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Nora Helmer seems to be a happy, playful wife whose husband Torvald calls her his little lark and treats her like a child. But years earlier, when he was…
Nora Helmer seems to be a happy, playful wife whose husband Torvald calls her his little lark and treats her like a child. But years earlier, when he was seriously ill, she secretly borrowed money to save his life by forging her father's signature, and now the man who lent it is threatening to tell everything.
Context and significance
First performed in Copenhagen in 1879, A Doll's House ends with one of the most famous moments in theatre, when Nora closes the door behind her. The ending was so shocking that a German production forced Ibsen to write an alternative one, which he called a disgrace. Read Hedda Gabler next.
About the author
Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) was born in Skien in Norway; his family lost its money when he was a boy, and at fifteen he became a pharmacist's apprentice. He worked in theatres in Bergen and Christiania with little success, and then spent twenty-seven years in Italy and Germany, where he wrote his greatest works.
His verse dramas Brand and Peer Gynt were followed by realistic prose plays about modern life, A Doll's House, Ghosts and Hedda Gabler, which shocked audiences and changed theatre forever. He is often called the father of modern drama.