A play written by Henrik Ibsen, “A Doll House” explores the character development and overall emancipation of Nora Helmer. It is widely believed that his plays deal with social conflicts, dilemma of freedom and necessity, marriage problems, unwed motherhood and divorce, hypocrisy of the church, career and family, freedom and fairness in expression of salvation, vicissitudes of human life, universal rights, and suffrage of women in the modern society. Aside from being the wife of Torvald Helmer and mother of his three kids, Nora is described as the protagonist with a light and bubbly personality, as she is excited for Christmas and her husband’s current advancement. Some common themes found within this play include change, decision, self-awareness and desire. Nora Helmer can easily be titled as the physical embodiment of …show more content…
“Helmer: ‘Is it my squirrel bustling about?’”(Ibsen,164). Upon first being introduced to Nora, she is perceived to be ditsy and even a “featherhead”, as Torvald would say. Not only does she completely disregard the fact that she’s carelessly spending money, but she also shows she doesn’t care for the risk of debt. However, Nora quickly reveals that there’s more hidden layers beneath her surface of child-like innocence. In order to save her husband’s life, Nora concocts a plan to borrow money from Krogstead in order to afford their trip to Italy. Aside from being exposed to Nora’s secretly thrifty ways, we as readers are also given an insider look at her more discreet traits, such as pure determination, drive and passion. This alternate form of Nora is essentially the polar opposite of the Nora that Torvald treats her to be, this Nora is highly capable of making decisions to benefit herself and those she cares about, regardless of the possibility of the underlying risks at hand such as threats from