A Review of Henrick Ibsen's Dramatic Play a Doll's House

In Henrik Ibsen's dramatic play A Doll's House, he seems to put the main focus on one specific character, Nora. A mother of three and wife to a lawyer - a lawyer who wasn't able to fight his way out of the end of the play when Nora unexpectedly decides to leave him. She makes not only the decision to leave Torvald, but to leave behind her three children as well.

When I first read the final scene, I was very quick to judge her decision. I though, what kind of mother would be as selfish as to leave her children? How would these kids deal with this, not understanding why? I did although take into consideration that she wasn't mentally stable, looking back on her thoughts of suicide. I understood the aspect of her wanting to leave her husband, but not the kids. It wasn't until after I took into consideration what the rest of the class had to say in the discussion we had about this specific topic, that I began to see why she left the kids as well.

She knew that she had nothing to offer them as far as guidance or knowledge because she didn't know anything outside the home. She had been "kept in" for so long now that she had no idea how to survive on her own and she knew that the children were already in a stable home. She didn't want to take that from them, risking that she might not be able to provide a stable home for them without Torvald around. For the duration of her marriage, she was expected to act a certain way and live in a specific manner, the way that Torvald wanted her to live. She was expected to be the cheery little house wife with no real opinions or purpose other than to care for the home and children and cater to his needs. She was expected to have no real aspirations, just to conform to this model of a wife that he had set for her.

Throughout the entire play, Nora was treated as though she were lesser than Torvald. In the very first scene of the play he calls her a few names within a couple of lines. "Has the little spendthrift been out throwing money around again?"(act I, Ibsen) Then again with , "Nora, Are your scatterbrains off again?"(Act I, Ibsen) He even goes as far as to say that she is acting like a woman, as if she were not a woman, or as if being a woman was not acceptable.

After reading the final scene of this play, I can honestly say that I was shocked. I never saw it coming. I didn't think she had it in her at all. But at the same time, I couldn't quite figure out what she meant by saying that it would take the "greatest miracle" to stop her from leaving. Even if the greatest miracle was for her and Torvald to all of a sudden become this happy little family, where he actually treated her like a wife, instead of just a woman in the house that was there to take care of him. She would never forget the way that he had treated her in the past. She would never really know if he changed just to keep her around or if it was really because he wanted to be different and that he loved her. This is why I didn't object to her leaving him. I felt that she was doing the right thing for herself.

Aside from the fact that was a little loopy, it wasn't her fault really. She had no real education, no outside experience because he didn't let her. I could tell from the very end of the play where she referred to him as if he was already a stranger to her that she had never met. Granted, they had a very distant marriage, but she had three children with this man. That doesn't exactly sound like a stranger to me. This showed me that wasn't very stable at all. She had no idea how to think for herself and she knew that it was about time for her to go out and learn.

All together, after taking into consideration what I had read and the outside opinions from others, I felt like her leaving was better for her and the kids. They wouldn't really obtain anything from her other than what she knew, and that wasn't very much unfortunately. Every mother comes to a point her life where she has to make a decision, not all are this drastic, but that mother has to decide not only what is best for her children, but also what is best for herself. I think Nora did both.