I meant at all. But you can understand that with Torvald it’s just the same as with Papa – (Ibsen 1133)
With this conversation she makes her discord known. The people in her life that should love her unconditionally are the ones that expect her to play a role. She finds happiness with those that do not try to change her or mold her into someone she is not. Dr. Rank’s character allows her open and become Nora. Nora Helmer transforms within the lines of “A Doll House” from a flighty immature female into a woman willing to walk away from everything in order to be herself. Her interactions with characters such as Mrs. Linde, Krogstad, and Dr. Rank provide her with the conflict needed to do so. Each in their own way open her eyes to her imperfect doll-like existence. The emotions she experiences from these encounters and the final blow from her husband leads Nora to execute her final performance. Her character fully evolves as she slams the door and breaks free from the dollhouse.