Throughout the duration of the play, A Doll House, Nora Helmer exposes herself to the reader as a cunning and capable woman, which is contradictory to the way her acquaintances view her. In the opening act Nora is portrayed as a spoiled housewife who dotes on her husband in the hopes of receiving money in return. At this point in the play one has the notion that Mrs. Helmer is a gold digger, and married Mr. Helmer so he could provide for her shopping addiction; however, this idea is refuted when Nora confesses to Mrs. Linde that her love for Mr. Helmer is so strong that when his life was in danger, she borrowed 4,800 crowns in order to save him. In the end of Act I it is revealed that Nora borrowed this large sum of cash from Nils Krogstad who works at the bank with Nora's husband. Krogstad threatens to tell Mr. Helmer of Nora's debt to him if she fails to convince her husband to allow Krogstad to keep a job a the bank. This in turn results in Nora using her only skill of feminine charm to her advantage, and distracting her husband from reading the mail, which contains proof of her debt to Krogstad. In the end of Act III when Nora's lie is exposed, the play has a drastic change of events. After Mr. Helmer yells at Nora, telling her that she has ultimately ruined his life, Nora realizes that she does not love her husband at all. Nora informs Mr. Helmer how he has done her a disservice by viewing her as a toy which he could play with and love, but never see as an equal. She goes on to say how she plans to leave him and their children to explore and learn about the world, and how she refuses to be merely a play thing for him or anyone else.
The ending of this play was something that I found quite unique. Due to the fact that in the time Nora Helmer was living in, women were seen as mothers and wives and nothing else. Nora defies this stereotype by professing her desire to become educated. Once Nora stood up to her husband, I gained a new respect for her, and can only wonder what became of her after she left Mr. Helmer.
I agree with what you said about Nora gaining respect by standing up for herself. It is not obvious that Nora is not okay with the fact that her husband uses her and just plays around with her, but by the end of the book Nora standing up for herself to make a drastic change in her life really shows how people should not marry unless they are happy and that getting out of tough relationships like Nora was in is not as hard as it seems. Nora's life was being run by those around her, she is represented as a play doll for her father, which then was passed on to her husband.
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