Reidy 1 Stephanie Reidy Instructor Wright ENG 113-970 12 November 2013 Noras Departure from her Husband, Children,

and Circumstances In the play A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen, Nora is a very competent woman despite what her character has been made out to be by her father and husband. Nora decides to leave after eight years of marriage to Torvald because she wants freedom to make her own decisions and because of his evil remarks to her when he discovers her crime of forgery (Ibsen 1296). She feels quite capable of succeeding on her own after she leaves her husband and children because she has already worked so hard to make money to pay off her debt. Because of underlying feelings between Torvald and Nora and the aftereffects of Noras crime, their marriage dissipates and Nora leaves her husband to find out who she really is (1332). Nora most likely will never come back home because of the hurt she feels from Torvalds actions. Nora says that there is a possibility to return only if they both have a dramatic change (1332), but she says that she does not want him to contact her, and she only tells him that she is going back to her hometown (1331). Nevertheless, he seems to act as if he does not want her to leave (1329) although she calls him a stranger (1331). They live lives almost totally independent of each other; Torvald has his business and conversations in his study and knows very little about what Nora is actually doing because she keeps numerous secrets. In the past, when Torvald became very sick, Nora committed forgery by using her fathers signature to get a loan from Krogstad to save Torvalds life (1296). Later, once truth is made known about her forgery, Torvald shows his true attitude when he attacks Nora (1325);

Reidy 2 thus she sees wickedness in him she never knew existed and decides that she can actually leave and be a normal personfree to make her own decisionsinstead of being manipulated and dominated by her husband (1328). Nora expects Torvald to take the blame for her actions and be grateful that she was trying to save his life, but instead, he condemns her (1330). Torvald is totally concerned about how bad his reputation is going to be; he does not even consider that his wife has been trying to help her husband in a crisis (1296). Nevertheless, Nora was not innocent just because she committed the crime through desperation (1296); she still broke the law. When Torvald is going to fire Krogstad, he appeals to Nora to influence her husband to change his mind (1295). He says that if she does not, he will reveal her crime to her husband (1296). Through a course of events, the document ends up in Torvalds hands because Mrs. Linde feels that it will be better if truth is found out (1320). Circumstances turn out opposite of what Nora expects; Torvald gets very angry instead of taking up for her self-sacrifice in trying to keep him alive (1325). He attacks her by saying that she is unfit to raise their children (1328) and that she has ruined his reputation (1325). Consequently, she decides that she wants to leave her husband and her children (1329). At one point, Torvald also states that a house that is filled with lies makes young children turn into criminals (1325). This makes Nora feel so tormented that she no longer wants to interact with the children because she is a criminal. She probably feels some regret for leaving her children, but because her husband says that she is unfit to raise her children (1325-6), she thinks that they will be better off being raised by the nurse (1302). Before this incident she loved to play with the children, but after this, the words that her husband said changes her mentality. Although one cannot say with certainty, Nora probably will be successful because of the perseverance and commitment that she has had while attempting to pay off her debt. One of the

Reidy 3 jobs that she has taken on is copying documents for money (1290), but she makes ornaments in the meantime to cover up her job. Torvald realizes that there are not enough ornaments made in the time she has worked on them, so she says that the cat destroyed them (1284). Also when she receives money to go shopping, she allots some of it to go toward the debt, which makes Torvald think that she is an extravagant shopper (1289). When Torvald asks her what she wants as a gift, she asks for only money, but Torvald says that she must buy something with it (1283). She does just enough to get by, but still uses most of it for the debt (1289). This proves that no matter how she is treated by her husband, she is determined to make something of her life (1329). She is planning to have her debt paid off by the beginning of the next year, but her forgery is revealed and she leaves right before the years end (1332). On the other hand, it is obvious that Nora acts very immature, predominately because of the way that her father and husband have treated her and made her out to be (1328). She is looked upon as a doll and a child (1328); therefore, she feels that she needs to make something of her life which would mean getting out of Torvalds life (1329). Her husband likes the image that she portrays to him, and before this time, Nora has always succumbed to Torvalds authority (1328). This might give the inclination that she would not be able to make it in the outside world without her husbands guidance, but with the determination that she has, it is very likely that she will succeed. She could rent a room or even stay with her friend, Christine Linde if she needs to (1329). This play is a feminist work because behind the whole play, Noras inferiority is shown by the way she is treated by the men in her life and by how much she desires to be free (1328). She says that she wishes that she could be free to play the role as a mother and a wife, but the underlying idea is that she realizes that she cannot easily fulfill this role as long as she is under

Reidy 4 the domination of her husband (1329). Her husband has formed her personality into what he wanted her to be in the eight years that they were married that she has normally succumbed to his will (1328). She tells Torvald, I have been performing tricks for you, TorvaldIt is because of you I have made nothing of my life (1328). Because of the way that she has been treated, she says that this is the first time that they have had a genuine conversation since they have been married (1327). She says that her husband and her father are the reason why she has not developed her character as an adult because they have formed her personality to be no different (1328). This play also develops the idea of feminism because Nora does not tell her husband a thing about incurring this debt and paying it off. The entire time she is copying documents for money, she would say that she was making ornaments to cover it up (1284). This proves that she feels that she has to do things without her husbands knowledge, which shows that she wants to be able to make her own decisions without her husbands dominance (1328). Throughout the entire play A Dolls House, the ideas of womens rights and of leaving and being successful in life influence Noras character and actions. The actions of her friends who reveal her forgery help define Torvalds evil character which causes the two of them to be separated. Before that time, it seemed as if their relationship was going fine, despite Noras secretive life. Nora will most likely never come back due to the way Torvald has treated her; she is very determined to be successful without her husbands domination.

Reidy 5 Works Cited Ibsen, Henrik. A Dolls House. An Introduction to Literature: Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 16th ed. Ed. Sylvan Barnet, William Burto, William E. Cain. Boston: Longman. 2011. Print.