Blog Assignment #10- A Doll's House Option #1

      In “A Doll’s House” by Ibsen, the Helmers constantly make a conscious effort to portray their life as perfect and worry free.  They consistently tried very hard to disguise their suffering and harsh reality.  Torvald especially was ashamed, and felt that disclosing the truth would tarnish his manhood and his pride.  He only discusses his struggles and faces reality behind closed doors.  The Helmers show various instances of hiding in the play,  one example of this, was Nora’s over spending.   Nora becomes very caught up with the holiday season since every Christmas they had to economize. She dreams of a lavish lifestyle so much so that she’s almost living in her own fantasy land spending money that her family doesn’t actually have and buying things she can’t afford, all to create the illusion of wealth and financial stability.   When her friend Mrs. Linde visits and asks how shes been all these years, she begins by telling her about her husbands promotion and disgusises all their struggles. Her husband warns her of her foolish spending habits and reminds her that he still has yet to be promoted.   He also ironically warns her about borrowing money when he says “There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt” (Ibsen 3).  But we later discover that Nora had done just that to pay for their trip to Italy which is another example of hiding.  Torvald had always thought that the money for the trip had come from Nora’s father but in reality it came from one of his fellow co-workers.  Nora revealed the details of the loan to Mrs. Linde, but didn’t tell her who the source of the money was.  She kept the name secret and asked Mrs. Linde to keep the whole situation secret from Torvald.  When Krogstad threatned to blackmail Nora, she was caught in her web of lies and deceit.  Krogstad who gave Nora the loan was also keeping the secret until Trovald fired him.  Which then revealed that Krogstad and  Mrs. Linde were old time lovers and Trovald finds out about his wife’s loan.  The play’s storyline revolves around lies, secrets, denial, and revelations.