deceit

• Throughout A Doll’s House, deceptions are presented as masks that the liar must wear in order to conceal the truth.
• When Torvald describes why Krogstad has a bad reputation, he explains that Krogstad did not take his punishment head-on but got out of the conundrum by a “cunning trick,” and now, because of his lies, he must “wear a mask in the presence of those near and dear to him, even before his own wife and children.
• The masked ball provides another instance where a mask is necessary to keep others from the truth. Nora dresses up as a Neapolitan fisher-girl and dances a wild tarantella in order to distract Torvald and keep him from reading Krogstad’s letter, which details the truth of Nora’s loan and forgery.
• To maintain a deception, a person must be willing to hide their true self underneath a mask, and the more desperate they are to conceal the truth, the more likely it is that their mask becomes permanent.
• At the beginning of the play, Nora appears to be a dutifully obedient and honest wife, however it is quickly revealed that she is hiding a serious secret from him—the fact that she borrowed money from Krogstad to finance a trip to Italy that she claims saved Torvald’s life. 
• When she reveals her dishonesty to Mrs. Linde, Mrs. Linde insists that she ought to confess to Torvald immediately, insisting that a marriage cannot succeed when husband and wife are not completely honest with each other.
• A parallel occurs between Nora and Krogstad when it is revealed that they both committed forgery. Their acts of deception spark the unravelling of both their lives—Krogstad’s reputation is ruined, and Nora is forced to re-evaluate everything about herself and the society around her, eventually leading her decision to leave her husband and family at the end of the play
• deceit is presented as a corrupting and corroding force in the people’s lives; however, in Nora’s case, it is clear that the motivation for her dishonesty was love—she lied in order to save her husband’s life
• Nora’s deceit was not the result of a personal flaw, but rather the only means necessary of overcoming restrictions in order to commit a noble act.