Dearest Reader,
My name is Nora. You may have heard of me before as Nora Helmer, from the play A Doll’s House, but currently I have adopted the simple name of “Nora.” I find it quite burdensome when strangers ask whether I’m related to a certain Torvald Helmer, seeing as how he was my husband a few years ago and I have not contacted him in a while. My name “Nora,” without a last name, suggests freedom and independence, two things I strongly support for every human in this world. But you probably already know that, if you’ve found my website.
Although my initial creation was in the genius mind of famous Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, I continue to have a lot of influence today, as I have been named #25 of 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived (Lazar). Many movies and other adaptations are created each decade, and with every new production, the story of Nora touches another group of people seeking their own independence in a world ill suited for nonconformists and revolutionary ideas. Thankfully, as literary critic Harold Bloom puts it, “There is a ray of hope still in A Doll’s House,” (Bloom 40) and humans are continually seeking inspiration and motivation for a purposeful existence. Therefore, educational groups across the world, including AP English Literature classes in high schools without windows, continue to analyze A Doll’s House and to search for a deeper meaning in life.
My associates and I have created this website for a variety of reasons, as listed below. We are convinced that only with more exposure will the public begin to accept and integrate the truth behind A Doll’s House into society’s values. We invite you, Dearest Reader, to explore the world of Nora Helmer, former doll and sublevel human being.
List of reasons for the creation of this website:
1. To investigate Ibsen’s creation of the surprisingly realistic Nora Helmer (with references to real people!),
2. To evaluate Ibsen’s use of the tarantella in the play and Nora’s personal expression of the dance, and
3. To analyze various symbolic metaphors, such as the hide-and-seek game and the doll’s house, as used in the play and in relation to Nora’s character development.
I hope you enjoy our interpretations of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. We are convinced that Ibsen, though long buried under six feet of recycled paper and Bantam classics, would thoroughly approve of our attempts to enlighten the literary world. After all, though “Whatever I (Ibsen) have written has been without any conscious thought of making propaganda…To me it has seemed a problem of humanity in general” (McFarlane 90). In honor of Ibsen, we leave you with the brief history of Nora and a fascinating analysis of A Doll’s House.
Yours truly,
Nora