Comparison and Contrast Essay on Ibsen's "A Doll's House" Title: Two Old School Friends

Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" shows how two women who went to school together many years previous have led totally different lives. Nora is married, has three children and everything she wants or needs. Her husband Torvald treats her like a doll, indulging her every whim and calling her pet names, such as "singing lark", "little squirrel" and "little spendthrift". He pats her on the head much as one would a small child. Nora is …

…about the world and that if she is to learn, then she will have to experience that for herself. This remark tetlls us that Nora is capable of choosing herself over her husband, and that she has to be herself before she can be a wife or mother for that matter. Which leads her to leave Torvald and her children to live by herself. In a surprising twist, Mrs. Linde ends up marrying Mr. Krogstad.