I did not feel that it undermined her supposed “heroic act”. In the first place I would not exactly call her decision to leave heroic. Indeed it was sad that she felt that she had to leave her children behind but I understood her motivation. I felt that she took such a drastic action because she did not want to influence her children to be like her, she would not want them to live only to please another and never know who they were or what truly made them happy as individuals. It seemed that her decision to leave her marriage was based on the sudden disillusionment she felt when her husband did not instinctually react as she would have; he did not try to “take the bullet for her”, cared more for his reputation. Therefore, it seemed that her motivation was based on not only her disillusionment in terms of her husband but also her sudden lack of love for her husband. She had lived her life first for her father and later for her husband, she talked about how she adopted each ones opinions as her own and never questioned them. Until this pivotal moment when she realizes that Helmer’s devotion is not like hers does she understand that above being a mother and a wife she must first be a “reasonable human being”. Her believe that she was doing the right thing could, I suppose, make her seem heroic because she was willing to give up her comfortable life, and more importantly her children to not only find out who she was but to also prevent her children from becoming her.
An ending that would involve Nora not leaving not leaving her children would change the meaning of the story drastically, it would undermine it. The resonance and realization that is so central to this work would have been missing with a different ending. Situations in which sacrifice does not have to be made are somewhat pointless because it is the struggle that underlies interaction. Just because a story has a happier ending does not make it a better one. Going off of what Nora explains to Helmer, she needs to figure out who she is before she can help anyone else. Maybe one day she will find her way back to them but in the meantime realizing that she is not the mother she feels she should be has decided her fate in the story. She cannot understand a world in which a daughter cannot spare her dying father worry or save her husbands life and until she understands she feels that she is of no use to her family. It felt like more than trying to be heroic, Nora was just trying to save herself and spare her children. She realized that understanding herself and the world can only come about through reflection and through someone teaching her, yet she realizes that Helmer is not the one to reach her, he essentially already failed her. Therefore taking into account that much of the importance of the story would have been lost I feel that had Nora decided to stay with her family she would have failed herself. Every person deserves the right to know themselves and she is barely realizing this fact.