To understand how imagination was used in writing the play, one must understand the culture of Norway at the time Henrik Ibsen wrote the play. As Nora notes when Torvald refuses to sacrifice his honor for her, "Millions of women have done so." That is, women of the time knew they were meant to serve either their fathers or their husbands. Women were not allowed to borrow money, nor were they legally entitled to control their own money. Married middle-class women had few options; they had nothing that was legally theirs and were not as highly educated as their male counterparts. Divorces were only granted when both spouses agreed to it. Even if Torvald did agree to it, Nora would be stigmatized and without a means to support herself due to a lack of jobs for women of Nora's class stature. She would lose everything she owned during her marriage, and she would face a society that felt her place was as a mother and wife only.
Ibsen's personal reason for writing the play came as a result of Norway's culture. Nora's story was inspired by Ibsen's friend Laura Kieler. Kieler, like Nora, borrowed money to support her husband. She hoped Ibsen would help her publish a book and planned to use the money she made from selling her manuscript to repay the loan. Ibsen refused to help her. When her husband found out, he had Kieler committed to an asylum. When Kieler got out, she begged for her husband to take her back. He reluctantly did.
Seeing his friend put through such a terrible ordeal was a major source of inspiration for Ibsen. This is where imagination comes into A Doll's House. Though the basics of the story are the same, Ibsen changed the outcome by imagining a version of Norway where Kieler's proxy, Nora, could walk away from the confines of her strict role as a wife and mother without any kind of stigma or overwhelming hardship; she was allowed a chance at an independent life. In fact, Torvald becomes the one pleading for Nora to stay with him. When presented with the reality that the world will scorn her, Nora says simply that she "can pay no heed to that!" Though a positive outcome, it was one unlikely to take place in Norway's reality at that time. Ultimately, the play is a more idealistic and feminist reflection of Ibsen's reality.
A Doll's House is laden with symbolism. There are countless ways to read and interpret the text of the play. Imagination is crucial in grasping the symbolism in the play—for example, the title itself and the likening of the protagonist to a doll in her own home. Nora tries to keep up the appearance of the house as her main job, feeling that that is her only purpose. Torvald spends as much time as he can in his office, the place where is he most sure of his image as a successful husband and worker. By the end of the play, as New Year's Day approaches, Nora recognizes the house as a sort of prison and leaves. Nora's marriage is ending, and she is going forth to a new period of her life, outside the established setting of the play, the doll's house, into the unknown. The setting is more than just where the play takes place; it is central to Ibsen's critique of the female role in a male-driven society.
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