The Portrayal of Nora'S Love Story in Ibsen'S "A Doll'S House"

In the short play A Doll’s House by Ibsen, Nora isn’t the first person to fall out of love. Mrs. Linde only married her husband for money. Krogstad’s wife deserted him and left him with children. Even the Nurse and her husband lost love and the nurse decided to leave her daughter for a job. However, all of these instances don’t mean Nora has to do the same thing. Although Nora may no longer love Torvald and may need time for herself walking out is nevertheless the wrong thing to do because it is morally incorrect and she has responsibilities as a mother.

What Nora did was a rushed act of immaturity and selfishness that affects her husband and most importantly her children. Nora may not be “fit for the task of bringing up children, but she has the Nurse to help her bring them up properly. If Nora did less shopping she would have plenty of time in her life to pay more attention to her children. Nora claims she has “duties to [herself)” but that is quite a selfish reason to leave because she also has “duties to [her] husband and their children”. A mother is a very important role in every child’s life so although she may no longer love Torvald her innocent children don’t deserve to be abandoned.

In our time today, a father walking out on a family is considered disgraceful, wrong, and deplorable. So why should it be acceptable for a woman especially back in that time period? Nora explains she “can’t remain with [Torvald) any longer”. This statement is no excuse to leave because she could leave and stay with someone such as Mrs. Linde while settling things out and maybe filing for a divorce. However “to desert your home your husband and your children” and leave altogether is simply morally wrong and intolerable.

When Nora walked out on her family she didn’t realize the cycle she had just begun. When she left her children she was doing the same thing that her mother had done to her. Nora’s mother also left Nora and her father, leaving Nora in the hands of the Nurse to be raised. Nora ended up growing up uneducated, immature, and helpless quite possibly because she had lost her mother figure. Her leaving Torvald may have placed her children in the same destiny maybe even to continue this cycle. It is also ironic how she questioned the Nurse and why she was “willing to put her children out on the streets when Nora ended up doing the same thing for a less important reason.

Nora did a disgraceful, heat-of-the-moment act that was wrong. Her reasons for leaving and her excuses never justify why a mother should be allowed to desert her children. All in all, Nora continued the cycle of abandoning husbands and children and she should have worked things out with Torvald or filed a divorce settlement.

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