Nora and Torvald have three children, whose names are Ivar, Bobby, and Emmy. Still fairly young, they delight in playing with their mother. Although they are referred to by the others very frequently, they are only once seen on stage.
Bob, Emmy, and Ivar
Nora and Torvald's three small children.
In A Doll's House, Nora and Torvald have three children, two sons and a daughter. The older son is named Ivar, and the younger son, the couple's middle child, is named Bobby. The youngest child is their daughter Emmy, who is described as a baby.
We follow the “three small children” of Nora and Helmer and their comments from the original play. The text works on two levels: On the story level the children have names and ages: Ivar (7 years old), Bob (5 years old) and Emmy (2 years old) although their lines are linguistically older.
The Children – Nora and Torvald's children: Ivar, Bobby, and Emmy (in order of age). Anne Marie – Nora's former nanny, who gave up her own daughter to "strangers" when she became, as she says, the only mother Nora knew. She now cares for Nora's children. Helene – the Helmers' maid.
Nora has avoided her children, fearing to pollute them. In a conversation with her old nurse, she tells the servant that the children will have to get used to seeing less of their mother from now on. This is Nora's first suggestion of withdrawing from the life she has lived up until now.
Nora has to leave her children so that they can also become real human beings just like her. The responsible thing to do would be to raise them herself, but at that point, Nora's mind was in no shape to raise more than one person, herself. The nanny can help raise them, but she also helped raise Nora.
Nora and Torvald have three children, whose names are Ivar, Bobby, and Emmy.
The names of Nora and Torvald Helmer's children in "A Doll's House" are Emmy, Bob, and Ivar. They are only seen briefly throughout the whole play.
Her attitude towards her children becomes obvious from the very beginning when she calls them sweet blessings and darlings. Nora thinks of her children as something sort of like a plaything, a doll maybe.
In a sense, by keeping Nora dependent upon and subservient to him, Torvald plays the role of Nora's second father. He treats her like a child, doling out money to her and attempting to instruct her in the ways of the world.
Nora is a victim of the male-dominated society of the nineteenth century. To save her husband, Torvald, she borrows money so that he might be able to recover from a life-threatening illness in a warmer climate.
Dr. Rank is unmarried and lonely, and over the course of the play it is revealed that he is in love with Nora. Cynical about life, he rejoices when he finds out that his illness is terminal, and insists that neither Torvald nor Nora visit him in his dying days.
However, Nora, who has seen Torvald's true selfish character, decides to leave. She tells Torvald that like her father, he had never known her—even she doesn't know who she really is herself. She states that she felt like a 'puppet' under Torvald's control and she needs some time to live alone to understand herself.
Nora procured money and told Torvald that her father gave it to them, though she really raised it herself. Nora's father died before Torvald had a chance to find out that the money didn't come from him. Nora has kept the source of the money a secret because she doesn't want his “man's pride” to be hurt.
In “A Doll's House,” Ibsen presents us with the drama of Torvald and Nora Helmer, a husband and wife who have been married for eight years and whose lives are controlled by the society in which they live.
He treats Nora more like a child than a wife. He calls her silly names and scolds her for eating macaroons. Toward the end of the play, he even says that Nora is "doubly his own" because she has "become both wife and child" (3.257).
Nora (Female age 25-35)— Housewife and mother. Playful, smart, witty, bright and alive. Flighty and skittish at the beginning, but grows in strength, self-awareness and honesty as the play progresses. Torvald (Male age 30-45)—Nora's husband.
Despite Nora's great love for her children—manifested by her interaction with them and her great fear of corrupting them—she chooses to leave them. Nora truly believes that the nanny will be a better mother and that leaving her children is in their best interest.
Nora believes herself to be a doll because the men in her life see her more as a toy than a human being.
When Torvald accuses Nora of not loving him anymore, Nora says his claim is true. She then explains that she realized that she didn't love Torvald that evening, when her expectation that he would take the blame for her—showing his willingness to sacrifice himself for love—wasn't met.
He insists that Nora is not to be allowed near the children anymore, because she may corrupt them. Just then, a letter arrives from Krogstad. In the letter, Krogstad says that he's had a change of heart and will no longer be blackmailing them. Torvald is really happy and forgives Nora.
In that moment, she realizes that her marriage has been nothing but a sham and walks out the door, never to return. After such a triumphant exit, what could possibly bring Nora back to the home she once shared with Torvald and their three young children?