Henrik Ibsen can be considered one the most key influential figures in the development and motivation of theatre throughout history. An “ardent advocate of selffreedom, self-emancipation, and self-control”¹ Ibsen used his plays as a medium to challenge his audience about the flaws in their society, using his characters to mirror it and show the need for change. A Doll’s House is one of the most significant, and arguably the first, examples of Ibsen’s modernism, the protagonist, Nora, journeys throughout the play to become the ‘New Woman’ torn between society’s traditional values and her “duty to [herself].”² Transformation is one of the most important themes within A Doll’s House, and in fact in many of Ibsen’s plays, but for Ibsen to show his audience the benefits of this metamorphosis they must first witness the stages and reasons for development. Nora, the protagonist of this problem play, is the largest, but not only, character to show change and we can see this by contrasting the girlish Nora seen at the beginning of the play to the woman she has become by the end. One of the most important techniques Ibsen uses is that of “parallelisms”³ , each character appears to be paired with another and they have, essentially, a role reversal. For Nora her foil is Mrs Kristine Linde, an old school friend who has turned up on her doorstep out of the blue secretly in search of a job.
MRS. LINDE [subdued and rather hesitantly]. How do you do, Nora? NORA [uncertainly]. How do you do? MRS. LINDE. I’m afraid you don’t recognize me. NORA. No, I don’t think I…And yet I seem to….[Bursts out suddenly.] Why! Kristine! Is it really you? MRS. LINDE. Yes, it’s me. NORA. Kristine! Fancy not recognizing you again! But how was I to, when…[Gently.] How you’ve changed Kristine!² Ibsen does not hesitate to begin these parallels; Mrs Linde’s
