Social lie and duty in a doll's houseThe play A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen, focuses on the conflict between social lie and duty. This play talks about women's need for independence and their obligations to family and society. We can easily recognize the sacrifice and innocence in the play. We can follow a theme through the play by looking at Nora, the heroine. Who is Nora Helmer? She is the beloved wife of Torvald Helmer. They have a very nice, comfortable house and they have three children. They have been married for eight years. They have adorable friends. Torvald has just been promoted to a higher position in the bank. Isn't that a beautiful picture? This is what we see at the beginning of the piece. But when Torvald started to speak, we can sense that something is wrong in this image. “My little songbird”, “my little squirrel” and even “my little feather brain” – that’s what Torvald calls his wife. He treats Nora like a child. He thinks she is stupid and needs to be controlled. Torvald controls her housekeeping budget and how much she can spend on certain purchases. He doesn't know and he doesn't want to know that Nora herself can make money. Instead, he expects her to always depend on his salary. Too bad Nora was only able to realize after eight years that she was living with a hypocrite. After discovering that Nora had forged her father's signature on the loan guarantee, he calls off their marriage. He doesn't care that Nora did this because she loves him very much, and she did this to save his life. He is a man of “honor”. “Nora, I would gladly work for you. But no man can be expected to sacrifice his honor, even for the person he loves. And she answers him: “Millions of women have done it” (Ibsen 979). When a woman loves like Nora, nothing else matters. She will sacrifice herself for the family. Her goal in life is to be happy for her husband and children; dance and play. Torvald doesn't know what a real relationship means. And when he sees that because of Nora he must sacrifice his reputation and his career, he gives up. He wouldn't take responsibility for her. It's only when he finds out Nora won't be charged that he forgives her and tries to keep her..