by Marshall Chisholm

Created on: April 10, 2010

"Necessity for Change, A Doll House"

                Nora, the assumed protagonist of the play  A Doll’s House,  displays the “necessity of change”.  This particular literary theme is demonstrative of a character who realizes that their life is lacking a vital cornerstone or purpose. Nora realizes her life revolves around her husband, and her children. Her husband is her leash as far as the debt she owes from his medical bills and the dependency she has on his money. As the play progresses, Nora departs from the domestic housewife mindset and begins to distinguish herself as an independent individual. Nora realizes the Necessity for change in her otherwise routine and stereotypical lifestyle of the women in that era. The other character that realizes the necessity for change is Torvald, however his recognition of it leads him to denounce the need and tries desperately to reconstruct the past.

            Nora is introduced as a stereotypical  housewife of the late 1800’s. She is depicted as an ignorant, ditzy, materialistic young wife of an upper middle class man. Her world presumably revolves around her husband’s income and her need for accessorizing. Her early existence reminds us of a doll (such as the title implies) and she seems quite content with this lifestyle. However, being a feminist novel this of course is soon pursued by an internal revolution, a self-call to rise above the era’s demeaning role for housewives and pursue something beyond dependency on a male figure.  Her early persona shows the base: the drawing board from which she changes or at least seeks change.

                A change in the audience’s view of Nora happens when it is revealed she was paying for Torvald’s medical bills, and the fact that he remained oblivious proves that she cared enough about his pride to keep him in the dark on the matter, that is until Krogstad takes it upon his own initiative to reveal this to him. Her character goes from being viewed as a materialistic housewife to a more aegis- inclined heroine. At this point it is clear that she is meant to have a prodigal role in the play, more than likely top break the chains of being a housewife. However, presuming that this is the course of

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