Gender Stereotypes In A Doll's House

In A Doll’s House Henrik Ibsen writes the character Nora, to reflect a child, the reason he does this is to comment on gender stereotypes of the time this work was written, to portray women as powerless, dependent, and naive. Her actions and overall position in the play is what places her in a position of the child in this work, however in some ways this is Nora’s coming-of-age story, and Henrik uses Nora to comment on women’s placement and capabilities in their modern society.
When the character of Nora is first introduced one of the first things we see her doing is eating macaroons, then hiding them when her husband Torvald. Her behavior in this scene possibly demonstrates a few things. First this demonstrates a lack of obedience towards her husband, Torvald, and a willingness to not do everything he tells her, which is the root of the main dilemma in this work. It also reaffirms her position as a child in this relationship. This scene is a classic example of a parent/child relationship that is often seen in real life, such as when a child steals a cookie from a cookie jar, then denies it. Nora even openly says in act two, that Torvald is almost a parental figure in her life, when she is talking to Dr. Rank. "Surely you can understand that

Linde. “You are just like the others. They all think that I am incapable of anything really serious--”, When Mrs. Linde first judges her, she’s very quick to try to prove to her that she is more capable than she appears. This is when the audience first realizes Nora is more than what meet the eye. Despite her earlier behavior, she is the one that saved her husband 's life and been working off the