How Does Nora Change Throughout The Play

Nora Helmer is a beautiful young lady who has three young children and a handsome husband named Torvald who works at the bank. Life seems almost perfect with a happy family and a promotion for her husband on the way. Finally, after years of saving money, the family can now live in luxury and have no financial worries. But, Nora hides a secret from her husband that could possibly ruin her relationship with her family forever. When her husband was ill, she clandestinely borrowed money from a man named Krogstat to save her husband’s life. To do so, Nora forged her father’s signature because a woman could not borrow money without the permission of her husband or her father. But when Torvald finds out her secret, he reacts aggressively and is only …show more content…
Nora does not have desires on her own, which is supported by the statement that she makes to Mrs. Linde regarding what they will do once they are free of debt. “To be able to play and romp with the children; to be able to keep the house beautifully and have everything just as Torvald likes it” (Ibsen 213). Nora does not speak of the things that she will want when they are free of debt, but of what her children and husband will want. This shows that Nora is a mother and a wife before anything else, even a human being. Nora also allows her husband to call her various nicknames such as “rustling squirrel,” a “twittering skylark” and a “little squanderbird.” These titles are demeaning to Nora’s character because they treat her as a child to her husband. Nonetheless, Nora accepts Torvald’s nicknames and even seems delighted to have been called them. But, this is simply just a role that Nora plays for her husband to keep him happy. Secretly she defies him at nearly every turn by lying about housekeeping money and eating macaroons, hiding the side jobs that she does to pay off her loan, and how she forged her signature on the