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Characters:

Nora -  The protagonist of the play and the wife of Torvald Helmer. Nora initially seems like a playful, naïve child who lacks knowledge of the world outside her home. The small acts of rebellion in which she engages indicate that she is not as innocent or happy as she appears. She comes to see her position in her marriage with increasing clarity and finds the strength to free herself from her oppressive situation.

Torvald Helmer -  Nora’s husband. Torvald delights in his new position at the bank, just as he delights in his position of authority as a husband. He treats Nora like a child, in a manner that is both kind and patronizing. He does not view Nora as an equal but rather as a plaything or doll to be teased and admired. In general, Torvald is overly concerned with his place and status in society, and he allows his emotions to be swayed heavily by the prospect of society’s respect and the fear of society’s scorn.

Krogstad -  A lawyer who went to school with Torvald and holds a subordinate position at Torvald’s bank. Krogstad’s character is contradictory: though his bad deeds seem to stem from a desire to protect his children from scorn, he is perfectly willing to use unethical tactics to achieve his goals.

Mrs. Linde -  Nora’s childhood friend. Kristine Linde is a practical, down-to-earth woman, and her sensible worldview highlights Nora’s somewhat childlike outlook on life. Mrs. Linde’s account of her life of poverty underscores the privileged nature of the life that Nora leads.

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Chloe Jones

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Artistic Intentions - A Doll's House playwright, Henrik Ibsen is considered as the 'father of realism' and considered one of the founders of modern theatre. Within most of his plays he has written there are aspects of realism which could be related to Stanislavsky's idea of naturalism, but generally the two have differences which separate them from each other. This is shown in A Doll's House. Ibsen's main intention was to show the treatment of women as the play progresses and how Nora Helmer, wife of Torvald, starts to understand how she is being treated is wrong, whereas in the early stages of the play she believes the way she is treated is perfectly acceptable. This is shown throughout all of Ibsen's plays. His intentions with Nora's character was to show how the treatment of herself, as well as other women, was common around this time yet no one done anything about it. Within Act One we understand that Nora has lied to Torvald, yet refuses to let him know, this was most likely due to the fact Torvald is the head of the house, as the main male character. By using this theme of mistreatment of women it created realism within the play as it linked to the treatment of women in society during the time period Ibsen wrote the play, it also relates to women now.
Another intention of Ibsen's was to show the difference between appearance and reality, this is shown when Nora reveals her secret to Kristine, we, as well as Kristine assume that Nora, has gotten the money from her father, typically gets what she wants, however its revealed she got the money herself, something that would be frowned upon if it were to get out as its expected Torvald, or presumably her father would have given her the money. This shows us the audience that everything is not as it seems.
Overall, Ibsen's intentions was for the reader/s to question society, the treatment of women and the people around us.

(Below - A Doll's House 1922 film)

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We call this a "family drama" for the obvious reason that it concerns a family. Over the course of the play, we watch the Helmer family disintegrate faster than Kool Aid in water.

It's a "drama" not because it's full of more drama than a semester abroad program, but because it's a play—a piece of literature that's never fully realized until it's put on stage in front of an audience.

We also call it a tragedy, though it's a bit different than the Greek or Elizabethan versions. Ibsen's version of tragedy is all about the individual vs. corrupt popular society.

In realist drama, the characters talk in a close approximation of everyday speech: no one is waxing poetic with "thees" and "thous" and no one interrupts a domestic moment to give a speech on, say, flowers. It's no big shocker that this trend stuck around. The vast majority of modern plays, TV shows, and movies are written in a similar style... though most fail to rise to the same level of social critique.

A little lit history snack: realism shouldn't be confused with its cousin, Naturalism. Though the two styles were being developed around the same time, they have some big differences. Basically, Naturalism was just a lot more hardcore about representing everyday life exactly as it was: characters might talk on and on about nothing in particular and the plays might have no obvious climax. This could be a little on the yawn-worthy side, but hey: it's pretty dang natural.