Nora's Relationship With Helmer

¶ … Nora's relationship with Helmer.Forms.HTML:Hidden.1 In Henrick Ibsen's play, "A Doll's House," Nora and Torvald Helmer are a well to do husband and wife with cheerful children, that seem to live the happy marriage life. As the play seems to move forward through the three acts, it seems to become obvious to themselves that their marriage is not what it seems to be at all.

In this essay, I will characterize the relationship between Nora and Torvald and how they treat one another from the beginning through the end of this well-known play. In the beginning of the play, Nora is a doll in her husband's eyes. She is a trophy he has won. He wants to keep his trophy pretty, pampered, and kept on a high pedestal. When he talks to his wife, he treats her like a little girl.

He feels as if Nora should no nothing about their financial situation or any important issues in the household. It is a man's job in life to take care of the family. Torvald adores his wife, but treats her like she is not on the same level as him. "Look, Nora, in lots of things, you're still a child. I'm older than you in many ways and I've had a little more experience" (Act 2, pg. 184). He has pet names for her such as skylark, squirrel, and featherbrain.

"If your squirrel were to ask you very prettily for something..."Your squirrel will scamper about and do all her tricks, if you'll be nice and do what she asks..."Your skylark'll sing all over the house - up and down the scale..."I'll be a fairy and dance on a moonbeam for you..'" (Act 2, pg. 187). Towards the middle of the play, Nora seems to step away from her fantasy life, observing the fact that she is concerned about what her husband thinks of her.

"Torvald has his pride - most men have - he'd be terribly hurt and humiliated if he thought he'd owed anything to me. It'd spoil everything between us, and our lovely happy home would never be the same again" (Act 1, pg. 161). After reading the letter that Krogstad left in the letter box, Torvald takes his angry and excited bitterness out on Nora.

"What a terrible awakening! For these last eight years you've been my joy and my pride - and now I find that you're a liar, a hypocrite - even worse - a criminal! Oh, the unspeakable ugliness of it all! Ugh! I might have known that something of this sort would happen - I should have foreseen it. All your father's shiftless character - Be quiet! - All your father's shiftless character has come out in you.

No religion, no morality, no sense of duty...So this is what I get for condoning his fault! I did it for your sake, and this is how you repay me" (Act 3, pg. 220-221). During the third act, Nora finally opens her eyes to realize that her life with Torvald is over. He doesn't want to lose her as his wife as he begs her for forgiveness. "How you must have suffered - seeing no way out except...No, we'll put all those hateful things out of our minds.

Now we can shout for joy, again and again: 'It's all over - it's all over! Listen, Nora - you don't seem to realize - it's all over. What's the matter? Such a grim face? Poor little Nora, I see what it is: you simply can't believe that I've forgiven you. But, I have, Nora, I swear it - I've forgiven you everything. I know now that what you did was all for love of me" (Act 3, pg. 223). Nora explains to Torvald that her life with him is over.

"But you don't talk or think like the man I could bind myself to. When your first panic was over - not about what threatened me, but about what might happen to you - and when there was no more danger, then, as far as you were concerned, it was just as if nothing had happened at all. I was.