Henrik Ibsen’s timeless play A Doll’s House revolves around the complex relationship between Torvald Helmer and his wife Nora. They live a comfortable life and appear to be very happy together until a mistake from Nora’s past returns to haunt her. Nora expects Torvald to save her from harm at all costs, and when he fails to do so it changes the dynamics of their relationship forever. Nora’s character undergoes a complete transformation, and the comfort she once found in her marriage to Torvald no longer satisfies her. The validity of their marriage and the love they supposedly share comes into question as Nora and Torvald deal with this crisis. Nora feels their whole marriage has been a sham, whereas Torvald contends he truly loves her and is desperate to save the marriage. To save his marriage and prove he truly loves Nora, Torvald must decide how he can transform himself to fulfill her new needs and decide if he is willing and able to make that transformation.
From Torvald’s actions before the crisis it is apparent that he adored Nora and the tricks she would do for him. Torvald seemed to enjoy chiding Nora for doing things which he forbade, such as eating macaroons and being frivolous with money. He always had a means of controlling Nora, usually by making her perform for him to get money. He would call her by pet names and make her act like “his little squirrel,” all the while asserting his place as absolute ruler of the household. These actions gave Torvald a sense of security and power, while relegating Nora to a lower status in her own home. Torvald goes even further in the scene where they are in bed together, when Nora tells Torvald to go away and he responds, “What do you mean? Nora, you’re teasing me. You will, won’t you? Aren’t I your husband?” (101) Torvald defends how he treated Nora later on in the play by saying he took care of her out of love, and saying they simply filled their respective roles in the household. Nora sees it differently, pointing out to him that not once in their eight years of marriage have they ever sat down to have a serious conversation. She goes as far as questioning his love for her, saying “You never loved me. You’ve thought it fun to be in love with me, that’s all” (109). Nora believes their marriage as they know it is over, and she leaves Torvald to find her true place in life.
Torvald is less willing than Nora to give up their relationship. While Nora is preparing to leave, he asks her, “Nora, can I ever be more than a stranger to you?” (114) Nora’s response to Torvald’s desperate plea is that it would take the greatest miracle for them to be happy together. This ‘greatest miracle’ is the foremost condition for the possibility of salvaging their marriage. Nora says for this miracle to occur, she and Torvald would have to transform themselves to the point “that our living together could be a true marriage” (114). The implication of this statement is that for Torvald and Nora to have a happy existence together now that Nora’s state of mind has changed, the dynamics of their relationship would have to change completely. Most of all, Torvald himself would have to change. He has been a domineering presence in the household throughout their marriage, and Nora is ready to stand on equal footing with him. He also has required Nora to fit the mold he sees fit for a wife, but Nora no longer subscribes to this theory of a woman’s role, and would require Torvald to accept her equality. Torvald would have to work diligently to change his behavior and his perception of their marriage to have any chance of not losing Nora.
While Torvald may be able to make these changes over time, what he may not realize is that he will not enjoy in his new marriage the same ‘little squirrel’ that used to do tricks for him. Nora is now a completely different person, and her new role as an equal member of the marriage and household may not give Torvald the happiness he recalls from their previous relationship. Before, Torvald delighted in making Nora perform for him, and found comfort in his position of power in their relationship. The question he faces is what made him truly happy while he was living with Nora. If he was only made happy by the things he must give up to keep Nora, then they could never again enjoy a happy marriage. However, if Torvald truly loves Nora, then simply being with her would make him happy and he would be able to accept the new form of their relationship.
Another question that arises when considering the changes that Torvald must undergo is whether Nora will still love him after all they have gone through. Nora’s love for Torvald was based on the ideas she had about Torvald and their marriage, which she now knows are flawed. She believed that when she was in her greatest hour of need Torvald would come to her rescue at any expense, which he failed to do. At that moment Nora realized that she no longer loved Torvald, and decided she could no longer live in a false marriage. For Nora to once again accept Torvald as her husband, she would have to return his true love in kind. Therefore, in order to save the marriage, Torvald would have to go through drastic changes in his behavior and attitude towards Nora and she would have to find his new character worthy of her love.
Torvald believes that he has always loved Nora. He says he would gladly work day and night for her, and endure pain and deprivation. However, his definition of love is much different from Nora’s, which is the single greatest barrier to their possible reunion. Nora believes love means giving up anything for your partner, even what would hurt you the most. For Torvald, that would mean protecting Nora from harm at the expense of his honor. When Torvald refuses to do this, Nora concludes that he does not love her. Torvald’s view of love is somewhat similar, although there is one glaring, irreconcilable difference. He feels he is expressing love for Nora by caring for her and providing for her, but what he is missing is the passionate, irrational nature of true love, which causes people to do absolutely anything for the people they love. This is what Nora desires, and it is precisely what Torvald cannot provide for her, no matter how hard he works. Therefore Torvald and Nora could never transform to the point where their living together could be a true marriage.
Torvald Helmer and his wife Nora’s marriage falls apart in Henrik Ibesen’s A Doll’s House. Their love for each other is put to the ultimate test as they deal with a family crisis, to the point where Nora decides to leave Torvald. She feels that his failure to make the ultimate sacrifice of his honor for her proves that he does not truly love her. Furthermore, she says the only thing that could save their relationship is if they were able to live together in a true marriage, one based on equality and true love. While Torvald believes this is possible, his actions during the course of their marriage prove otherwise. The real enjoyment he got from his marriage to Nora came from his control over her and what he could make her do. That is what he would truly miss if Nora left him, and it is the thought of losing his ‘doll’ that scares Torvald into thinking he and Nora could share a true marriage. Since he is motivated by fear, Torvald could not possibly give Nora the honest loving relationship she desires.
