Characterisation in

A Doll’s House
Nora
 Thesis –

Characterisation of Nora acts as vehicle for the play’s

exposure of the destructive effects of the construction of
femininity within the mythology of 19th century bourgeois
marriage

Exposes the ideology of the separation of the spheres as a

fiction which functions to disguise the subjugation of
women
 Forced to Lead a Double Life

• Conforms to socially ascribed status as subordinate by

indulging in infantile behaviour because of lack of
financial power
• But note that she uses her socially ascribed status to
manipulate Torvald
• Need to protect Torvald’s male pride leads her, ironically,
to challenge her socially ascribed status by entering the
masculine public sphere through financial transactions
and work

• This produces an awareness of other possibilities in life to

conforming to ascribed role
• The double life results in a crisis of identity , partly
symbolised by the tarantella, a dance which mimic the
results of being bitten by a tarantula and which is
intended to end in either death or expulsion of the poison
• Nora’s subscription to separation of the spheres leads her
to grasping frantically at a fantasy world in which she and
Torvald sacrifice themselves for each other