A Doll's House Research Paper

Words: 828
Pages: 4

Ibsen expresses a woman's journey towards self-respect and self-discovery in his famous work A Doll's House; Nora, the main character, displays these values as she changes from daughter, to wife and mother. She then leaves her family to begin her journey to self-discovery. As she makes this journey the reader gains a better understanding of Ibsen's values. The changes in Nora are centered on Torvald and their marriage. Nora Helmer, the protagonist of the play, is essentially a doll living a life of luxury first with her father and now with her husband. Ibsen explains the dependency and child-like qualities she obtained through out adolescence and into her marriage. The relationship between Nora and Torvald is more or less father-daughter …show more content…
When Nora finally realizes what she is she knows she has to leave the house to become more than a doll. In the beginning of the play she is utterly and completely dependent on her husband. After Krogstad blackmails her, however, she reconsiders her conception of freedom and questions whether she is happy in Torvald’s house, subjected to his orders and edicts. By the end of the play, Nora seeks a new kind of freedom. When Torvald unlocks the mailbox and reads the letter from Krogstad the reader knows the marriage is doomed. Nora hopes Torvald will read the letter and forgive her and life will go on. Nora thinks will come to his senses and realize that she forged the signature in order to save his life. She anticipates that despite her lie, her loving husband will take the fall, risk his reputation and be grateful to his wife. However, instead of taking the fall, Torvald demands an explanation, saying that this is a “horrible awakening”, and that she has ruined his reputation and so on and so forth. Torvald's awakening is about his reputation and Nora's is about her marriage. She realizes how much of a sham her marriage has been. Nora sits down to have her first serious talk with Torvald in the eight years they have been married. She realizes he was never in love with her he was simply comfortable. He loved how he felt in controlling her, he loved that