A Doll's House

Henrik Ibsen 1879

This three-act play follows Nora Helmer as a secret loan threatens her comfortable marriage. A letter waiting in a locked mailbox turns an ordinary home into a place of suspense.

95 pages 1h 51m reading time

One of the most performed plays in the world and a founding work of modern realistic drama.
Argues that a marriage built on pretending, where the wife is treated like a child or a doll, is not a real marriage at all.
Ends with Nora deciding that her duty to herself as a person matters as much as her duty to her husband and children.
Its final scene, with Nora walking out and shutting the door behind her, became famous as "the door slam heard around the world" and fueled fierce public debate about women's rights.
It helped move theater away from neat, happy endings toward serious plays about ordinary people's lives, shaping playwrights such as George Bernard Shaw and Arthur Miller.

Based on a real woman

Ibsen's friend Laura Kieler secretly borrowed money to save her sick husband, much as Nora does.
Forced to change the ending

For a German staging, Ibsen unwillingly wrote an ending where Nora stays for her children, calling it a disgrace.
Sold out in weeks

The first printing of 8,000 copies sold out in about a month, a huge number for a play then.
Written far from Norway

Ibsen wrote the play while living in Italy, mostly in Rome and the seaside town of Amalfi.