Point of View

"The Doll's House" is written from the third person omniscient perspective, meaning that the unnamed narrator is able to enter the minds of individual characters throughout they story. This perspective is especially important for a story whose characters are so concerned with status, wealth, and the image they project in society. By representing the exact thoughts of a number of characters – Kezia, Isabel, Aunt Beryl, etc. – Mansfield is able to create a narrative world in which the values placed on one's status become the norm for operating successfully in society.

The narrator often assumes the voice of one or many characters, using a technique called free indirect discourse. For example, when the doll's house is first introduced, the narrator muses, "Why don't all houses open like that? How much more exciting than peering through the slit of a door into mean little hall with a...