Throughout the history of the world in most cultures women have been considered the
             submissive figure. In this role the female character would commonly have the main duties
             of caring for the children and pleasing her husband. Henrik Ibsen's A Doll House shows
             one of these stereotypical marriages and the eventual realization of the life that is being
             lead by the woman submissive, in this case, Nora. Nora's realization at the end of the play
             is not a sudden epiphany but a long journey in which she regained her self-esteem and self
             worth. This essay will attempt to show that throughout the play Nora's frustration had
             been building and that in reality, the one act of sacrifice which Nora so desperately craved
             from Torvald might have delayed the destruction of the marriage, but nothing could
             The play opens and the reader quickly can see how one would get frustrated in the
             environment Nora lived in. Torvald is characterized as the typical male provider, strong
             and respectable. Meanwhile, Nora is degraded time and time again by Torvald's language.
             He consistently refers to her with pet names, "little featherbrain, "squirrel sulking", and
             "song bird". All of these references make Nora seem ignorant and she seems unable to
             think for herself as she just plays on with whatever Torvald says. The ultimate example of
             this is the situation with the macaroons. This personifies Nora simply as a little child being
             punished by a parent as Torvald forbids her from eating them and then rebukes her when
             he suspects that she indeed has eaten some macaroons. Then she shows the extreme lack
             of self-confidence associated with her character early in the book when she hides her love
             for macaroons from him because she is afraid of him. Early on Nora is nothing more then a
             helpless, thoughtless, tool which Torvald can make do what he likes. This will change as
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