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Introduction & Overview of A Doll's House

A Doll's House Summary & Study Guide Description

A Doll's House was published on December 4, 1879, and first performed in Copenhagen on December 21, 1879. The work was considered a publishing event and the play's initial printing of 8,000 copies quickly sold out. The play was so controversial that Ibsen was forced to write a second ending that he called "a barbaric outrage" to be used only when necessary. The controversy centered around Nora's decision to abandon her children, and in the second ending she decides that the children need her more than she needs her freedom. Ibsen believed that women were best suited to be mothers and wives, but at the same time, he had an eye for injustice and Helmer's demeaning treatment of Nora was a common problem. Although he would later be embraced by feminists, Ibsen was no champion of women's rights; he only dealt with the problem of women's rights as a facet of the realism within his play. His intention was not to solve this issue but to illuminate it. Although Ibsen's depiction of Nora realistically illustrates the issues facing women, his decision in Act HI to have her abandon her marriage and children was lambasted by critics as unrealistic, since, according to them, no "real" woman would ever make that choice. That Ibsen offered no real solution to Nora's dilemma inflamed critics and readers alike who were then left to debate the ending ceaselessly. This play established a new genre of modern drama; prior to A Doll's House , contemporary plays were usually historical romances or contrived comedy of manners. Ibsen is known as the "father of modern drama" because he elevated theatre from entertainment to a forum for exposing social problems. Ibsen broke away from the romantic tradition with his realistic portrayals of individual characters and his focus on psychological concerns as he sought to portray the real world, especially the position of women in society.

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A Doll's House Introduction

You're in Henrik Ibsen's debt and you probably don't even know it.

Imagine what Law and Order would be like in verse— Oh, dearest judge, do not slam your gavel; for if you do, justice will unravel . (No. Just... no.)

Or what Orange is the New Black would be like if the inmates broke out in weird, flowery soliloquies at the drop of the hat. Or if True Detective were set in a castle or among the upper-upper classes... because that's just where drama took place.

Ibsen is often called "the father of modern drama" because he helped popularize realism, which a good portion of today's entertainment imitates without even knowing it. Just about every show on television that a) doesn't preoccupy itself with only the super-rich, b) examines real-life situations, and c) uses normal-sounding language owes a little something to Ibsen. 

Yep, even Game of Thrones —despite its very unrealistic subject matter and love of all things gold n' shiny—tips its hat to theatrical realism. The line is "You know nothing, Jon Snow," and not "Thou knowest naught, Jon Snow," after all.

And if Ibsen is the Big Daddy of theatrical realism, then A Doll's House is his prodigal son, er, daughter.

After a few smaller successes with plays such as Brand , Peer Gynt , and Pillars of Society , Ibsen took the world by storm with A Doll's House. Boy, was it controversial. Nora's door-slamming exit from her marriage is sometimes described as a shot heard around the world. The very idea that a woman might have something to do other than keep house and raise children was pretty scandalous in the Victorian Era .

Party invitations were sent out requesting that people not discuss the play. Hosts were afraid their elegant engagements would turn into all-out brawls. Many critics were just as scandalized. They scathingly criticized Ibsen for undermining society's most sacred institution: marriage. However, a few critics, such as George Bernard Shaw , championed Ibsen because he was unafraid to challenge societal norms. Though the play is often pigeon-holed as a feminist manifesto, Ibsen denied it. Once, when he was being honored by the Norwegian Society for Women's Rights, he said, "I am not even quite sure what women's rights really are. To me it has been a question of human rights."

To Ibsen, it isn't necessarily about the fact that Nora is a woman; it's about the fact that she's a human being. He thought that all people, men and women alike, should have the courage to stand up against society and form their own opinions. Think about it—in a way, Torvald, Nora's husband, is just as caged by society as his wife. Society has programmed them both into their prescribed roles: dominant, provider husband; submissive, homemaking wife.

In Ibsen's mind, all human beings have a sacred duty to themselves. Yup: our Henrik was way ahead of his time, in terms of both his style (yay, realism!) and his free-thinking individualism.

What is A Doll's House About and Why Should I Care?

The story of A Doll's House : a woman is infantilized by her hubby, and she leaves him and her kids.

The gut-churning responses to reading A Dolls House : infinite. And for every reaction to A Doll's House , there is an equal and opposite reason why you should care.

Is your knee-jerk response "How could she leave her family?" Well, this play asks you to think—really think—about how it would feel to be reduced to nothing but a cute little object even when you're responsible for running a household... to say nothing of saving your husband's life (like Nora does).

Is your knee-jerk response "What a jerk of a husband! I hope he suffers"? Well, this play asks you to think—again, really think—about how whether Torvald could act differently when society has conditioned him to treat women as overgrown children.

Is your knee-jerk response "Marriage is messed up. Marriage should be abolished"? Well, this play asks you to think super-crazy-hard about both the good aspects and terrible aspects of marriage. There are characters—Christine and Nils—who end the play finding happiness and security and hope in each others' arms. And then there are Nora and Torvald.

Ibsen will dodge your every immediate reaction to this play. He's too nuanced, too contemplative, and too dang slick a writer of three-dimensional characters to let you think of one convenient reason to care and leave the theater with a smile on your face, thinking "Ah! I cracked it!"

But he does offer one bracket of reasons to care: our guy Henrik is not a fan of blind obedience to the rules of society.

Ibsen seems to think that people are often herded like sheep by societal demands. He's famously quoted as saying, "The strongest man in the world is he who stands alone." And dangit if he's not onto something. People often get swept up by popular opinion, giving little thought to whether what's happening is right or wrong in their own minds. We have a sneaky suspicion that this might be just as true today as it was in Ibsen's time. We also suspect that it might be just as relevant to our children and grandchildren.

So, feel free to stand alone (you strong person, you) and come up with your own reason why A Doll's House is worth caring about. But we're 100% certain of one thing—and no, we're not under the spell of societal rules here—you will find a reason. A really, really good one.

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W hy's T his F unny?

A Summary and Analysis of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

A Doll’s House is one of the most important plays in all modern drama. Written by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in 1879, the play is well-known for its shocking ending, which attracted both criticism and admiration from audiences when it premiered.

Before we offer an analysis of A Doll’s House , it might be worth recapping the ‘story’ of the play, which had its roots in real-life events involving a friend of Ibsen’s.

A Doll’s House : summary

The play opens on Christmas Eve. Nora Helmer has returned home from doing the Christmas shopping. Her husband, a bank manager named Torvald, asks her how much she has spent. Nora confides to her friend Mrs Linde that, shortly after she and Torvald married, he fell ill and she secretly borrowed some money to pay for his treatment. Mrs Linde is looking for work from Nora’s husband.

She is still paying that money back (by setting aside a little from her housekeeping money on a regular basis) to the man she borrowed it from, Krogstad – a man who, it just so happens, works for Nora’s husband … who is about to sack Krogstad for forging another person’s signature.

But Krogstad knows Nora’s secret, that she forged her father’s signature, and he tells her in no uncertain terms that, if she lets her husband sack him, Krogstad will make sure her husband knows her secret.

But Torvald refuses to grant Nora’s request when she beseeches him to go easy on Krogstad and give him another chance. It looks as though all is over for Nora and her husband will soon know what she did.

The next day – Christmas Day – Nora is waiting for the letter from Krogstad to arrive, and for her secret to be revealed. She entreats her husband to be lenient towards Krogstad, but again, Torvald refuses, sending the maid off with the letter for Krogstad which informs him that he has been dismissed from Torvald’s employment.

Doctor Rank, who is dying of an incurable disease, arrives as Nora is getting ready for a fancy-dress party. Nora asks him if he will help her, and he vows to do so, but before she can say any more, Krogstad appears with his letter for Torvald. Now he’s been sacked, he is clearly going to go through with his threat and tell his former employer the truth about what Helmer’s wife did.

When Mrs Linde – who was romantically involved with Krogstad – arrives, she tries to appeal to Krogstad’s better nature, but he refuses to withdraw the letter. Then Torvald arrives, and Nora dances for him to delay her husband from reading Krogstad’s letter.

The next act takes place the following day: Boxing Day. The Helmers are at their fancy-dress party. Meanwhile, we learn that Mrs Linde broke it off with Krogstad because he had no money, and she needed cash to pay for her mother’s medical treatment. Torvald has offered Mrs Linde Krogstad’s old job, but she says that she really wants him – money or no money – and the two of them are reconciled.

When Nora returns with Torvald from the party, Mrs Linde, who had prevented Krogstad from having a change of heart and retrieving his letter, tells Nora that she should tell her husband everything. Nora refuses, and Torvald reads the letter from Krogstad anyway.

Nora is distraught, and sure enough, Torvald blames her – until another letter from Krogstad arrives, cancelling Nora’s debt to him, whereupon Torvald forgives her completely.

But Nora has realised something about her marriage to Torvald, and, changing out of her fancy-dress outfit, she announces that she is leaving him. She takes his ring and gives him hers, before going to the door and leaving her husband – slamming the door behind her.

A Doll’s House : analysis

A Doll’s House is one of the most important plays in all of modern theatre. It arguably represents the beginning of modern theatre itself. First performed in 1879, it was a watershed moment in naturalist drama, especially thanks to its dramatic final scene. In what has become probably the most famous statement made about the play, James Huneker observed: ‘That slammed door reverberated across the roof of the world.’

Why? It’s not hard to see why, in fact. And the answer lies in the conventional domestic scenarios that were often the subject of European plays of the period when Ibsen was writing. Indeed, these scenarios are well-known to anyone who’s read Ibsen’s play, because A Doll’s House is itself a classic example of this kind of conventional play.

Yes: the shocking power of Ibsen’s play lies not in the main part of the play itself but in its very final scene, which undoes and subverts everything that has gone before.

This conventional play, the plot of which A Doll’s House follows with consummate skill on Ibsen’s part, is a French tradition known as the ‘ well-made play ’.

Well-made plays have a tight plot, and usually begin with a secret kept from one or more characters in the play (regarding A Doll’s House : check), a back-story which is gradually revealed during the course of the play (check), and a dramatic resolution, which might either involve reconciliation when the secret is revealed, or, in the case of tragedies, the death of one or more of the characters.

Ibsen flirts with both kinds of endings, the comic and the tragic, at the end of A Doll’s House : when Nora knows her secret’s out, she contemplates taking her own life. But when Torvald forgives her following the arrival of Krogstad’s second letter, it looks as though a tragic ending has been averted and we have a comic one in its place.

Just as the plot of the play largely follows these conventions, so Ibsen is careful to portray both Torvald Helmer and his wife Nora as a conventional middle-class married couple. Nora’s behaviour at the end of the play signals an awakening within her, but this is all the more momentous, and surprising, because she is hardly what we would now call a radical feminist.

Similarly, her husband is not nasty to her: he doesn’t mistreat her, or beat her, or put her down, even if he patronises her as his ‘doll’ or ‘bird’ and encourages her to behave like a silly little creature for him. But Nora encourages him to carry on doing so.

They are both caught up in bourgeois ideology: financial security is paramount (as symbolised by Torvald’s job at the bank); the wife is there to give birth to her husband’s children and to dote on him a little, dancing for him and indulging in his occasional whims.

A Doll’s House takes such a powerful torch to all this because it lights a small match underneath it, not because it douses everything in petrol and sets off a firebomb.

And it’s worth noting that, whilst Ibsen was a champion of women’s rights and saw them as their husbands’ intellectual equal, A Doll’s House does not tell us whether we should support or condemn Nora’s decision to walk out on her husband. She has, after all, left her three blameless children without a mother, at least until she returns – if she ever does return. Is she selfish?

Of course, that is something that the play doesn’t answer for us. Ibsen himself later said that he was not ‘tendentious’ in anything he wrote: like a good dramatist, he explores themes which perhaps audiences and readers hadn’t been encouraged to explore before, but he refuses to bang what we would now call the ‘feminist’ drum and turn his play into a piece of political protest.

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2 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House”

This powerful play foretold the 1960’s monumental epic of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, A similar awakening for middle class women, of their unnamed discontent within a marriage. Both paved the the way to the Feminist Movement of the 1970’s where with increased consciousness of economic inequities, women rebelled, just as Nora had done. Homage is owing to both Ibsen in his era and Friedan in hers. Today there are increasing numbers of women serving as Presidents of their nations and in the USA a female Vice-President recently elected to that prestigious office.

I remember reading the play while being a college student. It seemed so sad but at the same time so close to real life. Maybe our lives are quite sad after all.

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A Doll's House

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A Doll's House: Introduction

A doll's house: plot summary, a doll's house: detailed summary & analysis, a doll's house: themes, a doll's house: quotes, a doll's house: characters, a doll's house: symbols, a doll's house: literary devices, a doll's house: theme wheel, brief biography of henrik ibsen.

Historical Context of A Doll's House

Other books related to a doll's house.

• Full Title: A Doll’s House (Norwegian: Ett dukkehjem )
• When Written: 1879
• Where Written: Dresden, Germany
• When Published: Published and first performed in December 1879
• Literary Period: Realism; modernism
• Genre: Realist modern prose drama
• Setting: A town or city in Norway
• Climax: When Torvald discovers the letter from Krogstad revealing Nora’s secret
• Antagonist: At first Krogstad, then Torvald

Extra Credit for A Doll's House

A True Story: A Doll’s House is based on the life of Ibsen’s family friend Laura Kieler, whose actions inspired the story of Nora’s secret debt. In reality, however, Kieler did not forge a signature, and when her husband, Victor, discovered her secret, he divorced her and forced her to be committed to an insane asylum. Ibsen, appalled by Kieler’s committal, wrote A Doll’s House in part as a way of defending her. After two years in the asylum Kieler returned to live with her husband and children and became a famous author in Denmark.

Scandalous: When it was first performed and for many years afterwards, A Doll’s House caused quite the scandal for its criticism of 19th-century marriage customs and portrayal of a woman abandoning her family in order to gain a sense of self. Pressured by several theatres and even the actress who was supposed to play Nora in a German production of the play, Ibsen wrote an alternative ending, in which Nora, upon seeing her children, changes her mind and stays with Torvald. He later regretted doing this, calling the adapted ending “a barbaric outrage.”

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A Doll’s House

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A Doll’s House

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A Doll’s House , play in three acts by Henrik Ibsen , published in Norwegian as Et dukkehjem in 1879 and performed the same year. The play centres on an ordinary family—Torvald Helmer, a bank lawyer, and his wife, Nora, and their three little children. Torvald supposes himself the ethical member of the family, while his wife assumes the role of the pretty and irresponsible little woman in order to flatter him. Into this arrangement intrude several hard-minded outsiders, one of whom threatens to expose a fraud that Nora had once committed without her husband’s knowledge in order to obtain a loan needed to save his life. When Nora’s act is revealed, Torvald reacts with outrage and repudiates her out of concern for his own social reputation. Utterly disillusioned about her husband, whom she now sees as a hollow fraud, Nora declares her independence of him and their children and leaves them, slamming the door of the house behind her.

• Annotated Full Text
• Literary Period: Realism
• Publication Date: 1879
• Flesch-Kincaid Level: 3
• Approx. Reading Time: 2 hours and 13 minutes

A Doll's House

Nora and her husband Torvald have a seemingly happy marriage. However, Nora has a dark secret that Torvald does not know: when Torvald fell ill, Nora illegally borrowed money and forged her father’s signature to pay for his treatment. When Torvald fires Krogstad, the man Nora borrowed money from, Krogstad threatens to unravel her secret. Nora believes that if her husband discovers her debt, he will sacrifice himself for her, and she tries desperately to prevent this from happening. But when his real reaction to her treachery is neither valiant nor loving, Nora’s illusions about her perfect husband and beautiful life are shattered. While this play has been heralded as a feminist dialogue with controversial gender roles, Ibsen claimed that it was not a tale of women’s rights or a feminist story; rather, it is a story about human rights. Both the husband and the wife are confined by the social roles that they have to play and thus not at fault for their cruelty towards one another. When it was released, critics rejected it claiming that it undermined the institution of marriage. However, the play is now recognized as not only a portrayal of very real people and their issues, but also one of the first plays to popularize realism. Irving uses colloquial language, real-life situations, and focuses on everyday people rather than the rich or powerful. These inventions transformed the theater into a space where art could portray commonplace social issues and interrogate Victorian morals.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — House — Social Issues in Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”

Social Issues in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House"

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Published: Jun 13, 2024

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Nora’s True Identity

      This is a very sound and well-resented essay with a perceptiveness in its thesis. There are a few glitches in some of the sentences, but not enough to detract for the overall impression of intelligent commentary. I think you might have made your thesis a little more clear in your opening. For instance, you might have said: "Even in the life she lives with Torvald, there are signs that beneath the "twitterbird" and "squirrel," there is a strong and capable woman functioning in secret. It is this secret Nora who emerges in the end, ready to openly seek an independent life where her attributes needn't be concealed." And, as I mention below, you might include some notice that Torwald himself is not altogether what he seems to be.

     Again, some fine thinking through the implications of the play and a clear exposition. This is a good example of an A paper. I would probably give it in the vicinity of a 96.

Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” Literature Analysis Essay

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In the literary work A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, the protagonist, Nora, struggles to achieve her own personal freedom from a confining and oppressive situation. Written in 1879, A Doll’s House tells the story of a Norwegian housewife and mother who chooses to leave her husband and children rather than continue living in the “doll’s house” that her husband has built for her and expects her to stay in (Ibsen 3).

Nora represents the females of her time, those who attempted to realize their dreams, ambitions, and sense of self direction during the heavily sexist social mores and parochial way of life that dominated much of the late 19 th and early 20 th century.

A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen exudes the pristine quality of a historical document in which no detail has been expunged, manipulated, or updated; it is very much a document of its time, and as such, give readers magnificent insight into long dead social and political eras, and how they affected the human beings on the ground that lived through them.

Historically, many critics and readers alike have made the assumption that A Doll’s House is best read as a feminist manifesto in dramatic form; however, Henrik Ibsen himself did not consider the play to be about the rights of women per se. Rather, Ibsen understood the play to be about human rights (Forward 25).

According to critic Stephanie Forward, Ibsen addressed a crowd of suffragettes in 1898, members of the Norwegian Women’s Rights League, and “asserted firmly that he was not a member of the league and had no conscious aim of creating propaganda when he wrote A Doll’s House ” (Forward 25). Ibsen admitted “I am not even quite clear as to just what this women’s rights movement is. To me it has seemed a problem of humanity in general” (Forward 25).

Nonetheless, the play is one of the first examples of a female protagonist that chooses to go forward on her own, without her children, and at the time of its premiere in Denmark, Nora’s action scandalized its audience. Appalled critics condemned Ibsen as an anarchist bent on abrading the fabric of society, and deemed his character Nora as “an unnatural woman for leaving her husband and children, because such behavior undermined and threatened the stability of society” (Forward 25).

The year before A Doll’s House hit the stage, Ibsen had observed in his journal that “a woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws flamed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view” (Forward 25).

In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House , the main character, Nora is not an intellectual, and spends no time scouring books or libraries or trying to make sense of her situation. She is not a suffragette, and does not follow any sort of political or social party, nor does she belong to any league of feminist minded women.

That said, Nora feels the injustice of her situation acutely. She bristles as her husband’s denigration of her intelligence when he “playfully” takes her by the ear and calls her his “same little featherhead” and “my little squirrel” (Ibsen 3). Nora experiences the double standard that exists between herself and Helmer, as evidenced herein:

HELMER: I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora – bear sorrow and want for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honor for the one he loves.

NORA: It is a thing hundreds of women have done.

HELMER: Oh, you think and talk like a heedless child.

NORA: Maybe. But you neither think nor talk like the man I could bind myself to. As soon as your fear was over – and it was not fear for what threatened me, but for what might happen to you – when the whole thing was past, as far as you were concerned it was exactly as if nothing at all had happened…I was your little skylark, your doll…so…fragile.

Helmer – it was then it dawned upon me that for eight years I had been living here with a strange man, and had borne him three children – Oh! I can’t bear to think of it! I could tear myself into little bits! (Ibsen 112).

Nora’s disillusionment resembles the “waking up” moment for women in similar oppressive situations, those of Nora’s time who realized they were locked in a role, locked in a doll’s house, with each move they made scripted by custom, sexism, and the implicit entitlement of a traditional marriage.

Ibsen ends the play with the powerful moment of Nora Helmer leaving her family home and closing the door firmly; in that action, she walks out on her husband Helmer and their three young children, and embarks on a life of her own, dedicated to discovering freedom on her own terms.

Women of the time who witnessed this moment in the play were profoundly moved by it: “How well I remember, after the first performance of Ibsen’s drama in London, with Janet Achurch as Nora, when a few of us collected outside the theatre breathless with excitement… We were restive and almost savage in our arguments. This was either the end of the world or the beginning of a new world for women. What did it mean? Was there hope or despair in the banging of that door?

Was it life or death for women? Was it joy or sorrow for men? Was it revelation or disaster?” (Forward 24). At the end of the play when Nora leaves, her step forward is one of revolution, and represents a firm and “revolutionary step forward for all the women of her time” (Forward 25)

Nora’s moment of enlightenment and her ensuing action is a breathtaking moment of personal freedom. As Forward explains, although “Nora does not know what the future will hold…she realizes that she requires space and freedom if she is to develop morally and spiritually. At the end of the play she resolves to withdraw from the game of Happy Families…and pursue her destiny, to be first and foremost a human being” (Forward 26).

In A Doll’s House, the moments of Nora’s quest for freedom detailed in this essay represent a classic work that reflected the honest experience of a protagonist caught in an oppressive social systems or political regime. As the protagonist, Nora’s struggle for personal freedom is unique to her situation and her marriage; yet, her defiance toward and ultimate rejection of the role assigned to her by her society remains the same for all oppressed souls.

Works Cited

Forward, Stephanie. “A New World for Women? Stephanie Forward Considers Nora’s Dramatic Exit from Ibsen’s A Doll’s House .” The English Review (2009): 24-27. Web.

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House. Clayton, DE: Prestwick House, 2005. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2020, April 24). Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House" Literature Analysis. https://ivypanda.com/essays/freedom-in-henrik-ibsens-a-dolls-house-literature-analysis/

"Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House" Literature Analysis." IvyPanda , 24 Apr. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/freedom-in-henrik-ibsens-a-dolls-house-literature-analysis/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House" Literature Analysis'. 24 April.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House" Literature Analysis." April 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/freedom-in-henrik-ibsens-a-dolls-house-literature-analysis/.

1. IvyPanda . "Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House" Literature Analysis." April 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/freedom-in-henrik-ibsens-a-dolls-house-literature-analysis/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Freedom in Henrik Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House" Literature Analysis." April 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/freedom-in-henrik-ibsens-a-dolls-house-literature-analysis/.

A Doll’s House Essay

A Doll’s House was written by Henrik Ibsen in 1879. A Doll’s House is not only one of Henrik Ibsen’s most famous plays, but it has also been seen as the starting point for realist drama. A Doll’s House, along with Brand and Peer Gynt, are often considered to be the first modern plays written in Europe. A Doll’s House is a play about power, money, guilt, duty, and family relationships.

A Doll’s House starts with Mrs. Nora Helmer who decides that her family should have an evening at home to celebrate Torvald’s birthday even though there are various outside activities planned earlier on that day. After getting all the children to bed Nora makes some coffee and brings some cake for herself and Torvald. She notices that the maid is not coming in to clear the table, despite several requests. As it turns out, Aune (the maid) is sick and unable to come to work. Nora remarks on Aune’s “poor condition”, saying she will take up Aune’s duties while Aune is ill.

Eventually, Nora forgets about Aune entirely as she becomes engrossed in her own thoughts of how their life together has become stifling; all play rather than essential sustenance of family life had ceased, with Torvald preferring to read newspapers alone in his study each evening rather than engaging with his wife or children. Nora decides she must break free from the chains that bind her. Aune, who turns up at one point is too sick to help with Nora’s children. Nora promises Aune that she will hire a nurse for Aune once Aune has recovered from her illness.

Aune leaves and Torvald enters. He asks about Aune, not believing that an important event would prevent Aune from attending work. The two converse until Nora suggests that they go out to visit Mrs. Linde (who had earlier announced temporary departure due to poor health). Torvald becomes irate over this suggestion as he does not have time to waste on “unimportant” people currently immersed in newspaper reading. He complains of the dinner being cold, further displaying his ignorance of his family and Aune’s conditions.

Nora sees past Torvald’s narrow-mindedness and decides to sit down and play the piano without his permission. He becomes even angrier because Nora has lost track of time while playing; instead of taking up Aune’s duties, she should be finishing the housework such as what Aune would typically do. Nora sees that her husband is quite ignorant in not understanding why Aune is unable to come into work, yet he will not allow Aune a few days’ leave when needed. She tells Torvald about Aune’s illness, but he does not believe it to be a serious affliction.

Not wanting to argue with him so late night, Nora decides to postpone Aune’s endeavor to find a nurse for Aune. The play moves to the following morning, as Nora narrates her daily routine (how she is to be “the perfect wife”). She is aware of Torvald’s explicit caresses every time he returns home from work, but his attentions are merely symbolic gestures signifying their financial arrangement. Aune enters, having recovered from her illness enough to return to work.

Aune relates that one of Mrs. Linde’s family friends has offered Aune a better-paid position in another town. Aune asks Nora whether she believes she is doing the right thing by leaving Nora in need of help with the children and housework. Aune also asks Nora if Torvald will speak to Aune about her departure. Aune requests that Nora not mention Aune’s leaving to Torvald, because Aune does not want him to feel obliged to give Aune a reference. Aune also discloses why she has taken the position, stating she is leaving for “personal reasons”.

Mrs. Linde enters, stating that an old friend of hers who works as a lawyer in Rome has offered her well-paid work caring for his motherless daughter. She requests permission from both Aune and Nora before accepting the job offer. The two are supportive; they will need help while Aune is gone. Mrs. Linde remarks on how overjoyed she is by the prospect of finding employment once again after such a long period of unemployment. Aune also shares her plans of finding a nurse for Aune, but Nora is reluctant to share the news, Aune, leaving with Torvald because he will be disappointed at Aune’s departure.

Aune warns Mrs. Linde that she must not mention Aune’s departure to Torvald either. Aune leaves and Mrs. Linde takes over Aune’s duties in the kitchen while Nora continues playing the piano. Torvald once again returns from work, ruining his routine when he finds no one in the sitting room waiting for him. He calls out “Nora”, and Nora responds by going into her bedroom where Torvald sits on a chair reading a newspaper. She tells him about Aune having left the house. Aune, Nora points out, will definitely provide a reference for Aune.

Torvald begins to worry about Aune leaving, citing that Aune’s work has been outstanding and she would be an exceptional nurse even to his children. He accuses Nora of not being considerate enough towards Aune in allowing Aune the choice of whether or not to stay. Torvald proceeds with his newspaper reading while Nora returns to playing the piano; he comments on how well-played the piece is and praises her talent at playing it so excellently together with such speed and agility. Torvald remarks that Nora never ceases to amaze him (“”Det star mig sa n? som for/Og det driver mig saa forf? rdeligt til vanvidd””).

Aune returns from the kitchen, where Aune has been packing her belongings. Aune asks Nora if she could have a few moments alone with Torvald to say goodbye. A few minutes later Aune asks Mrs. Linde to take a peek at Aune and Torvald to see whether they are finished talking yet because Aune cannot hear anything from Aune’s bedroom. Mrs. Linde enters first before calling for Aune; she tells Aune that it would be best for Aune not to come inside as it appears that there is trouble between them.

Aune stays anyway, deciding that enough time should have passed by now as Mrs. Linde re-enters Aune’s room. Aune enters the bedroom to see Torvald embracing Aune; they are back in love. Aune overhears that Torvald has no idea Aune is leaving until Aune hears Torvald describe how it feels like Aune has left him all alone with three children—he knows exactly how much Aune means to Nora (and vice versa); he wants Aune to stay, even though he can offer her very little except for his gratitude and admiration of Aune’s work.

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A Doll's House

By henrik ibsen, a doll's house essay questions.

The play is usually considered one of Ibsen's “realist” plays. Consider how far the play might be anti-realist or symbolic.

Answer: Consider the symbols, metaphors, and imagery of the play, and weigh their importance against the elements that seem realistic. It also should be very helpful to define “realism” over against the uses of symbols and elements that are absurd, grotesque, or fantastic. Note that “realism” and “symbolism” have gained specific connotations within Ibsen criticism.

When Nora says in Act One, “I can't think of anything to wear. It all seems so stupid and meaningless,” Ibsen illustrates the symbolism of clothing in the play. Describe how Ibsen’s use of clothing works in the play.

Answer: Consider, especially, Nora's tarantella costume and fancy-dress box, as well as her black dress when taking the clothing is a symbol. Explore the metaphor of clothing as something which covers up, something which disguises, or as something which confers identity. Ibsen also uses clothing to make points about agency and gender. Consider who dresses whom and who wears certain clothes for the sake of personal expression or in order to please someone else.

Why is freedom important in the play?

Answer: Nora sees herself as not free when she is confined in the domestic life of her husband’s home. The direction of the play is to perceive Nora’s awakening as someone who deserves freedom. Consider, too, that Torvald becomes free of his marriage obligations, which also have been oppressive of his own liberties. Finally, consider the ambiguous nature of the freedom Nora wins. She is going from a fairly predictable life into something unknown. Remember that Mrs. Linde would rather be tied to a family rather than alone and on her own. Is that because of human nature or because of her individual choice?

Is Torvald Helmer a deeply abhorrent character?

Answer: To answer this question, perform a detailed character study of Torvald Helmer. Do not jump to a conclusion based on your initial feelings about his words and actions in the play. Weigh both sides of the argument—what specifically is the problem in the marriage and in his choices? If you decide to abhor the character, how bad is he? Consider the ways in which he genuinely loves his wife, earns money for the household, and pays attention to her against his selfishness, oppression of his wife, and ability to handle stress.

How does the play illustrate inheritance, the passing along of traits from parent to child?

Answer: Consider Dr. Rank's illness as attributed to his father’s indiscretions. Krogstad's shame for his own alleged errors is inherited by his children by way of reputation. Consider, most of all, Nora's relationships with her father and her nurse as influences on how she treats her own children.

What is the importance of the title of the play?

Answer: This is a reasonably straightforward question that could be taken in a number of directions. How far is Nora a doll, an object or toy for others? How does her home represent a doll’s house, from which the doll cannot escape on her own? When Nora leaves the house, she is breaking free of the metaphor, though it is unclear what will happen if she is going to return to her earlier family home, where she was something of a doll to her father.

Ibsen once described Mrs Alving in his play Ghosts as a version of Nora in later life. Imagine what Nora’s earlier life might have been like, based on her characterization in the play.

Answer: If up till the last day, Nora has been living in a fantasy world, she must have been even less self-aware or independent when she was younger. She probably married by being enthralled by her society’s ideas of love and marriage. Under her father and nurse, she seems to have had few opportunities to get anything like a liberal education; instead, she seems to have learned only how to be a traditional girl and a traditional woman.

To what extent is the play a comedy?

Answer: As well as considering smaller touches, such as individual lines, or jokes that might be funny or comedic, it is worth learning about the theatrical definitions of comedy and tragedy to consider how the structure of the play and the main plot elements might count as part of the tradition of comedy. Consider the roles of marriage, death, friendship, self-awareness, irony, family, holidays and parties, and the various themes of the play in this context.

Is A Doll's House a feminist play?

Answer: Ibsen claimed that his play was about liberation in a more general, human sense, rather than specifically about female liberation. If feminism focuses on both men and women, it is reasonable to see the mutual liberation of Torvald and Nora as a feminist goal, liberating people of both sexes from social and cultural limitations based on gender. Consider the various women in the play as well. How are we to know whether Ibsen wants us to approve or disapprove of their various choices in relation to men and to their own goals? How do the characters themselves exhibit any goals or points that could be described as feminist?

How does Ibsen provide suspense in the play?

Answer: The audience wonders when Torvald will read the letter and what will happen when he does. We also do not know if Nora is going to decide to kill herself, leave, or stay home, but we do know that the pressure on her is building and that something in her is going to burst. Foreshadowing contributes to these issues, such as when Nora tells Mrs. Linde that she has plans Mrs. Linde cannot understand.

Compare the relationship between Mrs. Linde and Krogstad with that of Nora and Torvald.

Answer: Nora and Torvald have lived in something of a fantasy marriage for years, and finally they are separating. Meanwhile, Mrs. Linde and Krogstad have been apart, thinking about one another, and finally they are getting together with a larger degree of self-understanding and maturity.

A Doll’s House Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for A Doll’s House is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Explain why krogstad says he would ask for his letter back

The music of the tarantella is heard above, and Mrs. Linde urges Krogstad to be quick. Krogstad now grows suspicious, questioning whether she is saying all of this simply on behalf of Nora. She denies it, and he then offers to take the letter...

Meaning of Excesses with regards to A Doll's House

What act are you referring to?

Mrs Linde States "i want to be a mother to someone, and your children need amother. We two need each other. Nils, I have faith in your real character I can dare anything together with you ?Based on this reading What does she want from life?

Ultimately, Mrs. Linde decides that she will only be happy if she goes off with Krogstad. Her older, weary viewpoint provides a foil to Nora's youthful impetuousness. She perhaps also symbolizes a hollowness in the matriarchal role. Her...

Study Guide for A Doll’s House

A Doll's House study guide contains a biography of Henrik Ibsen, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About A Doll's House
• A Doll's House Summary
• Character List

Essays for A Doll’s House

A Doll's House essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House.

• Influence of Antigone on A Doll's House
• Burning Down the Doll House
• Ibsen's Portrayal of Women
• Dressed to Impress: The Role of the Dress in Cinderella and A Doll's House
• A Doll's House: Revolution From Within

Lesson Plan for A Doll’s House

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to A Doll's House
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• A Doll's House Bibliography

E-Text of A Doll’s House

A Doll's House e-text contains the full text of A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen.

• DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Wikipedia Entries for A Doll’s House

• Introduction