Ibsen’s characterisation of Nora Helmer, Torvald Helmer and Mrs Linde in the opening of Act One

Ibsen portrays Nora as a joyful, fun-loving woman who sounds childish for her age, through her “laughing quietly and happily to herself” and by acting obediently towards her husband, Torvald, saying “Yes” when he calls her his “little skylark”. The diction “little” reinforces the audience’s view of Nora’s seemingly childish character. By treating Nora as a child and calling her pet names, Torvald only views Nora as someone who can entertain him by decorating the house and pleases him. Torvald is portrayed as a male moral figure who expects Nora to obey him, suggests their relationship is similar to a “father to daughter” relationship, by calling Nora names, shows that he does not regard his wife as an equal. Thus, Ibsen characterise the Helmers this way to highlight the indoctrination of a patriarchal Victorian society, who views women as inferior to men. Torvald expects his wife to obey him, in a way to display her respect for him shows the importance of his image, his reputation in the face of society. He calls Nora’s ideas of spending money as “frivolous”, because he is raised to believe that a woman of a weaker sex always needs guidance and protection from her husband, hence always try to correct her “frivolous ideas”. Ibsen’s juxtapose their contrasting beliefs, in which Torvald is concerned with making payments to others and Nora’s disconcern for payments make enhance the audience’s view of Nora being frivolous, however, this is an irony that suggests Nora considers using the money to care for her family’s well-being as a priority above making payments. Torvald’s concern with making payments highlights the importance of his image for him, which in a way suggests his selfishness and pride. This emphasises the unreability of appearances in the play, as the male protagonist whom the audience expects to be a virteous model figure turns out to be a self-centered antagonist, and a seemingly weaker woman whom the audience expects to depend on her husband actually has more independent and altruistic thoughts than her counterpart. Nora’s emphasis on receiving more money from Torvald foreshadows that she uses his money to pay back the family’s debts, especially the loan from Krogstad, which is used to take care of Torvald when he was ill.

Ibsen juxtaposes the two women friends in the following scene where Nora encounters with her childhood friend, Mrs Linde through their dialogue, where Nora is enthusiastic to see her old friend, whereas Mrs Linde acts with uncertainty makes the audience consider their life situations, as one cannot appear to be happy if their lives are unhappy. Nora leads a highly privileged lives, with a husband to fend her financial needs and a mother of three children, in stark contrast with Mrs Linde, whose unhappy marriage with Krogstad led her to poverty, forcing to work for herself and is childless. At first, the audience feels sympathy for Mrs Linde’s situation but as we know more about her, she accuses Nora for not knowing hard work, especially when she takes in interest when Torvald becomes a bank manager (who can help her financially) and tells her secret to Torvald. At first sight, Mrs Linde is poised to be Nora’s moral teacher, but the desire to fulfill her personal interests balances Nora’s. This reinforces the idea of unreliable appearances in the play, where characters are more complex and not just one-dimensional.