does the play suggest that women must leave their oppressive husbands or lovers in order to gain their independence and selfhood

this is a good question. ofcourse, any literary work has a message as does the work of Ibsen. throughout the play, we observe the superiority of helmer over his wife calling her by dimunitive names like my little skylark, and my little squirrel. Ibsen when asked if he is a feminist playwright, his answer was "no". he adds that he is not concerned with the feminist movement more than he is concerned with promoting human rights. from my point of view, i can say that the play, the way it is made, demonstrates the idea of independence for women. it is not necessary that the play encourages a woman to leave her husband because he is oppressive. the play, in the first place, is against opression and superiority on human beings. the woman is just as an example of the human sufferings by the totalitarian regimes. still, i like her-woman- to be an example to shed light on the feminine powerless position in society.