Nora's World

A Doll’s House premiered in 1879 during a time of turbulence in Norway. Industrialization was thriving, causing many formers and workers to leave for American, while women starting to work in factories and social norms and class structure were being chipped away at. This raises some interesting questions about Nora’s choice to leave Torvald at the end of the play: Considering the world around her, where should we go? Would she find work, or see her children again? How would she find herself in this changing world without conforming back to societal norms, or being under the secure hand of a man?

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Shockingly, only twenty years after A Doll’s House was released, there would be a turn of the century in which women were much less limited. In 1879, Nora had no right to her own possessions, and by leaving her husband, she would be assumed by the law to have gone off with another man. A mother who left her children behind was seen as evil, and she would have never seen or cared for her children again. Lastly, divorce was only permitted by the king, and it was very rare.  Although our modern audiences may embrace Nora’s choice to leave Torvald, Ibsen’s early audiences were stunned by her decision.

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            Nonetheless, Norway began to stir, and artists like Aasta Hansteen, a friend of Ibsen’s, began to paint historical feminist pictures and speak out about women’s rights.  In fact, she was the first woman to speak to speak publicly in Norway social-political issues. As industrialization continued to grow, so did the inclination towards women’s suffrage and striking for better working conditions. While Nora had few rights in 1879, it is important to remember she did have skills like writing, art and music that would prove useful to her, as well as a greater Norwegian society beginning to rumble at her feet.

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