Critical Analysis Of A Doll's House By Ibsen

“A Doll House” by Ibsen exposes one of the main trials facing Nora and women of today that a lot of men tend to underestimate women. They assume that women are innocent and weak, simply because they are female. Nora Helmer, whom is considered innocent, is an example of women that live in a symbolic “doll house”.
On the other hand, towards the end of the play, Nora shows the independence and drive to be a real woman, which is another characteristic that many women display. Nora’s transformation is a representation of how modern-day women gained the freedom and rights they have today. In order to successfully examine the character of
Nora Helmer, I am going to relate her situation to the struggles of many women during her time. The main

Initially, Nora’s personality is labeled as immature yet also most times obedient in Torvald’s presence; she is always sweet-talking him for favors instead of communicating as an equal couple. This looks like Nora is using this as a mechanism to cope and try to forget her past misbehaviors. Another side of looking at this is looking at Nora as a sensitive woman, but sensible at the same time, and completely has no idea of how much she’s worth until the climax of the play. This is confirmed by how her husband, Torvald always calls her a “little skylark”, or a “little squirrel” and she is quiet and does not do anything about it which seems like she is content with it. Today, I am sure most women will be offended by such comments and the fact that Nora takes this kind of treatment, makes me think that she either has a low self esteem, or she is just ignoring he whole situation.
The most interesting part is that the other side of Nora’s personality shows that Nora is more mature than what the audience thinks. In Nora’s conversation with Nils
Krogstad, the audience is introduced to Nora’s dark past, which revolved around the fact that she forged her dead father’s name (912). This change to me looks like a parting from the mindset of a bullied and disrespected housewife, and a beginning of an individual, or maybe the real Nora making a guest appearance to show that people sometimes tend to adapt to a situation and environment in order to survive. And even though Nora seemed silent and contented, she might have been acting it out, to buy herself time.