A Comparison Between Nora And Helmer

“A Doll’s House” reflects the general behaviour and attitude of the contemporary society which was basically a male-dominated society. The main protagonist of the story, Helmer surfaces as a man who looks at everything realistically.

In his approach towards the matters of life, he appears as a person who continuously struggles against the hardships of life. This is the main reason due to which he detested borrowing money from others. To him emotions and inner feelings were not more important than the realities of life.

On the other hand we see Nora as an emotional woman who has strong feelings for her husband. She loves him too much that she does not care acting against the instructions of her husband. She takes loan from a near friend of Helmer when he was critically ill and the doctors had told her to take him to some peaceful area if she wanted to see him healthy. This incident marks the culminating point of their relationship that starts deteriorating with each passing day.

However, it shows that Nora have had well-built feelings for her husband and because of which she sacrifices all the luxuries she had been enjoying so far.

The play also proves that Helmer looks at Nora only in terms of beauty and little doll. It is ironic to take a living person as an inanimate doll. Helmer’s thinking of Nora as a doll is a major flaw of his personality. Basically it is the result of his marriage that was not based on mutual understanding rather he married her just after being fascinated by her appearance and physical beauty. Since then he behaves her as if she was a doll with no human sentiments. The final scene also approves this statement that Helmer’s concern was only her beauty.

When Helmer comes to know that she has borrowed money without getting permission from him, he forsakes all his love and affections and orders her to leave the home. If he had true love with Nora he would not have become harsh to this particular extent.

If we look at Nora’s character we judge her love and feelings to be sincere and pure. The act of borrowing is also an outcome of her true love. It is her love that made her so courageous that she took this step against the wishes of her husband. She does this only for the sake of her husband. After taking loan she had to sacrifice her luxuries and even necessities. She starts paying back the loan in parts by saving money. It shows how much she loves her husband.

Finally we see the resolution of the play marks the ending of their marital relationship. The analysis of the characters proves that the tragic end is the mere result of Helmer’s rash nature. Soon after knowing that Nora had taken loan, he lost his temper.

Predicting that this can badly affect his reputation as a bank-manager, he could not compose himself and ordered her to leave the home at once. At this moment he could have recognized her sacrificial nature. He could have evaluated her as a loving and caring wife but what he could see was only his status in the society. Being afraid of his society he forgets his children and domestic life. So this shows that he was not a responsible husband.

He has had many options for handling this particular issue. After all, Nora did this for securing his life; not for her own sake. In this episode, Nora’s reaction seems to be factual in that she preferred leaving her husband on living with him as a doll. It was the result of her realization that Helmer had no concern with her.