At the conclusion of the play, Nora speaks to Torvald of "the wonderful thing" that she had waited for patiently for eight years during their marriage. When her secret came out about the illegal loan she had taken from the bank, Nora explains, she thought "the wonderful thing" might happen then, but it had not:
It was to-night, when the wonderful thing did not happen; then I saw you were not the man I had thought you were.
As her conversation with Torvald continues, Nora tells him what "the wonderful thing" would have been:
. . . I was so absolutely certain [sic] you would come forward and take everything upon yourself, and say: I am the guilty one.
What Nora had longed for was proof that her husband loved her for the person she was, even more than he loved himself, instead of relating to her as a "doll-wife" and source of amusement. After eight years of living in a superficial marriage, Nora needed truth and validation. When "the wonderful thing" did not occur, Nora saw Torvald for the totally self-centered man he really was, concerned only for himself. At that point, Nora stops waiting for anything wonderful to come of her marriage; she leaves her husband.
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