This exchange between Nora and Helmer at the beginning of the play also adds great irony to the later happenings in the play. This is so because as we later find out, Helmer’s household is based on debt, except he doesn’t know about it, therefore it is ironic when he says that ‘a home…founded on debts…can never be a place of freedom and beauty’ because of course his house never had any of those virtues to begin with, but it was rather his idealistic illusions which clouded his vision and knowledge. The way Nora performs the Tarantella for her husband and dresses up in her fancy dress emphasizes the fact that she acts to please her husband and his friends which he needs her to please and impress for the sake of Torvald’s own social status. In fact, Nora’s performance and preparation for the Tarantella is symbolized by Ibsen. The Christmas tree, a festive object meant to serve a purely decorative purpose, symbolizes Nora's position in her home as a plaything who is pleasing to look at and adds charm to the home. There are several pieces of support for this notion in the play. Just as Nora instructs the maid that the children cannot see the tree until it has been decorated, she tells Torvald that no one can see her in her dress until the evening of the dance in the line ‘…no one’s to be allowed to see me before tomorrow night’. Also, at the beginning of the second act, after Nora's psychological condition has begun to erode, the stage directions indicate that the Christmas tree is correspondingly ‘disheveled’.
Nora realizes towards the end of the play that she is treated by Helmer in the same paternal, patronizing manner as she was herself treated by her father and that she in turn treats her children in this same way. This is shown by how Torvald patronizingly calls Nora his ‘little skylark’ or ‘squander-bird’ and Nora then calls her children ‘little baby dolls’. Nora finally comprehends this fact as being a negative aspect of her life and in fact accuses them of doing her harm in the line ‘You and papa have done me a great wrong’ and re-instates her understanding of the consequences towards the end of the play when she says that ‘He (Nora’s father) called me his little doll, and he played with me just the way I played with my dolls. Then I came her to live in your house’ and ‘I’ve been your doll-wife, just as I used to be papa’s doll-child. And the children have been dolls’.
Just as in a real doll’s house, Nora is never shown to actually take care of the children, she just ‘plays’ with them once in a while when she is in the mood for it, this is shown by her line to Anne-Marie ‘No, don’t – I’ll undress them myself, Anne-Marie. No, please let me; it’s such fun’. This is another reflection of how Torvald treats Nora, as he is shown never really to care how or what she feels, he simply believes that as a husband he has full power over his wife. This is shown when Helmer attempts to forcefully impose his sexual desire over Nora even after she repeatedly tells him that nothing of that nature was to happen that night in the lines ‘…I am very tired. Soon I shall sleep’ and ‘Don’t look at me like that, Torvald!’ However, even after all that, Helmer chose to completely ignore his wife’s state and mood, and goes on to say ‘You’ve still the tarantella in you blood, I see. And that makes you even more desirable’ and as soon as he realizes that she isn’t joking about going to sleep, Helmer reveals his conventional views on role of a woman in a marriage, in the line ‘What? Now, Nora, you’re joking with me. Don’t want, don’t want - ? Aren’t I your husband?’
Another fact which relates the title to, in this case Nora’s character in particular is her use of language. Nora’s use of language is very childish and undeveloped, with her use of genteel exclamatory expressions such as ‘Pooh’ or diminutive expressions such as ‘Just a tiny bit’. Nora’s manner of speech is one’s image of how a doll would speak if she was able to. Also, it is the fact that a doll represents a children’s toy, therefore it relates to children in general just as Nora’s speech also relates to how a child would speak.
‘One day I might, yes. Many years from now, when I've lost my looks a little. Don't laugh. I mean, of course, a time will come when Torvald is not as devoted to me, not quite so happy when I dance for him, and dress for him, and play with him.’ In this quotation from Act One, Nora describes for Mrs. Linde the circumstances under which she would consider telling Torvald about the secret loan she took in order to save his life. Her claim that she might consider telling him when she gets older and loses her attractiveness is important because it shows that Nora has a sense of the true nature of her marriage, even as early as Act One. This point may be considered to contradict the title, as it shows that Nora is not a doll, but rather plays the role of a doll so as not to break any conventions which would cause problems for her. She recognizes that Torvald's affection is based largely on her appearance, and she knows that when her looks fade, it is likely that Torvald's interest in her will fade as well. Her suggestion that in the future she may need something to hold over Torvald in order to retain his faithfulness and devotion to her reveals that Nora is not as naive as she pretends to be. She has an insightful, intelligent, and conniving side that acknowledges, if only in a small way, the troubling reality of her existence.
Another quote from Nora which would go to contradict the title is a line from the ending of the play, when she realizes that she has been living a lie. ‘I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald. That's how I've survived. You wanted it like that. You and Papa have done me a great wrong. It's because of you I've made nothing of my life.’ Nora speaks these words, which express the truth that she has gleaned about her marriage, Torvald's character, and her life in general, to Torvald at the end of Act Three. She recognizes that her life has been largely a performance. She has acted the part of the happy, childish wife for Torvald and, before that; she acted the part of the happy, childish daughter for her father. She now sees the fact that her father and Torvald compelled her to behave in such a way as a "great wrong" that stunted her development as an adult and as a human being. She has made "nothing" of her life because she has existed only to please men. Following this realization, Nora leaves Torvald in order to make something of her life and, for the first time, to exist as a person independent of other people.
Though most English translations of the play are titled ‘A Doll's House’, some scholars believe that ‘A Doll House’ is a more accurate translation of the original Norwegian version. They feel that it is more suggestive of the doll-like qualities of the entire cast of characters. After all, Ibsen was trying to portray the attitudes and conventions held in every upper class household during the late 19th century, not just this one in particular.
