NORA. (moving towards the stove). As you please Torvald.
HELMER. (following her). Come, come, my little skylark must not droop her wings, What is this! Is my little squirrel out of temper? (taking out his purse.) Nora, what do you think I have got here?
NORA. (turning round quickly). Money!
HELMER. There you are. (gives her money.)
Nora realizes that she is being treated as a child but she doesn’t mind so because it is all she has ever known. She behaves playfully yet obediently in his presence, always coaxing favors from him instead of communicating as equals. “Playing with his coat buttons, and without raising her eyes to his” (Ibsen 5). Just as Torvald plays with her, she helps him by playing up her act. “(begins dressing the tree). A candle here—and flowers here—… The tree shall be splendid!—I will sing for you, dance for you— “ ( Ibsen 25) Just as Nora is dressing up the tree, she is preparing to dress herself up for Torvald. She does not think for herself and instead, she is content on letting Torvald control her. Her childish and immature qualities are what defines her in Act I.
In Act III of the play, Nora has changed from being a naïve woman, into a self-assured and realistic woman. Nora has dropped the act she was playing in Act 1 in order to be honest with herself and her relationship with Torvald. After Torvald tells her that he “have often wished that you might be threatened by some great danger, so that I might risk my life’s blood, and everything for your sake.” (Ibsen 58), Nora “(disengages herself, and says firmly and decidedly.)Now, you must read your letters, Torvald.” (Ibsen 58) This line is the first time that Nora is assertive with Torvald. In Act I, she would have replied with some flirtatious comment, however, in Act III, she sees the irony of that comment and it brings her to realize that Torvald does not love her, but simply the idea of her. Unlike in Act I, where she was pretending to be a playful doll, Nora is no longer flirting with Torvald but “(looks steadily at him and says with a growing look of coldness in her face)”(Ibsen 59). Their conversations have more depth and Nora is now the one who is in power. Her lines are much longer than they were in Act I and she is now the one telling Torvald to listen to what she has to say.
NORA. Sit down. It will take some time; I have a lot to talk over with you.
HELMER. (sits down at the opposite side of the table). You alarm me, Nora!—I don’t understand you.
NORA. No, that is just it. You don’t understand me, and I have never understood you either—before to-night, No, you mustn’t interrupt me. You must simply listen to what I say. Torvald, this is a settling of accounts. (Ibsen 62)
Nora has become honest with herself and she is able to face the reality of her marriage. Act III portrays Nora as a confidant and assertive individual.
From Act I to Act III, Nora changes from being an intelligent, yet childish and naïve woman, into an assertive independent thinker. Nora’s deception in Act I, was more to herself than it was to Torvald. Although she was aware that she was being treated as a child she was naïve enough to think that Torvald truly loved her and that when Torvald would be informed of the bond, “a miracle would happen”, he would take ownership of her action because he loves her. That miracle did not happen. As soon as she came to the reality of her marriage, Nora “no longer believed in miracles”. (Ibsen 68) Nora was ignorant to the real world, portrayed symbolically through her clothing. When Nora is wearing her dress costume, she is using the clothing as a façade to the outside world, still living in a fantasy. However, when she later changes into a plain dress with a black cloak, she has shifted to finally acknowledge that she has a chance to live her own independent life. She is no longer willing to play the role of a doll. If there is one thing she now knows, it is the difference between fantasy and reality. Nora has changed so drastically that she is unable to live with her farce of a marriage with Torvald. She is no longer naïve and childish, instead, she has become realistic and assertive.
Nora goes through a drastic change from act I to act III. In act I, she was a doll to play with but in act III, she cuts her strings and turns into her own thinking individual. Through her change, she realizes that she was confined by society’s norms to act as a doll to her husband. This realization leads to her ultimate decision to leaver her home in order to fulfill her duty, her duty to herself. The play closes with Nora shutting the door on her house, her husband, and her children.