Metaphor In A Doll's House

When Nora finally speaks up for herself, she tells Torvald how she has always been a doll for him and her father. How she was only moved from one house to another, yet was never able to be herself, she was influenced and controlled by Torvald himself. In A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen uses the metaphor of a dollhouse in order to illustrate and emphasize the controlling of women during the late 1800s as well as the imperfections of a family.
When Nora describes how she feels to Torvald, she says how Torvald has “only thought it pleasant to be in love with me [Nora]” (Ibsen 66), Ibsen’s diction, such as “pleasant” is an important factor to Ibsen’s metaphorical use because it emphasizes more the fact that women were controlled during the late 1800s. Pleasant means satisfying, in this case Torvald was satisfied through the controlling of his wife’s actions and beliefs. Nora’s description
Everyone else sees her as the perfect, innocent, and happy wife, yet she has actually committed “crimes” and has “never [really] been happy”, she displays the image that everyone expects her too (Ibsen 67). A dollhouse is played and arranged by others, it portrays a perfect place, as well as a still and firm personality, yet, in accordance to Ibsen, Nora is played by Torvald and is forced to portray herself as someone perfect and firm , someone that won't disobey social norms, yet in reality she is the complete opposite of this definition of a dollhouse.
The metaphor of a dollhouse is hinted throughout the whole play, yet it is directly mentioned towards the end when Nora finally shows what happens behind the curtains. The fact that Ibsen decided to use a dollhouse and compare it to Nora and her life is significant because it gives us the idea that in reality no one is perfect, we all portray ourselves as a doll, someone perfect and controlled by society’s norms, yet we aren't perfect and can sometimes break society’s