A Doll's House Book Report

Krogstad, one of the employees at the bank, appears at the Torvald home and Mrs. Linde recognizes him as an old acquaintance. After the guests have left the house, the Nurse enters with the children. A parallelism is seen between Torvald’s treatment of Nora and Nora’s treatment of her children. Krogstad returns to the Helmers’ home once Nora is alone to collect her debt payment. When Nora cannot pay Krogstad, he asks her to use her influence with Torvald to help him keep his job at the bank. Krogstad threatens to reveal Nora’s secret if she does not succeed in using her influence on Torvald. Once the business of the loan is discussed, Krogstad also reveals that he knows Nora forged her father’s signature on the paperwork. Being that a woman could not borrow money during this time period, Torvald would be held responsible for Nora’s actions. Torvald returns home and asks Nora about seeing Krogstad leaving the house. She tells him about their discussion of his position at the bank but not about the trouble she is now

Nora is able to get Kristine employment at the bank, now that Torvald is manager, and thanks Nora. Kristine doesn’t know, however, that the job that she is taking at the bank belongs to Nils. Nils knows that with Torvald gaining the position of manager at the bank, his job there is now in jeopardy and decides that the only way for him to keep his job there is to blackmail Nora. Nora tells Kristine about her problem with Nils and Kristine says that she will help Nora since she and Nils are acquainted, and that, “there was a time that he would have done anything for [her]” (Ibsen 56). Finally, when Kristine and Nils encounter one another after years apart they talk about their previous relationship. Nils was a little bitter about the way that Kristine left him for someone, “more profitable” but Kristine states that deciding to leave Nils was not easy that she had to because of her duty to support her family. Nils describes himself as, “a broken man clinging to the wreckage of his life” (Ibsen 64) while Kristine says that she is a broken woman doing the same, and suggests that both cling to one together wreck instead. Kristine goes on to say that she has been alone for quite some time and she needs “someone to mother and [Nils’s] children need a mother” (Ibsen 65) to which Nils agrees and is overjoyed by the thought of them being together

In “A Doll’s House” Torvald Helmer and Nora start out to seem as a happy married couple with three young children. In the beginning Nora is seen as woman who cares about her children and her husband but someone who also cares greatly about money. Torvald is seen as a man who is important in the society. Nora was portrayed as a very caring wife when it is revealed that she borrowed money illegally from Krogstad to fund the trip to Italy to try and save her husband life because he was sick. Once Krogstad begins to try and blackmail her Nora tries everything in her power to prevent Torvald from discovering the truth so that his pride and reputation would not be hurt or challenged. When Torvald finally discovers the

Krogstad feels threatened by her influence because she can be the pivotal deciding factor in whether or not he keeps his job. Nevertheless, Krogstad tries to turn her influence to benefit himself by threatening to reveal her crime if she does not help him to keep his job. This backfires on Krogstad when two women, Nora and Mrs. Linde, manipulate Krogstad into feeling obstinate and therefore he promises never to tell anyone of what Nora has done. Nora's power helped her to remain protected throughout the entire play.

Making use of the word “little” again revealing how he views his wife; “my” is also a frequent word in Torvald’s vocabulary. Torvald’s possessive nature prompts him to call Nora his no matter what pet-name he uses. The pattern of these possessive, diminutive pet-names such as “my little featherbrain” (3) reflect Torvald’s belief that Nora is another child of his, so much so that he actually refers to Nora specifically as a child on more than one occasion. Telling Nora that she talks like a child (3) and suggesting that “the child shall have her way” (2) further displays his feelings toward Nora. Just as an adult does not discuss their business with an adolescent, so does Torvald not have important conversations with Nora. Nora even notifies Torvald that during the last scene was the “first (they) have had a serious conversation”(3). Torvald even groups Nora with his other children demanding that “lesson time shall begin . . . both (hers) and the children’s” (3).

A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen, portrays a young married woman, Nora, who plays a dramatic role of deception and self-indulgence. The author creates a good understanding of a woman’s role by assuming Nora is an average housewife who does not work; her only job is to maintain the house and raise the children like a stereotypical woman that cannot work or help society. In reality, she is not an average housewife in that she has a hired maid who deals with the house and children. Although Ibsen focuses on these “housewife” attributes, Nora’s character is ambitious, naive, and somewhat cunning. She hides a dark secret from her husband that not only includes borrowing money, but also forgery. Nora’s choices were irrational; she handled the

Nora, the innocent little housewife, starts off as a harmless little doll but soon changes. She is Torvald’s perfect wife in the beginning of the play, but little does he know that she has a mind of her own and isn’t really his little doll. The opening of Nora’s ulterior personality starts when she opens up to Mrs. Linde (Act 1). Nora bleeds to Mrs. Linde her financial problems with the trip that she spent two hundred and fifty pounds on, on her husband. Being the reader, I was shocked to hear so knowing how harmless and perfect Nora appeared to be. Then later on, the plot unfolds and reveals the incriminating fact that Nora had been owing Krogstad this money the whole time and had been paying him back in increments with the allowance given to her by Torvald. It is crazy that Nora had been so sneaky all along and had been keeping it away from Torvald all along. Nora is then stuck in a dilemma when Krogstad blackmailed her by telling her that she has to get his job back or he’ll reveal the whole thing to

She is married to her husband, Torvald, who has recently been promoted in his job at the bank. In the story Torvals constantly belittles his wife, referring to her as meek animals, like starlet and squirrel. He uses these words to make her seem weak and incapable of affairs, other than domestic. He did not think women should be allowed to, or even could, handle money. From this information it can be gathered that Torval is the victimizer to his wife. Later on though, it is revealed that Torvald was once very sick and the Helmer’s could not afford to pay for his medical needs. Nora had to take out a loan, behind his back, and pay for his expenses, that were required in another country. At one point, this is revealed and Torvald is taken aback by his wife’s ‘betrayal’. Nora then, has an epiphany and realizes she has been subjugated by her husband for a long time and in an instance walks out on him, for good. Against Torvald’s knowledge and will, he was at point a victim where his wife was the only one to care for him. He acted superior to his wife in their marriage, but when he became ill he was the frail and week

However, Nora does eventually realize that she has been treated like a child all her life and has been denied the right to think and act the way she wishes. When Torvald does not immediately offer to help Nora after Krogstad threatens to expose her, Nora realizes that there is a problem. By waiting until after he discovers that his social status will suffer no harm, Torvald reveals his true

Torvald's reaction to the letter opens Nora eyes to the truth about her relationship with Torvald . Nora starts thinking of ways to change her priorities and of course an action to take. Nora shifts her thinking from suicide to deciding to leave Torvald and her kids. Nora becomes more independent on herself rather than having to rely on Torvald. Nora now realizes that she can escape from Torvald's realm of a "perfect family" and have no regrets.

Nora questions herself and what her life really meant and what the past 8 years of marriage to Torvald really was. She realized that she did not want to stay with Torvald because she needed to find herself. Torvald shows her that he is willing to fix the problem and wants to change for her. Torvald gives Nora many examples and ways he is willing to do in order for her to stay and reconstruct their

Since Nora’s father was dying, she was forced to forge his signature in order to secure a loan that would eventually save her husband’s life, which only led to more problems in the future because in order for her to be able to repay the money she must lie about how she spends her household accounts and also lie about taking odd jobs to earn extra money. Also, the way Torvald treats Nora in the play depicts the way women were treated in the nineteenth century. For example, In Act I, Nora is little more than a child playing a role. She is a “doll” occupying a doll’s house, a child who has exchanged a father for a husband without changing or maturing in any way. Torvald treats his wife literally like a doll, calling her pet names and occasionally scolding her as if she were a child. His primary interests are his new job as a bank manager and his social standing. When he learns that his wife is involved in a legal problem that would embarrass him if it became known to the public, he reveals who he really is. He comes off as a hypocrite preoccupied with his own welfare. Also, Torvald says that Nora is now his property which is when Nora realizes she is much too good for him. Nora then decides to leave because they have been married for eight years and has suffered enough injustice from both her father and Torvald. Nora explains to Torvald that she has been merry, not happy, being with him. She explained to him how

Nora begins to take offence to the words of Torvald. He refers to her as his most “prized possession”, and continues to say that he often imagines her as though she is his mistress, and she is a temptress. Nora continues to get offended, telling Torvald she doesn’t want any of this. Nora begins

However, it doesn't justify the rest of her lies to her friends and husband. Her deceptive actions then cause problems to stir up in her relationship with Torvald. Krogstad warns Nora that if Torvals fires him, he will take her down with him. Nora then tries to convince Mrs. Linde to persuade Krogstad to not inform Torvald about the situation, however once Krogstad is confronted by Mrs. Linde she tells him to expose Nora. Two letters are sent to the Helmer residence both addressed to Torvald. He comes to learn about Nora's forgery and loses his mind and yells and is shamming her for her actions. In the end, everything that Nora had acquired with Torvald, everything she bragged about, was taken from her because of her deceptive nature in the

A Doll’s House was published in Norway in 1879 by Henrik Isben. He is known as the father of Modern Theatre. He is also referred as the father of realism. The play is very interesting because of the funny dialogue, the unique characters, and Ibsen 's view of the place of ladies in the public eye. The main characters of the play is Nora Helmer and her husband Torvald Helmer. Imagine what it would be like to live in a doll 's home? It 's a house in which you are controlled and have no energy to settle on any solid choice; It 's a house in which you are a play thing for another person 's amusement. This sounds a ton like an awful marriage, so it 's a house in which your husband holds the satchel strings, in a manner of speaking, and abandons you with no influence over your family 's accounts. In fact, your husband keeps you on a tightrope. Such is the perceived life of Nora Helmer.