Irony in a Doll's House A Doll's House contains many examples of irony. The main characters, Nora and Torvald, are particularly involved in this. Many of the examples of irony in this play are types of dramatic irony. Dramatic irony usually refers to a situation in a play where a character's knowledge is limited and he or she encounters something more significant than he or she knows. Throughout the play, most of the dramatic irony shown is between Nora and Torvald, with Torvald being the character whose knowledge is limited. At the beginning of the play, when Mr. Krogstad threatens to reveal Nora's secret to Torvald, Nora pleads with him and asks him not to. She tells him that "It would be such a shame. That secret is all my pride and joy - why should he hear about it in this ugly and horrible way...hear it from you" (1431). This is ironic as her "pride and joy" is something her husband would completely disapprove of. Torvald tells Nora "No debts! Never borrow! There is something inhibited, something unpleasant, in a house built on credit and borrowed money" (1415). However he borrowed money and it is his pride and joy. She is proud that she was able to borrow money, since women are not supposed to be able to, and that she was able to save and work for enough money to make her loan payments. What makes her even happier is that she knows this helped save her husband's life. The happiest thing in Nora's life is something that her husband disapproves of. What makes this even more ironic is a statement Torvald makes to Nora after discovering her secret. He tells her "Oh, what a terrible awakening this is. All these eight years... this woman who was my pride and joy... a hypocrite, a liar, worse than that, a criminal!" (1462). He also uses the words "pride and joy" to describe Nora, just as she describes her secret. Another example of irony is how Nora treats her children as if they were dolls. This is situational irony because Nora is treated like a doll by her husband and father when he was alive. She says: "I passed from dad's hands into yours.