Henrik Ibsen's inspiration for this controversial (at the time) play was that "a woman cannot be herself in modern society," because it's "an exclusively male society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess feminine conduct from a masculine standpoint." That said, he saw it as a human interest tale more than a women's issues tale. The story itself was inspired by Laura Kieler, a friend of Ibsen's. Many of the things that happen between Nora and Tovald in the play are things that happened to Laura and her husband with one major exception because Laura was committed to an asylum while Nora is spared that fate in the play.