Nora Helmer lives in a world where life is dictated by the morals and conventions of a conservative society which must be adhered to or one will be considered an outcast. Behind the frivolous, empty-headed and thoughtless facade of Nora lies a very intelligent, conniving woman. Stranded in the world of a conventional house-wife, Nora finds difficulty in coming to terms with the fact that women are not seen as independent. Nora is afraid to go against the wishes of her husband Torvald, as in the case with the macaroons. The fist sign of dishonesty shown by Nora is when Torvald asks if his “sweet tooth [has] been running riot in town today??Nora has previously been eating macaroons and as she speaks to her husband through a closed door, she wipes away the evidence from

her mouth and hides the macaroon bag in her pocket. To this question, Nora remains adamant that the answer is ‘no?and Torvald’s persistence will not sway Nora’s answer. Nora then turns away from Torvald and says “you know I could never think of going against you.?As this scene continues another peculiar situation occurs when the story of the previous year’s Christmas decorations is told. When Nora tells her husband that she was making Christmas decorations in her room, we later discover that in reality she was completing her copying job. As Christmas arrived, Nora had no decorations to hang on the tree and when asked where the Christmas decorations were, she lied by saying that the cat had torn them to pieces. This deceit stems from a loan which she accepted in order to holiday in the south to ‘save her husband’s life.?Nora is aware that others think her wasteful, silly, and without character and becomes annoyed when told that she knows “so little about the troubles and hardships of life.?Nora further understands that Torvald is against borrowing money as is the case when Nora says that if there ever comes a time, they shall borrow, “it wouldn’t matter if I had debts or not.?Torvald makes his opinion clear when he exclaims “No debts! Never borrow!?For this reason, Nora knows she must keep her debt a secret from her husband.

At the end of the play, Nora tells Torvald that she is leaving him and the children and that she is prepared to sacrifice her reputation for independence. She leaves the Helmer home and a baffled Torvald who is still a prisoner within the predicament of his middle-class world. Alternatively, under strict demand from the German theatre, Ibsen was to write a different conclusion for ‘A Doll House?in which Nora struggles with herself to leave her children motherless and decides to stay. This ending which pleased the German audience shows the complete deflation of Nora as everything that audiences have been prepared for throughout the play is lost.

The destruction of the vulnerable Nora begins at the end of Act I. As her loanshark, Krogstad is dismissed from his job at the bank by Torvald, Krogstad approaches Nora to ask for his job back. When Nora refuses to help he warns that he will reveal her secret to Torvald. When she dares him to do so, Krogstad reveals that Nora is also a forger, she forged her father’s signature to obtain the loan. If Krogstad loses his post at the bank, he will have Nora arrested for forgery. When Nora attempts to persuade Torvald not to dismiss Krogstad, her husband says that the man is a moral outcast. Even worse than Krogstad’s forgery is the fact that he has never confessed and taken his punishment. Such dis

Some topics in this essay:
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