A Doll’s House

Themes

Appearance v/s Reality

This theme, based on the concept of deception, is embedded throughout to describe

the lack of trust and masking of serious issues and emotions between Nora and
Torvald after their marriage. Ibsen has brought upon this theme to put more emphasis
on how both of them had different perceptions and thoughts about their relationship.
Their marriage was built upon white lies, which Nora told to keep the façade of a
happy and healthy marriage going on when in reality it was all just a play. For
Torvald this marriage was based on love, cheerful, debt-less and him being the
strength point of the relationship. Nora has been constantly lying to everyone in her
life, Torval, Mrs. Linden, Krogstad etc. Torvald at the end of Act one talks about how
he hates lies “because an atmosphere of lies contaminates and poisons every corner of
the house”, while Nora has already started a cycle of lying by taking debts from
Krogstad, forging her father’s signature etc., all which Torvald is unknown of. This
shows how Nora has been deceiving Torvald as well as herself while she keeps this
endless cycle going and questions it herself. She even talks about how Torvald’s love
for her will fade once she grows old, “no longer amuses him to see me dance and
dress up and play the fool for him”, the emphasis on the line “play the fool for him”
where she seems to be aware that she has been putting up an act to keep everyone
happy but still isn’t aware that her white lies are slowly crushing her doll’s house and
she doesn’t deserve this.

Gender Inequality, Inferiority of Women

This has been one of the main theme as Torvald has always looked down upon
women, so did the entire society back then in late 1800’s, Norway. Torvald, firstly
talks about how borrowing is like digging your own and your family’s grave. He
talked about how if something bad were to happen to Torvald during a debt
repayment period, Nora would not be the able to handle situation which shows how
during that era men were responsible for the finances of the house and women used to
only be known for spending making the hero or savior of the house. But Nora has
expressed ho she hates the fact that only men are known to be responsible. She loved
the desk job and talked about how she “felt like a man” showing women working
were not common during that era. This also further been depicted using the
demeaning nicknames Torvald used to call Nora.

Toxic relationship and marriage

Torvald has always seen Nora as a fragile being who has no other passion but
spending money. He always calls Nora by little bird names, which shows how
Torvald loved Nora but according to him he dominated Nora. The entire marriage
appeared to be built on inequality and deception. Torvald always believed he had the
bigger hand in the relationship where he had the sole right to make decisions and
order Nora to believe the same. Nora, being oblivious to her own inside feelings,
believed the truth as she mentions how she wouldn’t know what to do about the debts
or hadn’t thought that far about the consequences. Torvald disrespected her family
and Nora had no power to speak up for her family, just sticking to polite words and
phrases causing the conversation to also be imbalanced. The communication was one
sided as we see Nora usually replying in one sentence, occasionally a paragraph. But
the contrast has been shown when she talks to Mrs. Linden and makes the
conversation about herself unknowingly, making her come off as rude but this shows
how she has a lot of opinions to say but just can’t get the power to convey them to
Torvald. This shows the immense, masked toxicity and inequality in their
relationship.