How can one compare Nora and Christine Linde in A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen?

While Nora and Mrs. Linde are generally seen as character foils, meaning exact opposites, in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, when we look closer, we do see a few similarities.On the surface, Noraseems quite happy with her life. She married for love, has children she adores, and, though she says she and her husband have struggled financially, she is fairly well provided for by her husband. In contrast, Mrs. Linde married...

While Nora and Mrs. Linde are generally seen as character foils, meaning exact opposites, in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, when we look closer, we do see a few similarities.

On the surface, Nora seems quite happy with her life. She married for love, has children she adores, and, though she says she and her husband have struggled financially, she is fairly well provided for by her husband. In contrast, Mrs. Linde married only out of financial necessity. Since Mrs. Linde needed to provide for her "bedridden and helpless" mother along with her two young brothers, she married a man who had a very lucrative business while alive. However, sadly, when her husband died, his business "went to pieces"; as a result, he left Mrs. Linde penniless, forcing her to work endlessly to continue to provide for her mother and brothers:

The last three years have seemed like one long working-day, with no rest. (Act 1)

However, we soon learn that Nora and her husband fell into financial distress upon marriage, and to provide for Nora, he too worked endlessly, which made him seriously ill. The doctors recommended he rest in warmer climates, and Nora needed to forge her deceased father's signature to secure a loan to afford a trip abroad. As a consequence of the loan, Nora has secretly been working hard and saving what she can to pay back the loan; she has been doing "needlework, crotchet-work, embroidery," and even copying to pay back the loan; plus, she saved what she could by only spending half of what Torvald ever gave her for her wardrobe expenses. Just as Mrs. Linde takes pride in her ability to financially help her mother and brothers, Nora takes great pride in having been able to secure the necessary funds to save her husband's life. In addition, both Mrs. Linde and Nora see that the ability to work gives them a feeling of independence. Nora notes this feeling of independence in the following:

Many a time I was desperately tired; but all the same it was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working and earning money. It was like being a man. (Act I)

Though Nora is in general much more well cared for than Mrs. Linde, as evidenced by the fact that Mrs. Linde looks old and withered, whereas Nora still has her youth and beauty, by the end of the play, Nora becomes more like Mrs. Linde when she realizes she doesn't really love her husband and leaves him to set off on her own.