The character of Nora

In Henrik Iben’s play “A Doll’s House,” the character of Nora and the conflict surrounding her are integral to the entire play. The question that I have chosen to answer deals with Nora, and asks in what ways she is both at fault and also a victim in the story. Her actions which prompted this question were her forgery of her father’s signature to take out a loan from the shady Krogstad in order to finance a trip to Italy and her subsequent lying about the source of the money to her husband Torvald. The story then unfolds and, in my opinion, Nora appears as both a victim throughout the story and someone who is at fault and justly faces consequences for her actions.

In the story, there are a few reasons that Nora is at fault for her actions and can be blamed for the problems that arise from her actions. The most basic reason is that she performed an illegal action. Women did not have the same power and privileges in the time of the play as they do today, and the only way that Nora would be able to take out a loan would be for a man to do it. Therefore, she illegally forges her father’s signature and receives the loan to finance the trip to Italy to improve the health of her husband Torvald. Another reason that she can take fault for is her lying to her husband about the money. Nora tries very hard throughout the story to maintain this lie to her husband. And finally, Nora is to blame for her situation because of her choice to make a deal with a suspicious man like Krogstad. The blackmail that he uses against Nora is not unexpected, and Nora deserves to deal with it because of her choice to associate herself with him.

While there are reasons that Nora is at fault, an argument can definitely be made for her as a victim in the story. One major argument is she was ultimately trying to do the right thing for her husband and also not damage his pride. Her forgery of the signature to take out the loan was for the benefit and the health of husband, who she obviously cares about enough to do such an act. Her cover up of the loan by lying and working extra jobs to secretly pay it back was again for her husband, because she did not want his pride to be damaged knowing he needed a woman to bail him out and finance a trip for his health. In these views Nora can be seen as a victim of the story because she was only trying to help.

Overall, Nora is an interesting character in the story, and is deep enough to be looked at from multiple perspectives. (472)