The Marionette’s Secret: Seeking the Self Amidst the Tangled Loom of Expectations in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House

This paper explores the difference between societal expectations and self-identity in Henrik Ibsen’s realistic play A Doll’s House, focusing on the feminist character Nora Helmer's journey toward self-realisation. The study examines how gender discrimination, family politics, and societal expectations entrap women within tangled societal norms. This paper reveals how Nora’s self-awakening challenges the deterministic roles assigned to her and underscores Ibsen’s critique of 19th-century social norms. This work argues that A Doll’s House remains a revolutionary exploration of autonomy and the silent struggle to assert the self in a world governed by secrets of expectation. This study uses a qualitative literary method. It is focusing on close reading of Henrik Ibsen’s literary text A Doll’s House. The research draws upon textual analysis: examining language, dialogue, and symbols.