Our initial impression of Nora begins as an innocent and caring mother, then later on in the novel we notice the truth behind this. At this point we notice that Nora tends to have some kind of a rebellious behavior. This is shown by how she tends to hide the macaroons and lie to her husband about the fact that she borrowed money from Krogstad. Even though we notice that the second act of rebellion was cause out of good intentions, but the fact that she hid it away from her husband was stilled looked into as sneaky. We also notice that later on in the work Nora accepts her belittlement in society by calling her self a “”. At the end of this, we notice the great symbolism found in the Christmas tree, which represents Nora in a certain way. They begin decorating it and making it look pretty for that night.
Moving on to Helmer, who tends to be more of a controlling possessive character in nature, “Wagging his finger at her”. He also forces Nora to act in a rebellious manner by not allowing her to posses certain things. “Rank :Look at this, eh? Macaroons. I thought they were forbidden here, Nora: Torvald had forbidden them. He’s worried in case they ruin my teeth, you know”. We also notice how Torvald is more interested in his work than socializing with other people. All this sums up Torvald’s character at the beginning of the novel.
The relationship between husband and wife is very obvious through out the novel. The husband here tends to be the dominant component of the couple. Were the wife is overruled by his desires and is forced to follow his regulations were ever she goes. Despite all that, Nora proves that she loves Torvald by the successful attempt in saving his life. Yet, Torvald has still to prove himself through out the work.
Ibsen uses dialogues and stage directions to create an atmosphere throughout the play. It provides a certain mood to the audience according to the length of the sentences and the punctuations found at its endings. In addition, the movement and stage directions are also vital in creating the mood. The way Nora moves from one place to another tidying up and playing with Torvald’s shirt “smiles and hums” , “tense, takes a step towards him and speaks in a low voice” provides us with a calm romantic yet mysterious atmosphere throughout the play. Also the way Ibsen describes Helmer’s actions, “looks through his papers”, “with a bundle of documents under his arm, comes in by the hall door”. These stage directions provide us with a wider clearer understanding of Helmer’s character and the atmosphere currently being revealed.
In conclusion, we notice how Henrik Ibsen uses great techniques to flesh out the characters and provide the play with a great atmosphere with which the audience will enjoy watching and would want to know more about the ending keeping their full senses running along with the play. As Harley Granville-Barker said “the most dramatic event of the decade” and also as William Archer remarked” if fame were to be measured by mileage of newspaper comment, then Henrik Ibsen had become the most famous man tin the English literary world, so much had Nora’s departure from her doll’s house exercised the mind of contemporary men and women. Although in many circles there was widespread public hostility to the play, there was also a measure of vocal and influential support; and with this came that polarization into ‘Ibsenist’ and ‘Anti-Ibsenist’. So finally, I think this play is very dramatic displaying many points of life which have occurred in the past and might still be occurring in our present time. A wonderful work to read!