In a new book on her reading life, Shanta Gokhale writes about Henrik Ibsen’s play ‘A Doll’s House’

It was during the 1970s that Henrik Ibsen was declared a feminist and Nora a feminist icon. She was “the doll” who, along with “the angel”, “the courtesan”, “the shrew”, and “the mad woman in the attic”, formed the spectrum of women characters in conventional novels and plays. Infantalised first by her father, then by her husband Torvald Helmer, Nora gradually grows to understand the social structure of the world in which women are deliberately stunted to ensure they fit neatly into the general scheme of things. Chafing under the knowledge, she wakes up one day certain that only by leaving her husband’s house and “protection” can she hope to grow from pretty toy to self-respecting woman. The argument with which she counters Torvald’s patriarchal ideas following her announcement of her decision to leave is a powerful personal statement coming from a place of experience and consciousness.

Helmer:…This is how you would neglect your most sacred duties.

Nora: What would you consider my most sacred duties?

Helmer: Do I need to tell you that? Are they not your duties to your husband and your children.

Nora: I have other duties just as sacred.

Helmer: That you have not. What duties could those be?

Nora: Duties to myself.

Helmer: Before all...

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