" (Lavrin 77). The reader, however, senses from the opening scene of the play that Torvald does not take his wife seriously.
Nora exists for Torvald as a doll or a pet (Lavrin 78). The opening scene introduces Torvald and Nora in a playfully affectionate dispute about Christmas presents and household expenditures:
Torvald: When did my squirrel get in?
Nora: Just now. Do come in, Torvald, and see what I've bought.
Helmer: Can't be disturbed. Bought, you say? All that there? Has the little spendthrift been out throwing money around again? (Ibsen, Act I).
Basically, Torvald scolds Nora with endearing pet names, laughs at what he takes to be her amusing feminine logic, and treats her as a spoiled child. Hjalmar Boyesen observes a moderation in the dialogue at this stage of the play that intends to depict the situation as truthfully as possible without approaching caricature, yet recognizing its absurdity (201).
Thus, outwardly Nora is the ideal wife according to the ideas of the age, a "lark" for her husband and a charming mother to her children. What the reader soon learns, however, is that for many ye
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