Christmas tree is a metaphor for Nora: several parallels drawn between Nora and the Christmas tree in the play.The Christmas tree, a festive object meant to serve a decorative purpose, symbolizes Nora’s position in her household as a plaything who is pleasing to look at and adds charm to the home.

• Just as Nora instructs the maid that the children cannot see the tree until it has been decorated, she tells Torvald that no one can see her in her dress until the evening of the dance.
• Also, at the beginning of the second act, after Nora’s psychological condition has begun to erode, the stage directions indicate that the Christmas tree is correspondingly “dishevelled.”

Torvald is controlling "I'm going to look so pretty for you Torvald"

Nora is childish

• She takes a 'back seat approach' to life and becomes like an object, reacting to other’s expectations rather than advancing herself.
• As a result of her passivity, Torvald is very possessive, frequently adding the “my” modifier to all the pet names he calls her.

The Tarantella. The purpose of the tarantella is to symbolize Nora's growing sense of passion and a desire to live life on her own terms. She has been metaphorically dancing her way through her marriage, performing exactly as her husband expects.

• In this dance, we see Nora's sense of independence emerging. "You're dancing as if your life depends on it". -
• Breaking free of male dominance- "her hair works loose and falls over her shoulders"

Happiness: "isn't it a wonderful thing to be alive and happy", as the title of the play implies, Nora is trapped as a 'doll' in the house of her husband Torvald.

• Nora lived to please him as a doll exists to please a young child. He treated her like a doll by making her dress up: “are you trying on the dress?”

Torvald will not make sacrifices: "no man can be expected to sacrifices honour, even for the person he loves"

The doors: Nora does not have access to any keys to unlock doors, Torvald and his business is sheltered from Nora (domestic spheres) and Mrs Linde (Nora's foil) comes from beyond the door- represents the comfort of domestic life, which Nora rejects at the end with "slammed" door.

Coventry Patmore's 'The Angel in the House' presented the idea that in order to be a good wife, a woman must be completely devoted and submissive towards her husband. The angel (the ideal Victorian wife) was portrayed as passive, powerless and self-sacrificing

Separate spheres: a dichotomy, the ideology is that women belong in the domestic or private sphere (concerned with home and family) and men belong in the public or economic sphere (work- outside the home)

The 'final part of a narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved'.

A time of political and intellectual emancipation that saw the emergence of: the New Woman, advances in science, increased prosperity (for the middle classes) and agitation for universal suffrage

German Ending: Ibsen's German translator asked him to write an alternative German ending

• Torvald "'When the children wake up and call for their mother, they will be motherless, just as your were'."
• Nora "'Ah though it is a sin against myself, i cannot leave the,', she sinks down to the floor by the door"