In “A Doll’s House”, a play by Henrik Ibsen a woman named Nora has decided to leave her family due to an unhappy marriage. Nora’s decision to leave her family and end her marriage isn’t the only way to reclaim her identity and humanity. Nora can distance herself from Helmer and slowly find who she really is. She can speak up about how she really feels about being treated like a doll and not as an equal in their marriage. This is depicted when she tells Helmer “But our home has been nothing but a playroom. I have been your doll wife...” (Ibsen 67) Nora is upset at how she isn’t permitted to have her own beliefs or act the way she wants. She wanted to be her own independent woman and make her own decisions instead of being a typical submissive wife. …show more content…
“I was simply transferred from Papa’s hands to yours. You arranged everything according to your own taste, and so I got the same tastes as you- or else I pretended to.” (Ibsen 66) However, through all this, Nora isn’t justified for leaving her children because of her failed marriage. Helmer’s words “Before all else, you are a wife and a mother.” are only partially true. She doesn’t play the role of a wife before a mother. She played a role of birthing the children and giving them life. As a mother, she should put her children before anything else in life. Although she may not have wanted the children and was pressured to in order to fit the mold of a woman in that era, her choice to abandon her children was unjustifiable. “I won’t see the little ones. I know they are in better hands than mine. As I am now, I can be of no use to them.” (Ibsen 71) The children shouldn’t suffer the consequences of their parent’s failed marriage. In the end when Nora expresses her perception of her marriage she should’ve advocated for more of a say in her life instead of jumping to the decision that she must abandon her family. She ran from her problems without opting for a