I can never really trust my eyes to tell me the unguarded truth if someone wishes for the truth to be concealed. The line between what is real or not real is often misconceived, especially in a society such as the one in A Doll’s House. Henrik Ibsen, the writer of this enthralling play, intended to show just how obscure the lines were in Victorian society. A Doll’s House is a story about how a young woman is so dazed by her society’s expectations that she doesn’t even realize the role deception plays in her life to help her appear as the perfect wife, when in reality she aspires to become her own person. The theme deception is a prominent one in A Doll’s House and plays an important role in how things unfold. One of the first things that happens in the play foreshadows the volume of deception that will continue throughout the play. Nora comes home and asks Torvald to come see all the things she’s bought but not before she stealthily hides a bag of macaroons in her pocket. Later on in the story, she tells Mrs.Linde, who she has a great amity with, that she has an even bigger secret. The secret is that she has to borrow some money to save her husband’s life. She lies to Mrs.Linde though and says that she borrows the money from her papa. When Nora goes to leave Helmer, he queries, “but couldn’t we live here like brother and sister” [pg.1021 Ibsen]. He wishes to deceive society into believing that they are still a happy couple, just as society is deceiving them into believing that they are living a perfect, fulfilling marriage. Also in A Doll’s House, you will find that things are not always what they seem. One of the main examples of this, is the various sides of Nora that she uncovers throughout the course of the play. She goes from being told, “Nora, you’re just a child” [pg.951 Ibsen] by Mrs. Linde, to an untypical Victorian woman. She appears to be a spendthrift to Torvald, when really she is paying off a debt she owes to Krogstad, a seemingly malignant man. These are just a few of the ways that appearance combats with reality. It reflects on how the Victorian society is practically made up of facades. In A Doll’s House, individual fulfillment plays a key role in the motivation behind the actions of the characters. It can be something as little as Nora furtively sneaking the macaroons, or something as big as Mrs.Linde’s source of happiness in which she states, “I have to work to go on living. All my born days as long as I can remember I’ve worked and it’s been my best and only joy” [pg.1003 Ibsen]. Sometimes you have to be selfish because one can not be truly happy if they are working for everyone but themselves. Even Krogstad is seeking a sense of fulfillment when he blackmails Nora to keep his job at the bank. When Nora placidly voiced, “I have other duties equally sacred…duties to myself” [pg.1017 Ibsen], she is exhibiting one of the best shows of individual contentment that is in the play. Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, is an accurate description of how deception, appearance and what really is, and individual achievement are applicable to not only Victorian society, but also Modern day society. Nora is a impeccable demonstration of an early woman rights activist. Without people like her our society might not of ever been the same.
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