A Doll's House

• The macaroons symbolize Nora's rebellion against societal expectations and her desire for independence.
• The characters in the play reflect the stratified social classes of 19th century Scandinavian society.
• The Christmas tree symbolizes the facade of happiness and perfection that Nora tries to maintain in her marriage.
• Krogstad represents the corrupting influence of money on morality and social status.
• Torvald embodies the traditional gender roles that restrict women to domestic duties and subservience to their husbands.
• Helmer's name means "protector" or "guardian," emphasizing his role as the head of the household and protector of his family.
• "I've been your doll-wife, just as I was papa's doll-child" Nora Act 3
• "I performed tricks for you, and you gave me food and drink." Nora Act 3, viewing marriage as transactional at the end of the play
• "It was great fun though, sitting there working and earning money" Nora Act 1
• Mona Caird 1888 "Common respectable marriage [is a] form of woman-purchase"
• The phrase new woman, was first used by Sarah Grand in 1894, so after Doll's House, but still heavily associated with Ibsenism.
• First performed in UK in 1889
• In melodramatic acting loose, dishevelled hair signalled a woman's sexual availability, madness or both.
• "Marriage was revealed as being a far from divine institution" August Strindberg (actor)
• “woman is judged by masculine law, as though she weren't a woman, but a man' - Ibsen 'Notes for a Modern Tragedy' 1879
• Ibsen in 1898  "I am not quite clear what the cause of women really is. For me it has appeared to be the cause of human beings... My task has been to portray human beings." Some critics take this autobiographical statement as a sign that feminism has been overstressed in scholarship on Ibsen's plays.
• Nora is aware of Torvalds's fragile masculinity, "so proud of being a man - it'd be so painful and humiliating to him to know that he owed anything to me" Act 1 
• Torvald "I would not be a true man if your feminine helplessness did not make you doubly attractive in my eyes" Act 3
•  "In the end both Nora and Torvald are the victims of the society that created them" Dr Sophie Duncan
• Nora's actions also challenge the patriarchal power structures within society, as she refuses to conform to societal norms and instead takes control of her own destiny. This subversion of traditional gender roles highlights the limitations placed upon women during the Victorian era and calls attention to the need for social change.
• Nora puts 'love before leagality' Duncan
• Nora seen as a 'monster and unnatural woman' N.Long
• In melodramatic acting loose, dishevelled hair signalled a woman's sexual availability, madness or both.
•  "[Torvald] is unable to imagine any kind of future where they are equals" Dr Sophie Duncan