Effects Of Wealth In A Doll's House By Henrik Ibsen

Wealth can come in a variety of different ways. Whether it is financial wealth, or emotional wealth, it can deeply affect a person’s character and way of thinking and living in general. Money and wealth affect the Helmers in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House by robbing the two characters of their moral and emotional values. This is shown through Nora and how she talks about her life, and it is shown through Torvald’s character.
Nora is greatly affected by wealth throughout the course of the play. Looking at the first act of the play when Nora confesses she borrowed money and forged her father’s signature, she falsely leads Mrs. Linde to believe she has a secret admirer that gave her the money. Because of the forged signature, and the raise in income

Torvald begins to treat Nora differently after he gets his promotion, as he knows he will need to control her as he believes she is a “spendthrift,” and will put them in financial trouble if she continues to spend like she currently is. But, meanwhile Nora has already put them in financial trouble, and put their whole lives in trouble by forging her father’s signature. When Nora leaves at the end of the play, Torvald wishes for her to stay the night and he still cares about her as she leaves, whereas she does not. This shows that wealth has not affected Torvald in the same ways that it has affected Nora. Although they are not affected in the same ways, there are some similarities as they both seem very shallow and ignorant. The first thing Torvald says when he sees the two cards from Doctor Rank in his mailbox is, “It looks as if he were announcing his own death.” (pg. 61) Although he does not know any better, and he does not know that is exactly what Doctor Rank was doing, it is an extremely shallow thing to say as death is not a subject to be lightly joked about. Wealth affects the way Torvald treats, controls and converses with Nora, and it affects his reasoning and thought