At the beginning of A Doll’s House, Nora seems completely happy. She responds affectionately to Torvalds teasing, speaks with excitement and takes pleasure in the company of her children and friends. As the play goes on, Nora realizes that she is not a “silly girl’’ as Torvald refers to her. She is well aware of the business details related to the debt she took upon herself in order to help her husband’s health related matter. She feels intelligent and capable of taking action. She has also managed to keep a secret of the loan she took. Nora has also managed to keep up with monthly instalments. Nora’s ability of keeping this secret shows great determination and ambition. Krogstad’s blackmail had opened Nora’s eyes to unfulfilled and underappreciated potential. “I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald,” she says during her confrontation with him. Nora realizes that her dancing and singing tricks for her husband were a show she has put on throughout her marriage. She suddenly feels the isolation of a doll trapped in her Doll’s house. Nora has pretended to be someone she is not in order to satisfy her father, her husband, and the society. All these expectations made Nora realize how isolated she felt. Another example of how isolated she felt was when she put away her sewing needles and unfinished dress because she knows that her husband does not wish to see a woman toiling away.
Torvald’s severe and selfish reaction to Nora’s loan and forgery she made was the final act for Nora to realise she does not belong there. It gave her the sudden urge to get out of the Doll’s house into the real world and prove to herself that she is capable of looking after herself and finding who she really is. Nora’s awareness of the truth about her life grows, and she does not want to continue her life feeling isolated and putting on a show to please others. This leads to Nora walking out on her husband and children to find herself
Nora’s views changed throughout the play. She was happy at the start until sudden realization occurred to her. This shows us how a woman like Nora can spend years striving to please others, be a good daughter, wife and mother, but yet not know her true self. Nora had spent 8 years doing everything in her power to please her husband, and be somebody he wanted her to be. Before the marriage to Torvald she always wanted to please her father, who wanted her to be a little doll in a doll’s house. All of this made her feel very isolated and lonely. When Nora finally realized how isolated from the world she was, she left to discover who she really was, as she thought this was the only way to find happiness.
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