# Nora Helmer

Nora Helmer is a fictional character of Henrik Ibsen's 1879 play A Doll's House. The character is a submissive and observant housewife who lives in a middle class household with her husband Torvald, a recently promoted bank manager, and their three children. Although initially a highly controversial character, she has been praised in retrospect through a feminist lense, with her character often described as a heroine.

## Fictional character biography

Nora met her future husband, Torvald Helmer, whilst he was a civil servant investigating her father's business ventures. She later married him and had three children. Early into their marriage, Torvald became seriously ill, and doctors advise him to stay in a region with a warmer climate. Nora secretly borrows the money from Torvald's colleague, lawyer Nils Krogstad, in order to finance the family's one year stay in Italy, and forges her dying father's signature whilst doing so. Nora saves the allowance she receives from her husband to pay back her debt to Krogstad.
At the beginning of the play, Nora is presented as living a content life as a housewife and mother, with Torvald having several affectionate pet names for her, including "skylark", "squirrel", and "little bird". Torvald has recently gotten a promotion and is now the bank manager, to Nora's joy. Nora's childhood friend, Mrs. Linde, arrives at their house, requesting a job at Torvald's bank. Nora persuades Torvald to give her a job, which he does, replacing Krogstad with her.
Later, Krogstad arrives at the house, furious as he is now dismissed from his role at the bank in favour of Mrs. Linde. He threatens to tell Torvald about the deception unless he is allowed to keep his job. Nora falls into despair, however, is convinced that Torvald's love for her will lead him to take responsibility for her actions. Nora considers asking a family friend, Dr. Rank, for the money, however dismisses the idea after he confesses he is in love with her and tells her he will soon die from a terminal illness. When Torvald discovers Nora's deception and the forgery, he is enraged, and blames her for damaging his reputation. Soon after, Mrs. Linde, Krogstad's former lover, convinces him to withdraw his threats. Although Torvald now forgives Nora and declares that they can continue to live together as usual, Nora decides to leave her husband and children.

## Creation

Ibsen's inspiration for the character of Nora Helmer was his close friend, journalist Laura Kieler. Kieler secretly borrowed money to finance a journey to Italy, in order for her husband to recover from tuberculosis, with Ibsen claiming she forged a check whilst doing so. On discovering the crime, Kieler's husband divorced her, and Kieler was put in a lunatic asylum. Kieler later denied committing forgery, and asked Ibsen to publicly state such, which he declined.

## Reception

Nora Helmer received immense controversy upon the debut of the original play due to her leaving her husband and children at the end of the play. Nora's departure from her domestic life has been a focal point in feminist literary analysis, particularly regarding gender roles and society. Joan Templeton, in her article "The Doll House Backlash: Criticism, Feminism, and Ibsen," addresses the debates surrounding Nora's role as a feminist icon. Templeton discusses how some critics perceive Nora as inconsistent or unwomanly, while others view her as a symbol of women's emancipation. Academic Arthur Ganz wrote of Nora, stating she was "consumed by the desire for love". The metaphor of the 'doll' in relation to Nora's character has been explored to understand the constraints imposed upon her by societal norms, with analysis noting that the title reflects Nora's position within her marriage and society, symbolizing her lack of agency and autonomy. In the decades following the play's release, Nora Helmer has frequently been described as a heroine.
Michael Gelber proposed that Mrs. Linde giving up her independent life to be with Krogstad at the end of the play was symbolic of what Nora wanted, "a sense of self-fulfillment in love". Nora has drawn frequent comparasions to Hedda Gabler from the eponymous play, also written by Ibsen. Nora Helmer dancing the tarantella has been described as one of the most iconic scenes of the play. Vicki Mahaffey for the South Central Review described the dance as "frenzied", and a metaphor for the internal struggles of Nora. The dance was noted as being wordless, as an expression of Nora's fear.

## Notable portrayals
### Film

| Year | Title | Actress | Director |
| 1918 | A Doll's House | Elsie Ferguson | Maurice Tourneur |
| 1922 | A Doll's House | Alla Nazimova | Charles Bryant |
| 1959 | A Doll's House | Julie Harris | George Schaefer |
| 1973 | A Doll's House | Claire Bloom | Patrick Garland |
| 1973 | A Doll's House | Jane Fonda | Joseph Losey |
| 1992 | A Doll's House | Juliet Stevenson | David Thacker |

### Plays

List of actors :
| Year | Title | Actress | Adapter |
| 1879 | A Doll's House | Betty Hennings | Henrik Ibsen |
| 1889 | A Doll's House | Beatrice Cameron | Richard Mansfield |
| 1890 | A Doll's House | Beatrice Cameron | Richard Mansfield |
| 1899 | A Doll's House | Janet Achurch | William Archer |
| 1936 | A Doll's House | Tore Segelcke | |
| 1936 | A Doll's House | Bobbie Peacock | Robert Mitchell; Miriam Graham |
| 1937 | A Doll's House | Ruth Gordon | Thornton Wilder |
| 1968 | A Doll's House | Pamela Withers | Clyde Jones |
| 1975 | A Doll's House | Liv Ullmann | Tormod Skagestad |
| 1982 | A Doll's House | Cheryl Campbell | Adrian Noble |
| 1982 | A Doll's Life | Betsy Joslyn | Harold Prince |
| 1984 | A Doll's House | Priscilla Gray | Penny Tuerk |
| 1988 | Nora | Joyce Fideor | Ingmar Bergman |
| 1997 | A Doll's House | Janet McTeer | Anthony Page |
| 1999 | A Doll's House | Karen Walker | Sheila Burbidge |
| 2009 | A Doll's House | Gillian Anderson | Zinnie Harris |
| 2009 | Nora | Maja Izetbegović | Haris Pašović |
| 2011 | A Doll's House | Louise Bakker | Roger Beaumont |
| 2012 | A Doll's House | Hattie Morahan | Carrie Cracknell |
| 2017 | A Doll's House, Part 2 | Laurie Metcalf | Lucas Hnath |
| 2017 | Cherdonna's Doll House | Leah Salcido Pfenning; Cherdonna Shinatra | Cherdonna Shinatra |
| 2019 | Wife | Sirine Saba | Samuel Adamson |
| 2019 | Nora: A Doll's House | Amaka Okafor (1918); Natalie Klamar (1968); Anna Russell–Martin (2018) | Stef Smith |
| 2023 | A Doll's House | Jessica Chastain | Jamie Lloyd |
| 2023 | A Doll's House | Vaishnavi CG | Tanika Gupta; Olivia Chakraborty |