The Big Boring Book Blog

The play is significant for its critical attitude toward 19th-century marriage norms. It aroused great controversy at the time, as it concludes with the protagonist, Nora, leaving her husband and children because she wants to discover herself. Ibsen was inspired by the belief that “a woman cannot be herself in modern society,” since it is “an exclusively male society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess feminine conduct from a masculine standpoint.” Its ideas can also be seen as having a wider application: Michael Meyer argued that the play’s theme is not women’s rights, but rather “the need of every individual to find out the kind of person he or she really is and to strive to become that person.” 

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Common Theme

In this play, Nora desires to be her own person and to get away from Torvald's oppressing character.

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Quotes

NORA: "How painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald […] to know that he owed me anything! It would upset our mutual relations altogether." (1.197)

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NORA: "But don't you think it is nice of me, too, to do as you wish?"
HELMER: "Nice?—because you do as your husband wishes? Well, well, you little rogue, I am sure you did not mean it in that way." (2.82-2.83)