Nora’s persona is a guise to deceive a world that believes in male rule. Demonstrating this, Nora says “I wouldn’t think of going against your wishes” (4). She says this to try to conceal her macaroons. By lying Nora tries to cover up her failures to listen to her husband. As she practices the dance, “Helmer has taken a position by the stove and during the dance gives her frequent instructions. She does not hear him” (48). Nora pretends to listen to her husband most of the time, but in certain moments her shadow self shows. The dialogue and her actions reveal that beneath her normal exterior, Nora contains a very different person,
Underneath her persona, Nora has a shadow self who is desparate for responsibility. When she reveals her debt to Mrs. Linde, an old friend, Nora brags :It was I who procured the money” (11). Nora persona shows her a spendthrift, but her lower layer tries to address mature problems. By seeking responsibility, Nora’s shadow and ego [defined in the non-Jungian sense] push through. Nora tries to accept the blame later too, as a mature way of developing her responsibility. When her husband breaks down at the end, Nora tells him “You shall not take it upon yourself” (62). Nora’s shadow eventually breaks down her persona to create her personality.
By using Nora’s dialogue with each other, Ibsen examines the Jungian principle of shadow and persona. He does this to show the human condition of self conflict. Ibsen shows that beneath every exterior, like the old Western towns with false fronts, there is something totally different. Nora has a childish exterior that covers an emerging adult trying to grow up, and leave the doll’s house.
