A Doll's House

A detailed Summary of A Doll's House

Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" is a play about a young wife and her husband. Nora and Helmer seem to be madly in love with one another and very happy with their lives together. Yet the conflict comes into this show when Nora brags to her friend Ms. Linde about how she had forged her father's name to borrow money to save her husband's life and how she had been secretly paying off this debt. Helmer finds out about this crime and is furious, until he finds that no one will ever know about it. This entire conflict is written to bring to light the ridiculous social expectations demanded of both women and men. Ibsen expertly leads the audience into accepting that these social expectations are foolish and wrong. The audience buys into this so much that in the end when Nora stands firm and refuses to bow down to what society demands of her, we see her as the hero.

The social expectations of men in the late nineteenth century was of a more patriarchal thought-line then it is today. The man of the house was expected to be the sole provider. This works best for the families of that time, because they believed that by natural design men alone were capable of managing money wisely and carefully. The first s

When Nora is faced with the cold reality of the inner feelings of Helmer, she does not move into hysteria, but instead moves into calculated action to stand up for herself (Finney 100). Nora sees the criminal action being, not that she forged her father's name, but that she was treated as a doll and not an equal by both her father and her husband and that she is bringing up her own children in the same fashion (Northam 107). Once Helmer showed his real self and ended the "game" they had been playing for so many years, Nora cannot go back. Nora firmly believes that despite social obligations and duties, she comes before her family and responsibilities (Boyesen 210,212). She realizes Helmer cannot help her find herself and that she cannot help her children (Lowenthal 143). Nora knows that she cannot be an equal because she does not know herself or anything of life, except for life as others have arranged it for her and shown it to her (Boyesen 213). Life begins for Nora the second she leaves life as she knows it. When she steps out of the door of the apartment she begins her journey to find the truth and to leave the lies and illusions behind (Hemmer 82). She sets out to cure her childishness by going out to learn of life without someone coloring it to their pleasing for her. Nora's faults that are present throughout the play are evidence of her childlike nature. Nora constantly is munching on and subsequently hiding candy, she off-handedly lies, and also can't resist bragging to Ms. Linde about what she has done (Boyesen 214). Nora walks out the door to find herself and to learn of life. She leaves the audience much as Ms. Linde met them. She has no hope or future and is alone. She is paralleled to Rank by his exiting his life into the unknown of death completely alone, and she exits her life to enter the unknown of the real world, the world that had been hidden and kept from her (Northam 108)

Nora and Helmer's interactions are "absolutely typical of the relation between a young husband and wife in a civilized family (Boyesen 201)." Helmer consistently toys with Nora by calling her random pet names. He rarely calls her Nora. This further pushes the idea that he thinks of her, not as an equal, but as a toy. He lovingly laughs at her spending and her womanly logic in doing so. He "treats her as a spoiled child (Boyesen 201)." Nora, for her part, sees nothing wrong in Helmer's pet names or his treatment of her in general. She uses these things to her advantage by molding herself to fit his tastes. While Nora may find nothing wrong with these names the average viewer will notice that the real Nora, the Nora that managed to save her husband's life and to not only pay off the debt used to do so, but also to keep it a secret, is completely lost amongst Helmer's squirrels and larks. Nora is perfectly capable of handling all that life can throw at

Some common words found in the essay are:
Helmer Nora, Nora Nora, Doll's House, Ms Linde, Nora Helmer's, Nora Helmer, Linde Boyesen, social expectations, ms linde, doll's house, save husband's life, forged father's name, nora nora, forged father's, father's name, lowenthal 143, husband's life, save husband's, own views,

Approximate Word count = 1947
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts