Especially when she went through desperate measures to ensure her husband’s health is in good hands. To approach in detail, Torvald Helmer was once in such critical condition, that if he wasn’t transferred to a Southern location for medical assistance, he would be dead. Torvald Helmer was critically ill and needed financial support to be cared for. In the time era the play is set, the idea of a woman working a masculine job or any odd job for a man was unimaginable, let alone a woman working anywhere besides the home. Nora had even gone much further by not only saving her husband’s life, but his dignity as well.
Instead, he finds her dance at the ball sexually titillating as “it sets [his] blood on fire till [he] can’t bear it any longer” (215). Torvald “take[s] Nora’s shawl off” and displays her to Mrs. Linde as if she were not a human being, but a prized possession meant to be marveled at. In that, he once again forces Nora into the role of a mere object whose only function is to satisfy him. Nevertheless, the sensual tone shifts as Torvald finally discovers the detail of Krogstad’s letter. Furious, he sentences Nora to a life of exile, in the way that she will not interact with him or the children.
Nora is a married woman and has children to take care of. She really has little freedom because of the way Torvald treats her. She is not even I feel as if deep down she knows she is not free and wants something more in her life then to be a entertaining puppet for Torvald. She realizes at the end of the story that Torvald is not good to her because of the way he acted when she told him about forging the signature. When Torvald called her a criminal and other harsh words she realized that she had no true love from Torvald and wanted to be free from him.
This brings in to question whether or not it is acceptable for a woman to simply walk away from a marriage, involving three children, and not attempt to work things out. Nora realizes she and the life she has been living has been a complete construct of the way society expects her to be. Nora is Torvald’s doll and her life has not amounted to anything more than making sure he and the world around her is happy. The result of the inequalities she is faced with results in Nora being completely unhappy. Torvald fails to recognize everything that Nora does to ensure his happiness.
Torvald tells her that Nora has a duty as a mother and a wife but Nora tells him that “she is an individual”, showing that she is finally putting herself on par with Torvald, and no longer allowing Torvald to control her, but instead she is trying to gain independence and liberation from social norms in order to break free from the “Doll’s House.” She tells him that she must leave him, because “for eight years [she’d] been living with a stranger”, emphasising how there was never any proper communication and mutual understanding between them, and hence no proper marriage, as she didn’t actually know what his true character was like up until that night, as she was convinced all along that Torvald would be the man to take everything upon
Nora appears as a character that goes through very deep changes from the beginning until the end of the play. In the opening of the Act I, she looks like a woman who perfectly fits the social norms of her time. She acts as a frivolous, pretty lady who seems to care only about herself and her look spending the money of her husband recklessly. However, when she meets her long-time friend, Christine, she suddenly confesses that she has been saving money in secret in order to repay a loan she made for a trip in Italy to cure her husband’s illness. So, this scene represents an important shift in the story since the reader now realizes how Nora is not a selfish, lightheaded woman.
In the play, A Doll's House, written by Henrik Ibsen, an egotistical character named Nora changes throughout the play from a childish character to a more independent figure. Nora, also shown in the play, is a money-loving person. In act one when Nora is talking to Torvald the line "... Pooh! We can borrow until then.
But listen to this, Kristine - I got something to be proud and happy for.” (Ibsen, 1256), This statement by Nora changes the conversation from Kristine’s troubles and accomplishments and turns everything around so that Nora can brag about what she has done. We also see Nora’s selfishness in the last act of the play when Nora leaves her family. It is understandable for Nora to leave Torvald if she no longer feels loved, but Nora decides to leave her kids
Nora is a character that will do everything that somebody tells her, she is kind of submissive regarding what Torvald says. She has to mention him at least once while she’s talking about anything, but she does have some petty forms of rebellion, like the macaroons. A larger way of her rebelling would be when she pays for the trip so that Torvald can get better. She is viewed as a child by Mrs. Linde, Christine, and is treated like one by Torvald and it seems almost like they look down on her because she is a woman and she is completely dependent on her husband. Her character, at this point, has no backbone; she is completely captivated by this life in which she perceives as
Nora is depicted as a dependant, childish and unexperienced woman (as said by mrs.Linde p.34). Torvald sees Nora as a dimwitted person as can be seen on p.89 where Torvald finds it impressive when ‘little Nora’ used to word ‘Scientific experiment’. Evidently Torvald
does feel the need to keep up her self –respect, while satisfying her own needs. Again, her lies established the fact that how stressed she is by the opinions of her husband. The patriarchal setup of the play and gender roles are being broken as she is destroying the strict rules and by deciding to go out of family. She says that Torvald stops her from eating macaroons as they will destroy her teeth as well as her beauty, she still eats the macaroons. The limitations didn’t stop her from satisfying her own pleasures and she refused to obey through harmless actions showing that she strongly desires independence, but is too afraid to raise her own voice.
The way that Nora responds to Torvald and his many rules show again Nora’s childish nature. This is evident in how Torvald controls Nora and does not want her to eat macaroons. After realizing that Nora had in fact had some, he questions her to which she responds “No; what makes you think that?” (Ibsen 1361). Nora hides the truth from Torvald as if he is her father and is unable to stand up to him because she fears what may happen to her even though they should be equals. Although it may be frowned upon for the wife to make such decisions in this period, Nora knows that this is no way to live, and instead of making that known she buries the idea.
Nora takes pride in thinking of herself as the perfect housewife and mother. She, just as every other wife, plays often with her children and attends formal parties on her husband’s arm. She is told
During act III, Nora asked to speak to Torvald after her performance of the tarantella dance. The following conversation demonstrated her quest for autonomy and freedom, as well as Torvald’s inadequate responses to her arguments and demands; it also showed how deeply connected her unhappy situation is with society’s regulation of the relationship between the sexes. She asserts that she is “...first and foremost a human being”, and her strong conviction that her womanhood, and the expectations associated with it, are secondary, strengthens her resolve to make a radical choice: A break with both husband and, with necessity due to her legal position, her children (Ibsen, 184). During her conversation with Torvald, she proclaims, “I have other sacred duties... The duties to myself (Ibsen, 184).”
He rather expects her to be more compliant, loyal and wants her to follow the social and moral rules strictly, like he does. Torvald’s assertion that Nora’s lack of understanding of money matters is the result of her gender (“Nora, my Nora, that is just like a woman”) reveals his prejudiced viewpoint on gender roles. Torvald believes a wife’s role is to beautify the home, not only through proper management of domestic life but also through proper behavior and appearance. He quickly makes it known that appearances are very important to him, and that Nora is like an ornament or trophy that serves to beautify his home and his reputation. He tells Nora that he loves her so much that he has wished in the past that Nora’s life were threatened so that he could risk everything to save her.
