An Analysis of a Woman’s Manhood in A Doll’s House

Youth is something that is always taken for granted until death takes a toll. There are those who have either fulfilled their life goals or the ones who lived a passive life truly regret everything on their death beds. Growing up and maturing goes hand in hand. A master plot seen in Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House is maturation. Maturation is when the Protagonist faces a problem that is part of growing up, and from dealing with it, emerging into a state of adulthood. The protagonist Nora is developed throughout the play from an ignorant child to a strong willed “man” on a quest for knowledge. In the play Nora goes from her father’s home to her husband’s home. Nora’s childhood is filled with toys and Christmas trees during the winter season. Like the introduction of the play, there is a Christmas tree and her children playing with toys. The Christmas tree is symbolic; it represents Nora as a pretty decoration that brightens the Helmer home. A Christmas tree is decorated any way to one’s liking. This contrast to Nora since everyone treats and decides what she will do as they please. Like the doll Nora is seen as is also tied in with being a tree. The toys she played with and the newly bought toys her children now play with are symbols of pushing the roles onto Nora’s children. They become occupied by the toys that were picked out for them. Nora has “…an extraordinary lack of intellectual constancy” (Phelps 200). The more she listens to Torvald babying her, she becomes less of her own person. She did not actually loser herself, because she is never real. However, Nora is no longer confined to her knitting (typical woman toy) or allows anyone to decorate her as they please. She finally realizes she is no longer a doll, but slowly becoming...

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