<P> Torvald explains that, when a man has forgiven his wife, it makes him love her all the more, since it reminds him that she is totally dependent on him, like a child . He dismisses the fact that Nora had to make the agonizing choice between her conscience and his health, and ignores her years of secret efforts to free them from the ensuing obligations and the danger of loss of reputation . He preserves his peace of mind by thinking of the incident as a mere mistake that she made owing to her dumbness, one of her most endearing feminine traits . </P> <P> Nora tells Torvald that she is leaving him, and in a confrontational scene between the two of them, she expresses her reasons and explanations . She reminds him of harsh things he has said about her and about her ability to raise their children . She says he has never loved her, they have become strangers to each other . She feels betrayed by his response to the scandal involving Krogstad, and she says she must get away to understand herself . She has lost her religion . She says that she has been treated like a doll to play with for her whole life, first by her father and then by him . Concerned for the family reputation, Torvald insists that she fulfill her duty as a wife and mother, but Nora says that she has duties to herself that are just as important, and that she cannot be a good mother or wife without learning to be more than a plaything . She reveals that she had expected that he would want to sacrifice his reputation for hers and that she had planned to kill herself to prevent him from doing so . She now realizes that Torvald is not at all the kind of person she had believed him to be and that their marriage has been based on mutual fantasies and misunderstandings . </P> <P> Torvald is unable to comprehend Nora's point of view, since it contradicts all that he has been taught about the female mind throughout his life . Furthermore, he is so narcissistic that it is impossible for him to understand how he appears to her, as selfish, hypocritical, and more concerned with public reputation than with actual morality . Nora leaves her keys and wedding ring, and as Torvald breaks down and begins to cry, baffled by what has happened, Nora leaves the house, slamming the door behind herself . Whether or not she ever comes back is never made clear . </P> <P> Ibsen's German agent felt that the original ending would not play well in German theatres; therefore, for it to be considered acceptable, Ibsen was forced to write an alternative ending for the German premiere . In this ending, Nora is led to her children after having argued with Torvald . Seeing them, she collapses, and the curtain is brought down . Ibsen later called the ending a disgrace to the original play and referred to it as a "barbaric outrage". Virtually all productions today use the original ending, as do nearly all of the film versions of the play . </P>

A doll's house by henrik ibsen characters