How Is Nora Helmer A Dynamic Character

Characters throughout works often have different representations, meanings, and changes that they will go through throughout the storyline. Nora Helmer is a woman who is struggling to discover her true identity, purpose, and sense of self-worth throughout the play. In A Doll’s House, Nora Helmer represents a dynamic character that transforms from a naïve, submissive housewife to a woman who realizes her potential and breaks free from her controlling husband and domestic ways to find herself and a life of independence. At the start of the play in Act I, Nora is coming in from Christmas shopping. As she’s setting things up, her husband, Torvald Helmer, yells from his room “Is that my little skylark twittering out there?” (Ibsen 229). Helmer referring to Nora as a “little skylark” shows how he thinks of her as more childlike than he does as his wife. When she replies that it is her, Helmer then asks “Is it my little squirrel bustling about?” (Ibsen 229) which continues the childlike persona that he creates for her. Nora appears happy, however, as she replies affectionately to Torvald’s teasing. Later in the act, Torvald asks Nora if she had eaten any macaroons that day, which was stated in the beginning that she did, but when asked, she lies about eating them just like a child would when prompted.

The doctors said that the only way to cure him was to go somewhere with a warmer climate, which the couple did not have the money for. “At the time [that this play was written,] a woman could not sign a legal contract alone” (Henry, Literary Reference Center), so Nora took it upon herself to forge her father’s signature to take out a loan to fund a year-long trip to Italy. Nora shows her ignorance in failing to “fully understand that forgery is a criminal act” (Henry, Literary Reference Center) and the affects her actions would have on the family before she took out the