A Doll House In the play, A Doll House, Nora the main character in the play has very defining characteristics. She claims to be something she isn't throughout the entire story, she contradicts her resourcefulness buy being so inclined in buying Christmas gifts that are very material and glamorous. She then defies Torvald by eating macaroons when she is told not to. She is very disobedient of her husband. On top of her defiance her choices, including her inability to wear the dress for Torvald; also Nora is very flirtatious which stands against her devotion for her husband. These events that Nora contributes to, stress the dependant nature of women in relationships. Ibsen emphasizes these traits by pointing out the subordinate role a woman plays in relation to her husband throughout the play.
Nora lacks the independence of living, on her own, without anyone's help. Sure you can have an opinion that woman have the power to choose rules to live by, but woman definitely do not have the power of choice in the field of business, which in turn adds to her naive way of thought.
Title page in the manuscript of A Doll's House, pl...
English: Detail of photograph taken in 1900 of Hen...
English: Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen photo portr...Nora is conceited by the fact she thinks her rules to live by apply to everyone in society, you see this in the interaction between her and Krogstad and the event of Nora borrowing money. She is ignorant, she thinks that she can do anything and people will pay no attention to her actions. She also believes that her acts will be over looked because she seems so deperate. Nora's forgery is the first incident where Nora realizes rules outside of her "doll house."� In this she realizes her inexperience with the society outside of her "house"� and also her naivety of her subordinate role in society. I think Ibsen created this character to give the reader a feeling of the role of woman at that time. Nora hasen't matured into an adult, she is very childish, evident through the many acts of disobedience and lack of responsible choices she makes throughout the story. She lacks the sophistication to be an independent woman, which further emphasizes the subordinate role of women. By the plays end Nora finally sees herself as an ignorant person, who is unfit to be a mother and wife. Nora was finally given a responsibility to make a judgment on what will happen in the life of her and her family, but she has nothing to put forward. She is ignorant and uneducated. I am not a sexist, but the character ,Nora, and the choices and traits she posses, creates a class of women who do not see the consequences of their actions.
Portrait of a younger Henrik Ibsen, one of the fir...
English: Vera Komissarzhevskaya as Nora in Ibsen's...
English: Betty Hennings as Nora in Ibsen's "A Doll...