A Doll's House

A Doll's House

 In the play, “A Doll’s House”, by Henrik Ibsen, Nora’s entire life was a construct of societal values and norms and the expectations of others, especially her husband’s. Until and unless she goes to the acknowledgment that her life is a sham, she spends entire life in a fantasy world. In this fantasy world, Nora did not realize importance of her life, an attitude that prompted a large portion of the plot's complications. This is why although it seemed that any choice Nora made at the end of “A Doll’s House” would have been a bad one, leaving Torvald was not only the right choice to make, it was the only choice she could have made if she wanted to live her life without being restrained by a man. Making the arguments that justify Nora's decision, we can point out the main reasons that described why she left her husband.
The first and most influential factor leading to Nora leaving Torvald was, without a doubt, the demeaning treatment she received from him. All throughout the novel, Torvald belittled his wife, and although it may have been meant affectionately, it was obviously too consistent for Nora’s comfort. He used to allude to her with various pet names, dehumanizing her to mere forest creatures. For example, in act one, Torvald asked Nora, “Is that my little lark twittering out there?... Is my little squirrel bustling about?... When did my squirrel come home?” referring to her as a squirrel doing its spring cleaning (pg. 4). Despite being his wife, she was treated more as a child in her own house by her husband and was forced to follow the rules made by her husband. This seemed to add on to Nora’s childhood, where her father treated her as a doll, same as Torvald. With all the time Nora was treated as a literal doll, in her childhood and in her marriage to Torvald, she couldn’t have possible had the chance to form an opinion of her own that didn’t concur with either her father or Torvald. Torvald especially expected that Nora would concur with him on ALL...

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