Despite the fact that Christine and Nora are the same age, Christine appears "a little paler" and "a little thinner" than Nora does; Christine herself even says that she looks "much, much older" than her one-time school friend. Christine has spent the nine or ten years since they last saw each other quite differently from the way Nora has: Christine married a man she did not love because he could care for her and her family, then she became a widow who was left "nothing" by her husband (when his business "fell to pieces at his death"), and she had to work hard to support herself for the last three years (since his death). Nora, on the other hand, has a healthy and successful husband and "three of the loveliest children."
Christine tells Nora, "it must be delightful to have what you need," and Nora replies that she has "not only what [she] need[s], but heaps of money -- heaps!" Nora is pretty tactless, even in the face of her friend's need; her old friend has clearly fallen on difficult times, but Nora continues to brag about her family and her money. She claims that she's had to work, too, "light fancy work: crochet, and embroidery, and things of that sort" though her work clearly has not affected her the way Christine's has her. Christine talks about how the last three years "have been one long struggle" for her, but now she feels that her life is "inexpressibly empty."
By the end of the play, however, Christine and Krogstad have reunited, and she will finally have a husband that she loves, but Nora has realized how empty her own marriage is and abandons her family in order to discover herself.
The differences between Christine’s life and Nora’s are established immediately with Christine’s introduction into the play. As the drama continues, the fundamental differences in their characters are developed so thoroughly that Christine could be interpreted as a literary foil for Ibsen’s protagonist. Christine’s independence and strong sense of self emphasize Nora’s dependence and lack of personal identity; Christine’s insistence on telling the truth emphasizes Nora’s deceitfulness in all matters, important or insignificant. The literary relationship between the characters, however, is more subtle and complex than that of a character and her foil. Through Christine Linde, Ibsen previews the woman Nora Helmer will become after leaving Torvald and the stifling security of their marriage.
Christine’s personal history is established through exposition early in the play. Responsible for her ailing mother and for several younger brothers, she married a wealthy man she did not love so that she would have the financial resources to take care of them; his business ventures failed, and after he died, leaving her penniless, Christine worked hard to support herself and her family. Her mother died, her brothers grew up, and she continued to work to support herself. In the play’s conclusion, the rest of Christine’s story is revealed; marrying for money had required sacrificing her relationship with Nils Krogstad, the man she had loved and had planned to marry.
Relating the facts of her life to Nora at the beginning of the play, Christine bemoans how hard she has had to work, “[w]ith a little store and a little school and anything else I could think of.” In the play’s conclusion, however, she acknowledges that work has been her “one and only pleasure.” Christine moves to Nora’s town seeking new employment, not a new husband, and she comes to Nora’s home hoping to secure an office job at Torvald’s bank.
When Christine and Krogstad meet again and plan to marry, she does not seek a superficial marriage of convenience that will provide her with financial security. She recognizes that she and Krogstad need each other, and she envisions a true marriage of mind and spirit in which they will bring out the best in each other. With Christine, Krogstad believes he will become a better person and will “raise [himself] in the eyes of others”; with him, Christine declares, “I dare to do anything.” Their marriage will succeed, the play implies, because they reveal the truth about themselves and the past, and they will go into marriage as partners in the relationship.
Christine’s life after the death of her husband foreshadows in several ways what Nora’s life will be after leaving Torvald. Like Christine, Nora will live without the security of marriage, and she will work to support herself. She plans to return to her hometown, where she imagines it will be easier to find “some kind of job” that will give her a start in the new life she seeks. “I must see to it that I get experience, Torvald,” she explains. Working is not the only experience Nora plans to acquire. Like Christine, she will learn to live an independent, self-directed life, thinking for herself, exercising her own judgment, and making her own decisions.
In Nora’s final conversation with Torvald before leaving him, she rejects deceit, speaks frankly, and thus adopts Christine’s regard for the truth. Nora makes it clear that her relationship with Torvald is over unless they can change “[s]o that our living together would become a true marriage.” As the play concludes, Nora strikes out on her own, leaving Torvald behind, and leaving the audience to wonder if the Helmers will find their way back to each other, as Christine and Krogstad have done, and if Nora, like Christine, will one day find genuine happiness as her own person in a marriage between partners. In the drama's final scenes, Christine's long journey to fulfillment ends, and Nora's begins.
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