For the author, Torvald stands for all the individual-denying social ills against which
The doll's house itself is a symbol of the Burnell family's societal position. When it is brought into the Burnell courtyard, it becomes, literally, a house within a house, a mirror of the Burnell's home…
Torvald Helmer
Nora's husband. Torvald delights in his new position at the bank, just as he delights in his position of authority as a husband. He treats Nora like a child, in a manner that is both kind and patronizing. He does not view Nora as an equal but rather as a plaything or doll to be teased and admired.
Torvald's insistence on calling Nora by affectionately diminutive names evokes her helplessness and her dependence on him. The only time that Torvald calls Nora by her actual name is when he is scolding her.
For the author, Torvald stands for all the individual-denying social ills against which Ibsen has dedicated all his writing. As a victim of his narrow view of society, Torvald inspires sympathy rather than reproach.
When Torvald accuses Nora of not loving him anymore, Nora says his claim is true. She then explains that she realized that she didn't love Torvald that evening, when her expectation that he would take the blame for her—showing his willingness to sacrifice himself for love—wasn't met.
Perhaps Torvald's most dislikeable quality is his blatant hypocrisy. Many times throughout the play, Torvald criticizes the morality of other characters. He trashes the reputation of Krogstad, one of his lesser employees (and ironically the loan shark that Nora is indebted to).
What evidence portrays Torvald as judgemental? Torvald criticises Nora's reckless spending and argues that her wasteful nature is a trait she has acquired from her father. Torvald is quick to form opinions and criticise others too quickly.
Torvald's focus on status and being treated as superior by people like Nils Krogstad, highlights his obsession with reputation and appearances.
Provincialism and Pretense
Beyond emphasizing the arbitrary nature of class division, the story also mocks the narrow-minded provincialism of the Burnells—the most distinguished family in a tiny village, outside a small town, on a far-off island in the British Empire. The Doll's House ultimately points to the desire…
A Doll's House is a spotlight on the society when people are under the pressure of public opinion about masculine society. This play discusses social problems in general, and individuals' in particular, women are considered as victims and society as a victimizer.
There are major opposing moral views between characters in Henrik Ibsen 's dramatic play A Doll 's House. One moral trail leads to the conclusion that once someone commits a bad deed, there is no saving them; that person is now a low-life degenerate with no redemption in sight.
Literally 'doll' represents a passive and subservient woman, so "A doll's house" signifies a house dwelled by such a woman. Keeping in context with this literal meaning, in the play the word 'doll' has been applied to Nora and as such her house is "A doll's house".
The macaroons come to represent Nora's disobedience and deceit.
However, Torvald uses his forgiveness as an additional means of objectifying and controlling Nora by saying he now owns her doubly. He believes he has the power to make her a new person, showing how little he thinks of her and her ability to make anything of herself on her own volition.
She is, in reality, naïve and inexperienced about the outside world. Nora also displays a bit of self-doubt, which is largely due to her being treated like a doll all her life. She is continuously reminded by Torvald that she is a “prodigal”, a spendthrift, “just like your father”.
The irony of Torvald's observation is in his unwillingness to look more closely into people's motives: In Torvald's description of the fallout from lying, he is demonizing a liar rather than empathizing with a person who may have extenuating circumstances.
"How painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything [says Nora]. It would upset our mutual relations altogether; our beautiful happy home would no longer be what it is now."
An example of Torvald's misogyny is that he treats Nora like a child, or a pet, instead of a wife with equal value and opinions as his. He says to Nora “playtime shall be over, and lesson-time shall begin,” when she presents to him the problems with their marriage (Ibsen 56).
In a paroxysm of self-pity and indignation, Torvald struts and shouts, vulgarly abusing his wife for bringing this shame upon him, for putting him into Krogstad's power. People might even suspect that he was responsible for the whole thing, that he prompted Nora to do the deed.
Nora's use of Torvald's pet names for her to win his cooperation is an act of manipulation on her part. She knows that calling herself his “little bird,” his “squirrel,” and his “skylark,” and thus conforming to his desired standards will make him more willingly to give in to her wishes.
What secret has Nora been keeping from Torvald? She was in love with his brother before she married him.
Torvald's objectification of Nora is clear from the start, as he addresses her with dehumanizing epithets like “little singing bird” and “little squirrel of mine,” which cast Nora more as a pet, as a thing to be kept, than as a person with autonomy (3).
Nora is certain that beneath the role Torvald is playing, that he loves her just as deeply as she loved him when she secretly broke the rules of society.