view of important matters portray her character to be child-like because she simply
regarded the people providing loans just as “strangers” ”and that nobody cares about
them”. After her character’s development, her seriousness and maturity reach a point
where she is finally acting her age. She realises the situation of her marriage, in turn, and
understands that she had “never been happy”, “only gay”. She also comes to comprehend
that she had simply been “Torvald’s doll-wife”. She even informs Torvald that they have
“never exchanged a serious word on any serious subject” “for eight whole years” of their
married life. This change in Nora’s personality is the most noticeable of all, to the audience.
Nora’s concern for her children changes in the play. She at first cares greatly for her
children which could be seen when she used to talk to them and play with them. She even
asks their nurse, Anna-Marie whether “they’d forget their mother if she went away
altogether” to see if they could cope with being motherless which shows her care for them
despite its actual outcome. However near the end of the play, she says that she is not “fitted
to bring up the children” in agreement with Torvald after he tells her so “in his moment of
anger”.
Nora also enjoys keeping secrets from Torvald like when she eats macaroons and
also her money loan for a vacation that saved his life. She even goes as far as lying and
perjury to protect the secrets. On the other hand at the end of the play, she voices all her
thoughts and opinions to Torvald rather than her old character did.
Dr. Rank is another character who undertakes changes in his character in this play.
Even though not to the extent that Nora does, he still is affected by the events that take
place.
His character is first thought to be respectable, honest and faithful to his friend,
Torvald by the audience because we see his regular visits to the Helmers’ home and the fact that he is the only person Torvald allows to be as a friend. We get such an example where
Torvald asks whether Dr. Rank has “gone straight to” his “study”. Approaching the end of
the play, Dr. Rank admits his true love for Nora and they both flirt with each other behind
Torvald’s back showing Dr. Rank’s secret betrayal to his friend, Torvald and his reputation
with the audience.
Dr. Rank’s familiarity with the Helmer family is clearly seen in the play but this
changes as it progresses. At the beginning, Torvald’s reply to Nora’s question confirms the
statement before. He simply says that “there’s no need to” invite Dr. Rank because “it’s an
understood thing that he dines with” the Helmers. Later on in the play, Dr. Rank seems
distanced away from the Helmers when he starts calling Nora “Mrs. Helmer” after she feels
offended by his sudden confession of love for her. His letter announcing that he is going to
detach himself from them also shows his increasing isolation.
Character transitions in the play “A Doll’s House” are very important because they
increase the suspense of the story because each character is able to provide the unexpected
through transitions at different times.
