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Nora Helmer of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, is constructed as a victim of the society in which she lives, to the extent that she is living in the male dominated 19th Century, however she breaks free and overcomes the ideas and expectations that her society place on women. She realises that ‘[she’s] lived by performing tricks for…Torvald’, not really knowing who she is. Society placed expectations on women of those times to support and love their husbands, stay within the confines of her home, obey her husband utterly and completely and to fulfill her most sacred duty, to her husband and children. This 19th Century society victimises Nora to the extent that women were not allowed to borrow money without their husband’s consent, but Nora overcomes this social obstacle by forging a signature and borrowing the money anyway. When Mrs Linde asks Nora how she could afford the trip to Italy, she voices the views of her male dominated society, ‘because a woman cannot borrow without her husband’s consent’ but when Nora replies with, ‘ah, yes she can- when it’s a wife with a little flair for business’. Mrs Linde, and society, admonish her, ‘it’s rash to do something without his knowing…’ The fact that she has been able to keep Torvald from discovering her deception is another social wrong doing that fails to victimise Nora. Another expectation Nora’s society placed on women, was her complete and utter obedience to her husband, instead Nora pretends to obey him throughout the entire play. However, her husband is totally unaware of her absolute disobedience and continuous deceptions until the end of the play, ‘it’s no good your forbidding me anything any longer.’ When Torvald discovers that Nora forged a signature, he accused her a being ‘ a liar, a hypocrite –even worse- a criminal!’ she hid her biggest secret from her husband from the very beginning , as she knew he would not like it, ‘ you know what I think about that sort of thing.
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