Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll House tells the story of a wife’s struggle to break away from the social norms of the late nineteenth century. Throughout the play, Ibsen focuses on Nora’s characterization and experiences she goes through as a wife. Her husband, Torvald Helmer, is an overbearing, controlling husband, that wants everything to be perfect. Rather than being a loving and supportive husband, he continuously talks down to Nora and treats her as if she is one of his children, not his wife. Nora faces the decision to stay in this abusive relationship or take a stand to this cruel behavior and leave. Through the use of characters and symbolism Henrick Ibsen’s, A Doll House, conveys the theme of the need for growth and change from the corrupt social pressures to fulfill the “gender roles” society assigns.
The roles the female is expected to do by society during this time period are unjust, this play shows the true
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Throughout the play we see Nora struggle to want to open it and her failed attempts at doing so. She does not want Helmer to see the letters Krogstad had put in there as blackmail since he was the one who gave her the loan from her fathers forged signature. At the near end of the play, Helmer opens the box and reads the letters, in retaliation he calls Nora disgusting names, such as “miserable creature”, and continues to yell at her for ruining his reputation. He wants Nora to stay and act as if they are still married but they would not talk or be a husband and wife anymore. Nora denies, and he continues to plead with her that he will change and be a better man, and she says the heroic line “Perhaps…if your doll is taken away from you”. This acknowledgment and pure power she has over Torvald shows her truly changed as an independent woman, who is indeed capable of taking care of