Loewen
Kyle Loewen
Professor D’Alotto
English Comp. II
17 April 2016
Helmer’s Unrealized Mistakes
In Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” the setting of the play takes place in a time where
women were openly treated as inferiors to men. It was a social norm for husbands to treat their
wives almost as if they were pets. Women were expected to keep to themselves and listen to
whatever their husbands had to tell them. There were a series of events that led to the final
outcome of “A Doll’s House,” many of which were unintentionally insulting. Nora, the
protagonist of the play, begins to get tired of the way she is treated by her husband, Helmer. She
feels that Helmer loves her not for her who she is, but for what she does. Helmer’s unwittingly
degrading actions and words towards Nora are the underlying causes for her departure from the
family.
It is apparent from the beginning of the play that Helmer treats Nora in a controlling
manner. Their relationship is similar to that of a father and daughter, and Nora even relates her
husband to her father in a negative manner. Nora tells Helmer how she has been his “doll-wife
here, just as at home I was Papa’s doll-child” (Ibsen 848), showing how Nora feels like she has
been treated like a puppet by these men her entire life. However, Nora plays into the names she is
called by Helmer by acting in childish manners that humor him. Helmer calls Nora names such
as “squirrel” and she makes strange, animal-like sounds that entertain her husband. Although
Nora eventually begins to tire of being spoken to like a pet, she tries to avoid conflict with her
husband to keep the house happy. Whenever Nora wants money, she has to beg Helmer to the
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point where he is either satisfied or gives in. Helmer does not respect most requests made by his
wife. He does not care when Nora asks Helmer to try and help Krogstad keep his job. He also
does not allow her to eat certain foods because he cares so much about his wife’s appearance. He
wants Nora to dance in front of everyone at a party because he wants to show her off, no matter
if she is comfortable with doing it or not. Helmer treats Nora more like an object that he wants to
show off than someone he truly loves. Although he wants his wife to be happy, he does not feel
the need to do anything she asks of him.
Throughout the story, Nora becomes sneakier and more deceiving around her husband.
This is a result of her beginning to tire of the way Helmer constantly treats her. Nora lies to
Helmer about how much of his money she spends. She shares with Mrs. Linde how “Every time
Torvald gave me money for new clothes and such, I never used more than half” (Ibsen 807). She
