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A Doll’s House Notes by Danielle Hernandez

by Henrik Ibsen

• Henrik Ibsen
o Norwegian playwright
o The literary plays of his time were fluffy French romantic pieces
o Ibsen dealt with political, social, and moral issues of the time
o A Dolls House was produced in 1979
o It reflects the basic Victorian life
• The male is a benevolent dictator and the woman is the frail, childish,
housewife who is her husbands accessory.
o He was the borderline between classical Romanticism and more of a Realism Dark
Romanticism
• However, the issues he addresses are not necessarily important. He does not
specify how she survives in the end.
o Ibsen believed that, in order to truly be free, you had to get rid of ghosts from the
past
o Ibsen is the father of modern drama
• Tragedies, supposedly, involve someone who is in a high place and goes
through a tragic personal flaw.
• Ibsen disagrees and feels that ordinary people can have a tragedy
• He did away with many stage devices commonly used in the time such as:
 Mistaken identities
 Bloody fights
 Tearful melodrama
 Large casts
 Etc.
 BUT he did not do away with these.
• With the letter in the letterbox, he uses common suspense
mechanism
• He used characters as foils
o Kristie
• She married first for the money
 Nora, at the end of the play, she realizes that she did the same thing
o Nora's father
• He was very controlling and moralizing
 Torvald substitutes the father in this
o Nora found comfort with the maids as a child
• Nora finds comfort in Dr. Rank after her marriage
• Nora's Legacy in Literature
o She was kind of a symbol for feminism, liberation, and equality
o It is ironic that so many people have cheered her because she DID walk out on her
family (the cornerstone of any era is family).
• This is exactly Ibsen's point.
• Victorians cared about maintaining APPEARANCE
 There are, however, skeletons in the closet
 All is not always what it seems to be.
 To be truly free, you have to deal with these problems
• Pet names
o My little… whatever
o They are demeaning terms
o Torvald does not give her any credit for any amount of intelligence whatsoever.
• The Macaroons
o She plays right into his treating her like a child by hiding the macaroons and then
lies to him
• Torvald's Career
o He was in law
o Now he's a bank manager
• Appearance
o Wealth=Appearance
o She had, last Christmas, made her own decorations and stuff to keep up
appearance during their financial hardships
o Although they don't have much money, they have servants.
• Kristine
o She married a man for his money because her mother was ill and she had to
support her brothers
o She had an unhappy marriage.
o She is now a widow
o She came to Nora hoping that Torvald can get her a job in the bank.
• Another motivation for Krogstad's future blackmail.
• However, when she tries talking to Nora, Nora is very rude and babbles on
about herself
 We NEED her to be self-absorbed, though, because we get the insight
about Torvald's illness
• Torvald's health
o He was in law at the time and lost his job and got himself think
o Nora tells Kristine that she saved his life and paid for it all herself
o Women were not allowed to take out loans on their own.
o She wanted to get the money from her father but he had passed on already
o Nora never told Torvald about this and she does understand his pride and this
stems from society
• It would destroy him to think that he owed her- the little woman- something
• She is putting things in bizarre aspects and is playing games of her own- she
is not that stupid after all
o Nora implies that she has a lover on the side who is giving her the money
• Nora does not believe that she did anything wrong because there is a larger issue at
stake. This is very naïve.
• Forgery
o She forged her father's signature on the documents and dated it from after he was
already deceased
o This IS a crime
• Kristine and Krogstad
o They used to be in love
o Both of them have had unhappy marriages and are widow and widower
o Krogstad is left with 3 children.
o Krogstad comes to the Helmers' home
• Kristine tells Nora that she knows her
• She then tells Kristine about his life and a "diseased moral character"
• Dr. Rank
o He has a terminal disease and doesn't have much time
o He has syphilis
o Nora lets on that she knows some things about his condition
• Nora lies to Torvald
o She gives this huge story about how Kristine came just to see him for a job
o She also flatters him
• With her Children
o She only has her children summoned to her when she wants and so, when with
them, she seems like a perfectly loving mother
• Krogstad's Bribe
o He comes in while she is here with her children and he threatens her
o He threatens her wit blackmail.
• He wants to keep his good job at the bank to fix his reputation for his
children's sake.
• Nora then dares him to tell Torvald but there is the more serious matter of
the forgery.
• The documents
o The document that she forged was a loan or an IOU
o The ends justify the means in her eyes
o Krogstad attacks this point
o Then she tries to be confident and doesn't pull that whole crying bid
• However, you know that she is upset because when he leaves and the
children come back in, she refuses to play with them
• What he did
o Nora actually asks Torvald why Krogstad is a bad man
o Ironically, he committed forgery
o Torvald claims that most criminals had a deceitful MOTHER
• He believes women are too stupid to function
• Nora is "pale with terror" after she is told that she may poison her home

Act II
• Opens on Christmas day
o Every time Nora hears something, she thinks there is someone there
o She is definitely agitated and paranoid
o This is also when she starts to contemplate her leaving her children to the care of
the nurse.
o Kristine comes in to help Nora with her costume
• This is when they begin speaking of Dr. Rank
• They say he has "consumption of the spine" and his father had all kinds of
"excesses"
 Then Kristine was shocked to know that Nora would know something
like this
 Syphilis is not spoken about in "gentile society"
o Nora asks Kristine about the loan when Torvald comes in and is trying to flirt with
him and coax him into allowing Krogstad to keep his job.
• She tries to convince him by appealing to his reputation
• She tells him that Krogstad may slander him in the papers
• BUT he will not do it because it wouldn't look good to his staff.
• The reason that Torvald wants him dismissed is because Krogstad acts as if
they were on the same level. GET OVER YOURSELF! It's petty
 She tells him that this is narrow minded
 He is definitely dismissing him NOW out of SPITE!
 He sends out his dismissal letter.
 She gives a final warning and he says he's man enough to take on the
consequences
• Dr. Rank
o He comes telling her he has not much time left
o He doesn't want Torvald there when he dies because Dr. Rank has a more refined
nature
o He gives more hints to the Syphilis.
o Then Dr. Rank professes his love to Nora and he has loved her for a long time
o She is made extremely uncomfortable by this.
o She was on the verge of asking him for the money but now she can't
o Now she has to make up some other secret to tell him.
• Krogstad comes back again
o Nora says that she tried to keep his job for him
o He tells her that it will only be between the 3 of them.
o She doesn't want Torvald to know, still
o NOW he tells her tat he isn't going to give back the document. She now can't
destroy it.
o She admits to contemplating running away or killing herself.
o He has a letter for Torvald explaining it and he just wants to get on with it.
o He's being a hypocrite because he is trying to rehabilitate his morals but is doing
such with blackmail
o NOW he doesn't want to just keep his job but have Torvald's position in the future.
• Kristine finally figures out what is going on
o She says that telling Torvald is the best thing
o She has Kristine as her witness in the case that she kills herself or runs away so that
no blame will be upon her husband
o Kristine is going to talk to Krogstad and Nora is going to distract her husband.
• This is when their past comes out.
• Distraction
o Nora pretends that she needs coaching in her dancing to buy time
o She even, specifically, tells Torvald NOT to open the letter box.
• How STUPID is this!?
o The Tarantella
• She is dancing frantically and irrationally and hysterically
• A dance that came from ridding your body from the poison after being bit by
a toxic tarantula
• She is actually dancing for her life
• Kristine and Krogstad meet
o Kristine tells Krogstad that she came to find him
o She proposes marriage and has faith in his ever fault and wants a relationship with
no secrets. They will be on equal footing
• Contrast to Nora and Torvald.
o Krogstad will take the letter back. Kristine says "no" because she feels that she is
helping their marriage in this.
• Fancy Dress Ball
o Symbolically
• A symbol for assuming another identity and putting on an act.
• Nora changes out of her costume after the ball before leaving which is also
symbolic
o When they finish, Torvald is drunk but is STILL bossy and instructs Kristine in
knitting and embroidery. He is still acting like her OWNS Nora.
• His sexual drunken fantasies are even dominating
• Dr. Rank comes in
o Rank and Nora have a little "code language" going on
o Rank comes to say that he is finally going to die. Torvald doesn't get it.
• The Letter Box
o It was trying to be picked. Nora blames the children.
o Torvald opens it and first finds Rank's death note.
• The truth is out
o When Torvald is reading THE letter, Nora decides to drown herself.
• THEN Torvald comes storming in and begins ranting.
• She then refers to her wanting to commit suicide and her husband doesn't
care! Her life matters not!
• He only thinks of HIS reputation!
• YET he wants to hush these matters up and pretend nothing is fine.
• HOWEVER, he will not let her raise the children now.
o Another letter comes
• He says, "I am saved."
• He then includes her being saved as an afterthought
• Then he begins being all fluffy to her again and starts being such a fecking
hypocrite!
• He now wants to be her hero and is going to "save her"… from WHAT!?
• The final conversation
o You know the deal in THIS part…
o She has changed and wants to have a serious conversation
o He is MISSING the POINT
o He never loved her but only liked the idea of being in love with her.
o She is doll in a doll house and was her father's and Torvald's doll as her children
have been her doll children.
o He feels like there is hope and promises that he will teach her. This is still
patronizing!
o She must educate herself and declares she will leave
o Torvald forbids it… what will people say? AGAIN HIS reputation!
o This next speech was put in by Ibsen in order to try to hush the scandal he knew
would come from leaving the children
• She explains that she is doing this because every human being has a right to
self-actualization
o She says that she loves you no longer
o He says "No one would sacrifice their honor for the one they love"
• She says that thousands of WOMEN have done this
o He is now becoming panicky and is saying he'll change. He asks if they could even
live like brother and sister.
o She is completely disconnecting herself from her family and calls him a stranger.
• The play ends at the New Year. It is, for Nora, a new beginning.

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