I started reading Ibsen’s Doll House with the assumption that it was about woman’s rights and Nora’s ability to stand up to her husband Helmer.  I since learned that Nora acted like a weak woman, and a sort of doll who would dress up and entertain her husband and take care of the household.  She displayed similar behavior around her father. She never had anything that was actually hers. (spoiler alert) She was oddly enough beneath this perceived blissful behavior was actually really manipulative as she was able to get the necessary money to take a trip to Italy and save her husband when he was in ill health.  However, her husband did not know about her loan from a loan shark of sorts. Also she was the one who kept track of the spending and other events in the household. (spoiler alert) Also the ending was very odd but I guess appropriate as she left her husband and children while this might not have been a very maternal thing to do, she needed to figure out who she was outside her family. Actually she sort of remind me of one of the main female leads from the Jane Austen Book club movie who had to figure out who she was after she divorced her husband when she discovered he was having an affair.
     All this play and movie show me is that people are not what they seem or claim to be sometimes. However, I think what Helmer experienced with Nora is what people experience with friends or relatives all the time in that they are full of surprises. I can vouch for this as I have a friend who I expected to react one way to one thing, and it went the other way. Also, I myself am not what I seem sometimes as I can be really quiet around people I don’t know that well but around people I am comfortable around I can be loud and boisterous to some extent.
      Nora in addition to proving that appearances can be deceiving is also showing a glimpse into women’s rights and getting women out just the role of taking care of the husband and children. Their is nothing wrong with the role but these seem to be the expectations placed on the role of most women in the Victorian era.  Also I think it shows that the woman should be able to have her own identity and have it not swallowed up by those surrounding her. I am sure this is not true in the modern world, but a woman should be able to have an identity outside the home where she is an employee, volunteer, whatever who makes a difference in the world in whatever way possible. This is all for my feminist rantish, am not sure what book I will post about next.