How does Nora’s interpretation of freedom change as her character develops over the course of the novel?

Henrik Ibsen once said, “There are two kinds of moral laws, two kinds of conscience, one for men and one quite different for women… woman is judged by masculine law.” Back in the mid 1800s, Ibsen’s view of men and women being treated by society as equals was not looked highly upon by the rest of society. However, through A Doll’s House, Ibsen portrays his views of women’s rights mainly through his leading protagonist, Nora, a woman whose character grows and develops over the course of the play, to the point that she is eventually empowered enough to leave her husband in her personal quest for independence and her own sense of freedom. In this essay, I will examine how Nora’s interpretation of “freedom” changes as her character develops over the course of the novel; and in doing so examine how Ibsen has created this character in order to convey his own views of society. Ibsen has created a complex character in Nora. In the beginning of the play, she is introduced to be naïve and very submissive to her husband; it seems as though everything she does is simply to please him. In the opening scene the audience’s first impression of her is that she is very financially dependent on him and obeys his commands. She is more like a pet than a wife- she performs tricks to please him and he rewards her with childish praises and nicknames, such as “little songbird” and “little squirrel” . Immediately their relationship is made clear to the audience- Torvald is the breadwinner and a controlling head of the household, while Nora is the doting housewife whose views on life seem very shallow and materialistic. However, as the play progresses, it is eventually made clear to the audience that there is much more depth to Nora’s character. In Act 1, Nora’s major problem is