A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

The play A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen, is concerned with the conflict between social lie and duty. This play is about women's need for independence and her obligations to family and society. We can easily recognize sacrifice and guiltlessness in the play. One can follow a theme through the play by looking at Nora the heroine. In the play, Nora represents the sacrificial role of women in the society. Nora Helmer is the beloved wife of Torvald Helmer. They have a very nice, cozy house, and they have three kids. They have been married for eight years. They also have lovely friends. Torvald was just promoted for a higher position in the bank. This is what we see in the beginning of the play, just like common happy family. However, when Torvald started to talk, we could feel that something is wrong with this picture. "My little songbird," "my little squirrel," and even "my little featherbrain" that is what Torvald calls his wife. He treats Nora as a child. He thinks that she is not smart as him, and she must be controlled. Torvald controls her housekeeping budget and how much she can spend on certain purchases.
He does not know, and he does not want to know that Nora, herself, can earn some money. Instead, he expects her always be dependent on his salary. That shows the ordinary old women who does not work and does only house work. Nora is actually different from other women. She is smart enough to decide something for her family and has ability to propel that. She made decision to have trip with Torvald in Italy and eventually that was right decision for her and Torvald. This is too bad that Nora was able to realize after eight years that she lives with a hypocrite. After he discovered that Nora forged her father's signature on the loan bond, he nullifies their marriage. He does not care that Nora did this because she loves him very much, and she did this to save his life. He is the man of "honor," "Nora, I would gladly work night and for you, Nora bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honor for the one he loves." And she answers him, "It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done" (Ibsen 1087). When a woman loves as Nora does, nothing else matters. She will sacrifice herself for the family. Her purpose in life is to be happy for her husband and children; to dance and to play. Torvald does not know what the real relationship is. And when he sees that because of Nora he needs to sacrifice his reputation and his career. He would not take the blame for her. Only when he finds out that Nora will not be charged, he forgives her, and tries to keep her. However, it is not going to help him because Nora realized that Torvald does not really love her. He only thinks about himself. Once Nora recognized the truth about her marriage, she understood that she can no longer stay in the "strange man's room" (Ibsen 1088). There is anything more humiliating to a woman than to live with a stranger, and have children with him. The lie of the marriage institution decrees that she shall continue to do so, and the social conception of duty insists that for the sake of that lie she need be nothing else than a plaything, a doll, an unknown. "our home has been nothing but a play-room. I have been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa's doll child" (Ibsen 1085). Nora realizes how much she has been wronged, that she is only a doll for Helmer. She also says to him, "You have never loved me. You only thought it amusing to be in love with me." She decided that she has to leave a house. She wants to become independent. When Helmer reminds her about her "holiest duties" as mother and wife, she tells him that, "I have other duties just as sacred" (Ibsen 1086). Nora wants to be independent, not only to be recognized as a mother and wife. Even in the end of the story, Torvald said that, “You talk like a child. You don’t understand the conditions of the world in which you live” (Ibsen 1087). Torvald wants to keep her beside him but he still treats her as a child. Henrik Ibsen keep reminds us the women’s role in society that was sacrifice for men.
Nora's abandonment of her children can also be interpreted as an act of self sacrifice. Despite Nora's great love for her children manifested by her interaction with them and her great fear of corrupting them she chooses to leave them. Nora truly believes that the nanny will be a better mother and that leaving her children is in their best interest.
When Nora closes the door of the doll's house behind her, she opens a different door of new life for women. She brought new ideas of women's freedom in the family, and in society. She tried to tell us that nothing but women's freedom will make a true connection between man and woman. That will be a best time without lies, equal opportunities, and without shame. This play shows us how hard it was being a woman, and not only at that time. Even in now days, there are a lot of women who are still victims of men. However, it keeps better and better like Nora left Torvald by her own decision.


Work Cities
Henrik Ibsen. “A Dolls House” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 8th ed. (1087).
Henrik Ibsen. “A Dolls House” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 8th ed. (1088).
Henrik Ibsen. “A Dolls House” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 8th ed. (1085).
Henrik Ibsen. “A Dolls House” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 8th ed. (1086).
Henrik Ibsen. “A Dolls House” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 8th ed. (1087).