A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

The play “A Doll’s House” by Henrik Ibsen is about a wife that is

hiding a big secret from her overprotective husband. The play takes

place on Christmas Eve till the day after Christmas. Nora Helmer and

Torvald Helmer have been married for 8 years, yet Nora is hiding

something from Torvald that she thinks would ruin everything if he

found out. It opens up with Nora coming home and decorating the house

for Christmas and making preparations. They have 3 children: Ivar,

Bob, and Emmy, who are all very young. Torvald is a lawyer and has

recently just gotten a promotion where he works at the bank and been

made manager of the Joint Stock Bank, yet Nora is just a housewife and

Torvald doesn’t trust her with money because she is a “spend swift”

and blows money on useless things. On Christmas Eve, a friend of

Nora’s that she hasn’t seen for ten years stops by along with Dr.

Rank, a long time friend of both Torvald and Nora. Her Friends name is

Kristine, but is referred to as Mrs. Linde. She explains how she has

just moved to town and has been a widow for 3 years. She asks Nora for

help getting a job, and Nora responds by telling her she could ask her

husband who is now the manager at the bank to give her a job there.

They go on talking and Nora tells her the secret that she has been

keeping from Torvald. She tells her about how her husband was very ill

and they did not have a lot of money, yet the doctors said the only

way to cure him was to take a trip to Italy. So Nora says that she had

to borrow money from someone, who goes unnamed, to take the trip to

Italy. She never told Torvald that he was sick or that she borrowed

money from anyone because she thinks he would look down upo...

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...running out of his study screaming at her and asking if

what the letter from Krogstad says is true. She tells him that it is

and he tells her what a deceitful liar she is. The maid then comes in

with another letter from Krogstad, which he reads immediately. In the

letter he says that he forgives her and is sorry and gives her back

the I.O.U that she had given her with the forged signature. Nora and

Torvald are both very happy and they burn the letter along with the

I.O.U, getting rid of all evidence and saying that they are saved.

Nora goes to change and then tells Torvald they need to sit down and

have a serious conversation, she tells him that he does not understand

her and he treats her like a doll, just to play with but never

anything serious. She tells him that she has to leave him, he begs her

not to but she says she must and then walks out the door.