How Has A Doll's House Changed

The professional production history of A Doll’s House has changed over the years. A Doll’s House first premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen on December 21st 1879, which was written by Henrik Ibsen. Nora becomes the center of the play because as the play progresses her character changes from the audience seeing her as Torvalds’s energetic trophy doll to a strong, powerful, and dependent woman. Act one begins with the audience’s first impression of Nora being a happy, loving, obedient wife. When act one first opens it is Nora and Torvald talking about how this year is the first year they don’t have to watch their money. After Nora shows Torvald the gifts she got the kids, he asks her what she wants for Christmas and Nora says

Nora had to borrow money from him in the past to save Torvalds’s life when he got really sick. She used the money that she borrowed from Krogstad to go away for a year. On page 207 in The Norton Anthology of Drama, Mrs. Linde and Nora are talking about the trip to Italy. Nora tells Mrs. Linde that her father never gave her the money; she says she got it herself but would not tell Mrs. Linde how. Mrs. Linde says to Nora, “Because you certainly couldn’t have borrowed it. No, a wife can’t get a loan without her husband’s permission” (The Norton Anthology of Drama, 207). Later the audience finds out through a conversation between Nora and Krogstad that the only way she was able to get the loan from him was by forging her father’s signature. She forged her father’s signature a few days after he died and she lied to Torvald saying that her father gave her the money. This goes to show that Nora is a strong and dependent woman who isn’t afraid of breaking the laws and disobeying Torvalds’s orders to do what is best for her

Mrs. Linde and Krogstad had a past as a couple and Mrs. Linde left him for another man because he was more successful than Krogstad. Torvald is planning on firing Krogstad to hire Mrs. Linde who is one of Nora’s old friends. Krogstad knows that Nora forged her father’s signature because the date that the contract was signed was a few days after her father had passed away. Krogstad begins to blackmail Nora by saying that if she doesn’t convince Torvald to not fire him that he will tell Torvald everything. The significance of Nora forging her father’s signature is that Krogstad had been accused of forgery in the past and he became hated by everyone and lost his previous job. Instead of coming clean and telling Torvald the truth and asking for help, she tries her hardest to help and save Krogstad’s job but Torvald is set on firing him. Nora shows how strong and determined of a woman she truly is by never asking for help from anyone to pay back Krogstad. She pays him back for the loan by herself by working little side jobs to make any money she can to pay him back. All the money that Nora gets for herself goes to paying back Krogstad for the loan that she used to save Torvalds’s life. I personally admire Nora for never asking for help from Torvald or telling anyone about this