Throughout the entire play A Doll's House, Ibsen portrays his characters as undergoing a transformation or rebirth in a way. First off, it is interesting to note that one of the main symbols throughout the entire play is the Christmas tree. Christmas is known as the day on which there is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Thus, it makes sense that we see many of Ibsen's characters being reborn. For example, throughout the majority of the text, Nora plays the role of a a submissive "play thing" that withholds the reputation of Torvald and the Doll House. This point is exemplified in the way that Nora is called a "squirrel" or a "lark" almost as if Torvald is treating her as a child. Near the end of the play, once Nora realizes that the "wonderful" will not happen, she shows an immediate transformation when she claims "I have to be myself if I am to find out about myself and about all the other things too. So I can't stay here with you any longer". This quote portrays and immediate shift in Nora's tone from anxious and child like to confident and controlling, which indicates her new found independence as an individual. In a sense, she has been transformed from a child to an adult. I also think that Nora's transformation helps to display one of the main universal themes throughout many pieces of literature: the role of knowledge within society. I like to parallel Nora with Eve in the story of the Genesis. Eve ate the fruit from the Forbidden Tree of Knowledge and was subject to banishment on Earth as her punishment. She lost the privilege of staying on the idyllic Garden of Eden. This is exactly what happens to Nora. Her knowledge of the "wonderful" causes her to leave the idyllic Doll House into the cold, harsh, and dangerous outside world She lost he privilege of an easy and almost paradise life to one with brutal hardships in an antagonistic society. Aside from the birth of Christ, the Christmas tree can also be seen as the progression of Nora's transformation from child to adult. For example, we see at the beginning of Act 2 that the Christmas tree is "in the corner by the piano, stripped shabby-looking, with burn-down candles". It is interesting to note that the Christmas tree has shifted away from the center of the"Doll House" as if it is moving towards the exit. This positional shift indicates the general destruction of the idyllic Doll House. Not only this, the decorations have been stripped away similar to how Nora's "act" in the Doll House is beginning to disintegrate. Her role in the Doll House and thus her role as a child is dying.
Another character that seems to be going through a transformation is Krogstad. He is the "moral invalid" who has a lost reputation; however, his marriage with Kristine causes him to elevate within the society. His reputation is beginning to change and thus he is beginning to achieve a rebirth within society.
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