#11 "A Doll's House" Title

Isben uses the title "A Doll's House" to symbolize the life that the characters in the play lead. Nora leads a life as Torvold's doll. She knows almost nothing of suffering, at least before she takes on her debt. Even when she lived with her father, she was his doll. Torvold treats her like a child, and she is merely a play toy to him. She must ask him when she wants money, she dances for him when he asks, and he teases her as he does his own kids. Isben is trying to say that too many people live lives that could be considered no better than the life of a doll. People need to learn to take charge of their own lives by understanding themselves first. They cannot act on the will of others like a puppet. They must learn that they are just as important as any other human and that what they think matters. Nora slowly realizes this fact as the story progresses and knows what she must do in the end.