Nora Helmer - The Masterful Manipulator

Nora is an evolving character who progresses through the play from seemingly a naïve to mature mindset about the social norms which exist in their society. From the beginning of the play, Ibsen shines a light on the manipulative and seductive aspect of Nora. When talking with Mrs. Linde, Nora exposes her “big secret” and Ibsen displays her manipulative mindset through the stage direction “meditatively, and with half a smile” exemplifying her manipulative side as the visual imagery of “half” the smile infers Nora smirking and having a masterful plan as to not reveal the secret until she is “no longer as nice-looking as I am now” (Page 14). This exemplifies Nora’s seductive side as she is utilizing her attractive physique to lure in Torvald and possess him. This shows that although society patronizes her, Nora is fully understanding of the social norms and is manipulative of them to benefit her. 

Ibsen further depicts Nora’s manipulative character on Page 38 where Ibsen portrays Nora and Dr. Rank’s discussion as possessing connotations of flirtation. This is inferred when Nora intently shows off her body to Dr. Rank in an attempt to confess her secret. “you must only look at the feet. Oh well, you may have leave to look at the legs too.” The act which Nora has committed in this quote would be considered socially unacceptable as a woman would be the sole property of her husband. However, Nora seductively entices Dr. Rank to confess her great secret however, she does not muster enough courage for the act. By describing the secret as a “tremendously big favor” it implies how she wants Dr. Rank to feel as if he is in the superior position and able to aid her in her endeavors, although she is using her attractiveness to instruct them. However, from this quote Ibsen communicates to the reader how Nora is able to utilize her manipulative and seductive manner to aid her in achieving what she desires.

Finally, Ibsen portrays Nora as seductive when she uses her body to maintain superiority over Torvald by utilizing her infantilized actions. The stage directions grant the reader perspective of her seductive actions “playing with his coat buttons, and without raiding her eyes to his” (Page 6). Playing with his coat button implies how she is flirting with Torvald in order to gain a way to extract money from him. Additionally, “without raising her eyes to his” is incredibly manipulating by Nora as she implies her childishness to lure Torvald into her “trap”. By not raising her eyes to his, this establishes Torvalds’s superiority (at least in the eyes of Torvald) to display Nora as an innocent being asking for money although she is a masterfully manipulative wife.