She Can Carry This Burden

While searching the web for something that has to do with the ideas and messages that Henrik Ibsen provides his readers in A Doll’s House, I stumbled across a perfect quote spoken by Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

“Whatever the theories may be of woman's dependence on man, in the supreme moments of her life he cannot bear her burdens.”

This relates perfectly to Nora and Torvald in marriage; for Torvald is always trying to play the role of dominance. By doing so, Torvald also made it so that Nora would be playing the role of the weak one. He wanted their relationship to be him providing for the two of them, and her being there for him to play with. He never took into consideration the fact that Nora may have the ability to comprehend and deal with tough situations. Her most supreme time was when she had to borrow money in order to save Torvald’s life. Obviously, because Torvald interpreted Nora as just his pet, he never suspected that she could be capable of making a deal with someone for the money. He was very sick, and she needed to act; her father had passed just before he became sick, so she could not get the money from him. She had to ask for the favor from Mr. Krogstad, and wrote him an I.O.U. on which she had to forge her deceased father’s signature.
Torvald could not have carried this weight that Nora had put onto her shoulders; she had to do it independently. The downfall of their marriage may very well have been the fact that Nora had to act independently; as well as the fact that Torvald could not accept that she was not always dependent on him.