A dolls house
A dolls houseDuring the time in which the play took place society frowned upon women asserting themselves. Women were supposed to play a role in which they supported their husbands, took care of their children, and made sure everything was perfect around the house. Nora is portrayed as a doll throughout the play until she realizes the truth about the world she lives in, and cuts herself free.
Nora Helmer was a delicate character who had been pampered all of her life, by her father, and by Torvald. She really didn't have a care in the world. She didn't even have to care for the children; the maid would usually take care of that. In every sense of the word, she was your typical housewife. She never left the house, mostly because her husband was afraid of the way people "would talk." I do not know if but a few people knew about their marriage, and that was the way Torvald wanted it to be. It really wasn't her fault she was the way she was, it was mostly Torvald's for spoiling her. Nora relies on Torvald for everything, from movements to thoughts, much like a puppet that is dependent on its puppet master for all of its actions. Her carefree spirit and somewhat childish manners are shown throughout the play with statements such as, "Is that my little lark twittering out there?" and "Is that my squirrel rummaging around?" (1069) The animal imagery used relates the animal to how Nora is acting or should be portrayed. A lark is a happy, carefree bird, and a squirrel is quite the opposite. If you are to squirrel away something, you were hiding or storing it, kind of like what Nora was doing with her bag of macaroons. It seems childish that Nora must hide things such as macaroons from her husband but if she didn't and he found out, she would be deceiving him and going against his wishes which would be socially wrong.
As the play goes on, Nora seems to transform from her delicate little character into something much more. At the end of act one, Krogstad goes to Nora for the recollection of the money she had borrowed from him. "You certainly won't tell my husband that I owe you money?" (1083). Since Nora was wrong in doing so socially, she could not tell Torvald or anyone else about her problem. Not only would that affect their social standard but also Torvald's ego, which inevitably would happen anyway. After Krogstad threatens to expose Nora for forging her father's signature she realizes that no matter what she does Torvald was going to know the truth. The flaw within this patriarchal framework becomes apparent when Nora discovers that she has no legitimate name of her own. She can use neither her married name nor her maiden name to borrow money. She...
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