A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

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Recommended: Nora's character development in a dolls house

Throughout the play Mrs. Linde acts as a mentor to Nora and plays a vital character in her awakening. Mrs. Linde is introduced as Nora’s old school friend with whom Nora could share her secret and this serves as a way of letting the audience know about Nora’s struggles. Mrs. Linde also serves foil to Nora’s character in the play, A Doll’s House.
Coming from an impecunious family, Mrs. Linde had to give up her true love Krogstad and marry a man she did not love to able to financially support her brothers and her mother. After her husband’s death Mrs. Linde has been a hard-working and independent woman. Whereas, Nora is portrayed as child whose only concern is the superficial things in life. In act I, Helmer calls Nora a “spendthrift” and refers to her as a usual woman who only knows how to spend money recklessly but not how to earn it.
At the end of the play, Mrs. Linde enters a relationship as she and Krogstad reunite. Mrs. Linde’s journey from independence to marriage highlights Nora’s journey in the opposite direction. However, Mrs. Linde does not enter the relationship because of society’s perception at the time that women needed men to support themselves. Mrs. Linde says to Krogstad that, “I want to be a mother to someone, and your children need a mother. We two need each other . . . Nils, how would it be if we two shipwrecked people could join forces? … Two on the same piece of wreckage would stand a better chance than each on their own” which shows that Krogstad needed her as much as she needed him. Mrs. Linde belives that a husband and wife should be equals in a relationship and with this belief she tries convince Nora of opening up to Torvald.
During Nora’s first conversation with Mrs. Linde she opens up and shares her s...

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...de, she sees the possibility of living on her own and actually being able to survive by herself. She realizes that she too deserved to be happy and just live life at Torvald’s expense.
Mrs. Linde’s character foreshadows Nora’s decision to leave Torvald. Mrs. Linde and Nora are at opposite ends of their lives, one breaks up her marriage to be independent and the other enters into a relationship. Mrs. Linde expresses her feelings to be a mother, whereas, Nora sacrifices her relationship with her children to be free.
Mrs. Linde is an integral part of Nora’s transformation from a “squirrel” to a free woman. Mrs. Linde acts as Nora’s guide throughout the play and leads to her realization of how superficial and materialistic her life with Torvald really was.Were not for Mrs. Linde and her actions, Nora who have never grasped reality and would remained as Torvald’s doll.

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