Henrik Ibsen was once quoted saying "A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view."("Author Commentary" 296). This is evidence that Henrik Ibsen was aware of the male dominance that was abundant in the society of his time period. Ibsen's short story "A Doll's House" deals with gender biases and male dominance. Women are looked at in a diminutive matter, and males are considered to be far superior because society thought male to be the better gender. "A Doll's House" shows how the bias influenced Ibsen's writing. Male dominance, as a major theme in "A Doll's House", can be seen in Torvald's biases towards woman, Torvald and Nora's relationship, and the sacrificial role of women in general.
             Ibsen uses Torvald Helmer's biases toward women as a medium for reflecting the way society then viewed women. Torvald believes a wife's role is to beautify the home. It was a wife's job to not only keep the house aesthetically pleasing, but also to maintain a certain level of personal beauty at all times. As far as he is concerned, there is no other role for women in society. This explains why Torvald assumes Mrs. Linde to be a widow solely because she is looking for work. According to Torvald a proper woman should not work outside the home. This is further emphasized when Torvald remarks to Mrs. Linde, just after the children arrive, that "The place now becomes unbearable for anybody except mothers." Assuming that Mrs. Linde or any woman wanting a job must not have kids. However, in the case that she did have kids, it would be entirely up to her how they turned out. Because Torvald says that a lying mother corrupts children and turns them into criminals; never stating ...