The image or idea of masking is important in Henrik
Ibsen's play "A Doll's House". The idea stems from the fact that Nora is living,
basically, a double life.
Torvald treats Nora like one of
their children. Nora finds it necessary to hide certain things from her husband. Not
only does she hide trivial things, such as her candies, she hides things which will
either help or harm her family.
Nora has taken out a loan
to pay for bills that Torvald could not. It is her fear that the piling up of bills will
break down the comfort she finds in her family. Therefore, Nora exists as two people:
one, the child-like wife of Torvald and two, as the woman who takes control of her
families finances even though it was unheard of during the
time.
The mask represents an image of Nora which she wishes
for her husband to keep. It is of the utmost importance that Nora keeps the loan a
secret from Torvald so that he does not look at her differently. Above all else, Nora
wishes to maintain Torvald's care-taking of her.
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