Lies In A Doll's House By Ibsen

In Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, the characters believe they know and control the situations in their lives. The reality is that they have no idea how many lies and secrets they are part of. Each character is hiding their true intentions and feelings, making a fool of themselves and others as they desperately try to conceal the truth. The worse the action or the secret, the more they lie and attempt to act innocent. However, as the truth is revealed, it becomes apparent that nothing is as it appears.
One reason nothing is at it appears is because people are afraid of the shameful truth. When Nora and Torvald are discussing the previous Christmas Torvald asks, “Do you remember last Christmas? For a full three weeks before hand you shut yourself
We see the masks in Nora’s life when she’s being called a spendthrift by Torvald. As Torvald explains to Nora, “It’s a sweet little spendthrift, but she uses up a deal of money” (4). Torvald is implying that Nora is not capable of handling money by herself and in Torvald’s eyes, Nora has no business in finance and solely has to rely on Torvald. In reality, Nora is doing more than Torvald. She earns money along with performing household duties. Proudly Nora says, “But all the same it was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working and earning money. It was like being a man” (13). Nora’s actions clearly contradict Torvald’s view of her as a “spendthrift”. Torvald thinks that Nora, being a women, should only have the job of taking care of the kids, but Nora actually enjoys bringing an income into the household. Again, we see how Nora’s life is built on lies when Nora comments, “When Torvald is no longer as devoted to me as he is now; when my dancing and dressing-up and reciting have palled on him” (12). Nora is telling Ms. Linde the nature of their relationship, and how she realizes that Torvald is controlling her. She describes how in Torvald’s eyes, she is merely his possession. However, to the readers and to Dr. Rank, we can see Nora’s inner character and how she’s an independent and a fierce women. This perspective of Nora is the exact opposite of how Torvald would
We see this happen right at the beginning when Nora comes into the house, and lies to Torvald about the macaroons. Torvald asks her if she is eating macaroons, and she responds, “No, Torvald, I assure you” (4). Nora says this even though she is lying and actually had the macaroons and was eating them right before she saw him. Nora is protecting herself from Torvald, as she is disobeying him. The macaroons also come up later when Nora is speaking to Dr. Rank. She offers Dr. Rank a macaroon, and he is suspiciously surprised that she has macaroons in a house where Torvald does not allow them, but Nora quickly replies, “these are some Christene gave me” (16). Nora is worried that she would get into trouble with Dr. Rank and Torvald. Nora keeps trying to protect herself by lying about the macaroons. It’s almost as if Nora is building a tower of lies, starting off small and growing taller and taller. Nora could have easily told Dr. Rank that she’s bought and eaten a few Macaroons because she enjoys them, instead of putting the blame on Christine just to avoid tension with Torvald. Nora is also seen trying to protect herself and her whole family when she says, “I ought to tell you that we had it from Papa” (8). Nora is talking with Mrs. Linde, discussing the trip to Italy. Nora mentions that the money came from her father, but that is not true. She is