Read the excerpt from act 3 of A Doll’s House.
Nora: Alas, Torvald, you are not the man to educate me into being a proper wife for you.
Helmer: And you can say that!
Nora: And I—how am I fitted to bring up the children?
Helmer: Nora!
Nora: Didn't you say so yourself a little while ago—that you dare not trust me to bring them up?
Helmer: In a moment of anger! Why do you pay any heed to that?
Nora: Indeed, you were perfectly right. I am not fit for the task. There is another task I must undertake first. I must try and educate myself—you are not the man to help me in that. I must do that for myself. And that is why I am going to leave you now.
How does Nora’s character develop the theme that taking ownership of your own life is sometimes necessary?
Nora admits that she did not raise the children properly in the past, and she wants to educate herself on better ways to raise them.
Nora regrets her previous comment to Helmer about not trusting him, and she needs to leave to find someone she trusts to educate her.
Nora decides that her decisions to be a wife and raise children were wrong, so she is leaving in order to educate herself properly.
Nora wishes that she had not asked Helmer to educate her because she feels he has failed, so she wants to leave to find a new teacher.
