Does Nora have any self-justification for wanting to leave Torvald in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House?

Nora had a great deal of self-justification for her decision to leave her husband Torvald by the end of Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House.Nora's first argument is that she had been treated like a playthingall her life, first by her father who treated her like a doll and then by her husband, who also treats her like a doll. By asserting she has been treated like a plaything, Nora is arguing...

Nora had a great deal of self-justification for her decision to leave her husband Torvald by the end of Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House.

Nora's first argument is that she had been treated like a plaything all her life, first by her father who treated her like a doll and then by her husband, who also treats her like a doll. By asserting she has been treated like a plaything, Nora is arguing no one in her life has ever taken her seriously enough to learn about the real her by learning her opinions and preferences. As a result, she feels that even she has failed to learn her own mind. Instead, as she explains to Torvald, she either developed the same opinions and tastes as her father and husband or "concealed" her differences of opinion and "pretended" to share the same tastes.

Her second argument is that Torvald is "not the man to educate [her] into being a proper wife" since she no longer has any desire to be a proper wife if such a wife is nothing more than a plaything. She further asserts that she no longer believes she has a duty to fulfill as a wife and mother. Instead, she now believes her first duty is to herself as a "reasonable human being," just as her husband is a reasonable human being, one who is capable of knowledge and growth. Nora now believes her first duty is to become the reasonable human being she knows she is capable of becoming.

Nora's third reason for leaving Torvald is that she does not see herself as fit to raise her children because she never received an education. Before she is fit to raise children, she believes she must, "try and educate myself," a task she can only do by herself. In other words, Nora has come to understand that before anyone can depend on her, she must become her own person, something society has so far prevented her from doing. Nora is determined to gain independence by striking out on her own and working, just as Christine has done all these years.