A Doll’s House – Henrik Ibsen
Genre, Style and Context
● Realist Drama that tackles contemporary social problems in a realistic setting
● Some use of symbol through elements such as costume, staging, props
● Blend elements of tragedy in that it examines how individuals respond to the burden placed on
them by society and comedy in the depiction of Nora’s romantic dreaming and Torvald’s
posturing
● Ironic, macabre humour
● Depicts the Scandinavian bourgeois milieu and European middle-class conservatism but also
universal in its appeal
● Key concerns: human rights/women’s rights, the individual and society, disease and corruption,
the complexities of class and status, reality and appearances
Ibsen’s Modern Tragedy
● Ibsen was the first major dramatist to write a tragedy about ordinary people in ordinary
situations, using colloquial prose for dialogue – verisimilitude (reflects real life very closely construction of reality)
● His plays do not feature old, artificial conventions, such as soliloquies, characters speak in
vernacular and idiomatic speech
● The language, stage setting, costuming and properties reflect the characters’ depth and
psychological complexity
● The setting is real and familiar: mid-nineteenth century, an unnamed city in Norway
● Unity of time and place in that the action begins on Christmas Eve and concludes the next
evening and all of the action occurs in the Helmers’ residence
● An intense and tightly knit structure
Critical Views (from: ‘The Dramatist: Henrik Ibsen’ by Professor Bjorn Hemmer)
● ‘A long poetic contemplation of people’s need to live differently than they do’
● Ibsen’s art seeks to ‘as realistically as possible unify three elements: the psychological, the
ideological and the social.’
● In A Doll’s House ‘ we experience the individual in opposition to the majority, society’s
oppressive authority’.
● ‘In spite of their despair’, his works contain ‘a warm defence of happiness and the joy of life –
pitted against the bourgeois society’s emphasis on duty, law and order.’
● ‘Ibsen dramatises the hidden conflicts in this society by opening the doors to the private and
secret rooms of the bourgeois homes. He shows what can be hiding behind the beautiful
facades: moral duplicity, confinement, betrayal and fraud not to mention insecurity.’
● Ibsen critiques the social structure
Setting
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Domestic Setting
Upper middle class
Piano → expensive item: family of culture, aspirational
Cosy, warm setting
Many places for conversation
Christmas Tree → Sign of affluence
‘Etchings on the walls’ → Encourages artistic appreciation
‘Bookcase and books’ → Encourage educative pursuits
Plot (Structure)
Act 1
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Emphatic first-word → ‘Hide’ (p. 147)
Nora’s generosity is revealed in the first few lines
Nora is surreptitious and careful around her husband (‘cautiously’, p.148)
There is a male sanctum which must not be entered by the women → Nora does not ever enter
Helmer’s study → male only domain
Epithets used by Helmer for Nora → loving and endearing tone, although slightly condescending
with use of diminutive ‘little’, child-like
Nora’s response is gay, happy: loving accepted practice
Animal imagery → squirrel
Nora ‘slips the bag of macaroons in her pocket and wipes her mouth’ → capable of duplicity and
pretence as if hiding evidence
Helmer’s double-take of ‘Did you say bought?’ → Helmer is a figure of fun, the typical husband
A characterisation of male/female domestic relationship → humour adding to the lightness
Nora’s pleading speech, responds like a child, very playful → ‘lots and lots of money’
[He goes to her and takes her playfully by the ear.] → like talking to a child
Different attitudes to money and spending
○ stereotypes male/female approach to monetary matters: female is wasteful,
irresponsible; male is controlling, measured, responsible
Nora is irresponsible by nature but horizons are narrow, therefore limited experience
Helmer ‘something ugly…about a home that’s founded on borrowing and debt.’ →
foreshadowing and dramatic irony
[going over to the stove] → domesticity; warmth, comfort
The generosity of Nora; maternal priorities and importance placed on housekeepers and maids
P.150 → Nora pauses, hesitation; working her way up to something suggesting that there is
more going on than meets the eye → use of ellipses
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Nora is flirtatious, cajole and coax Helmer into something
Gold paper on Christmas tree → moment that Ibsen himself had with his wife
‘If only you knew what expenses we skylarks and squirrels have, Torvald.’ → Irony
‘Nora, these things are hereditary.’ → Ibsen’s interest in such matters evident
Helmer tests Nora (p.151) → double standard, has that authority over Nora
[going to the table on the right] → moves often when she’s lying or doesn’t want him to see her
Promise is important to Helmer
A warm, comforting exterior is juxtaposed with a lack of opennes and honesty
‘Christmas secrets’
Importance on children → motherly
Helmer outlining Nora’s actions last christmas → Irony (see p.162)
○ Nora covering up her duplicity: copying and earning money
[clapping hands] → childish action
Nora and Mrs Linde discussing their recent past
No acknowledgement from Nora about Kristina being a widow → Lack of sympath
Nora: so preoccupied, self=absorbed, thoughtless
[stroking NORA’s hair with a sad smile] → tenderness from Mrs Linde as a more experienced,
worldly acquainted human
Emphasis on children → motherly nature
‘My husband’s been made the Manager of the Savings Bank.’ → boastful
‘Respectable’ work → rigidity of Torvald in doing respectable work: irony
‘It’ll be really wonderful to have lots of money, and never need to worry, won’t it?’ → $$$
Mrs Linde assumes Nora received an inheritance from dead father
Nora views male figures in her life with love, respect and admiration
The darkness of Scandinavia is cured by the sun of Italy
[jumping up and clapping her hands] → childlike
‘Wonderful to be alive and happy’ → see p.165
Nora sitting below Kristina → performance to charm
Marriage and position of women evinced
○ marriage is a source of income to support the family; evidently patriarchal society
Mrs Linde’s husband left a hollow business, yet it’s interesting for Nora to see what a single
woman’s fate is
‘Struggle along’
Mrs Linde continued grinding-nature of work to provide for her family and herself
‘just unspeakably empty – I’ve no one to live for any more.’ → no purpose in life
In the domestic arena, they had freedom; it is the only realm of opportunity and control for
women
● Nora does not understand Mrs Linde’s lack of money; entitled, well-off, take it for granted in an
almost cruel comment; Nora so embroiled in her own situation
● [going over to the window] → doesn’t want Nora to see her
● Mrs Linde acknowledges her own bitterness in seeing Nora and Helmer’s successful life
○ motivated by self-interest; exhibits transparency, openness and honesty, juxtaposed with
Nora’s secrecy
● Nora is still generous and kind, yet frequently employs manipulation with her husband
● ‘especially when you know so little about the troubles and hardships of life.’ → irony!
● ‘You’re only a baby, Nora!’ → constrained world view
● {...toss of her head] → sign of agitation
● [Dropping her voice] → secret
● P.159 → ‘proud’ appears many times!
● Nora’s declaration: ‘It was I who saved Torvald’s life.’ ‘It was I who raised the money.’
● P.160 Nora: [with an enigmatic smile]: Aha! [Humming] Tra-la-la!
● [with a toss of her head] → throw of society
● ‘little flair for business → clever, strategic
● [lying back on the sofa] → power, pride
● ‘I’m quite attractive…’ → beauty, femininity, sexuality: extract money through flirtation
● ‘rash’
● Nora’s deception, lack of honesty and clarity
● ‘It was to me that the doctors came’ → responsibility, power → tantalising after being a
decorated, doll, romanticised
● ‘Do you think I didn’t try to wheedle him into it first?’ → manipulation, coaxing
● ‘entreaties...borrow...frivolous’
● Nora → courage in secrecy
● ‘whims and fancies’
● Torvald’s pride is revealed → ‘Torvald has his pride...humiliated’
● ‘Lovely happy home’ → domestic bubble
● P.161 → Nora recognises herself as a doll to entertain her husband → plaything, decorative doll;
yet she can envisage a time when this is not the case
● Ibsen explores the complexities of human nature: Nora is pragmatic and resourceful, ingenious,
clever, yet romantic, loves beauty and is hedonistic
● Nora’s thoughtlessness in making such comments to Mrs Linde
● ‘It was almost like being a man.’ see p.152
● Nora and Mrs Linde not on the same page about Nora’s romanticised vision of a man to give her
money.
● Nora reflecting on dreaming → romantic disposition juxtaposed with narrow world view → to
avoid reality and conflict; to maintain agency in a romanticised setting
● Changed view of Nora: some strength of character; we see her evasion and ability to romanticise
and idealise
● [jumping up] childishness of Nora
● House may be a place of happiness but also a place of secrecy
● P.163 ‘The bank manager, you mean.’ → pride, excitement
● Krogstad [in the doorway] → comes in dramatically; catalyst for action
● [MRS LINDE … turns away] → often characters look to window; facial features can’t be seen’
looking out to something → foreshadowing
● Krogstad cuts off Nora → conflict, interjection; suggests that he won’t reveal her secret
● [She goes over and attends to the stove.] → return to familiarity
● Nora: ‘He’s had a very unhappy married life.’ (about Krogstad)
● Nora: ‘But don’t let’s talk about business’ → irony, $$
● ‘One must live, Doctor’ → position of women
● Nora: cajoling Dr Rank; flirtatious behaviour has become a habit of Nora’s → ironic since he is
dying
● Mrs Linde: ‘{soflty] Ah.’ → reference to physical and moral illness; moral illness → corruption ref
to Krogstad
● ‘rotten to the core’ → Krogstad → desperation
● Nora, falsely casual to suggest that she is pretending to be ignorant of the situations
● Moral Dilemma: Should a responsible society tolerate Krogstad’s corruption and put him in a
higher position to ‘keep an eye on him’ and deprive of honest, more capable people of such
opportunities? Society’s response has the power to judge whether someone is morally corrupt
and whether they should be persecuted.
● [NORA, deep in her own thoughts, suddenly gives a quiet laugh and claps her hands.] Nora goes
from reflective state to child-like state
● ‘What do I care for you dreary old community.’ → careless, thoughtless, frivolous, self-centred
● From philosophical serious convo to frivolous, lighthearted, self-centred
● Domestic bubble: her role is centred around Torvald
● Nora’s nature vs nurture → conundrum → how much of her behaviour is lack of agency;
responsibility
● [She pops a macaroon into his mouth.] Flirtatious behaviour from Nora
● Nora - ‘Well I’m damned!’ → swear word, pushing the boundaries of female convention; wants
to challenge Torvald
● [hiding the macaroons] - Duplicitous; made Mrs Linde and Rank complicit; power over them: ‘Sh!
Sh!’ → Nora full of confidence
● ‘Really able man’ (p.167) → buttering him up; flattery; manipulation
● Nora’s focus on children and responsibility to family
● Nora as mother; kindness to children and nurse
● Nora Playing with Children – idealised picture of mother
● [Now the door half opens, revealing KROGSTAD. He waits a little as the game continues.] →
manipulation of suspense; ominous presence; mood and tone is unique because there is no
stereotypical good/bad character
● Nora: ‘Mr Krogstad – one of my husband’s subordinates.’ → boastful; no compassion, snobbish
● Nora’s compassion is instinct rather than principle that she applies to the world at large → not
applied to Krogstad
● Krogstad: [changing his tone] → flattering, pleading
● immorality of parent can corrupt children
● exposition occurs through characters relaying experiences
● Reputation is at forefront → respectability, position of parents can influence children
● ‘Domestic unpleasantness’ (p.172) → a sinister note: risk with whole of society
● A note of hand → signature
● Forgery
● Krogstad threatens Nora
● Exposition revealed through reflection
● Nora: ‘How? I don’t understand?’ → Dramatic Irony
● [NORA is silent] Can you explain it? [NORA is still silent] → silence powerful; creating suspense
● ‘That is genuine, isn’t it?’ → italics emphasis
● Forgery, irony cruelty
● Nora Sees Mrs Linde as mirror image of single woman and Krogstad as mirror image of fraud
● Nora’s limited world-view, narrow horizons: believes motive is equally important as legality
● p.175: role of women; less power but role is to protect; males are too proud, therefore lack of
transparency and honesty
● ‘very cold-blooded’ → very matter of fact to be legitimate
● Krogstad → is he cruel? or is he representative of reality?
● Krogstad’s reputation and pride; mirror for Nora to view
● Criem is the same with or without motive
● Nora: ‘Then it must be a very stupid law’ → Law devoid of emotion; Nora’s reasoning is
secondary
● Nora: [after a moment’s thought, with a toss of her head] → asserting her world view; defiance
against the world
● ‘But...No, it isn’t possible...I did it for love!’ → ellipses represent her own justification and
uncertainty
● [She pushes them gently into the other room and shuts the door after them] → Nora as mother;
confinement, entrapment, restricted arena in which she can operate
● p.177 ‘I’ll do all the things you like, Torvald, I’ll sing and dance –’ → distract herself from
troubles, plays the role of a wife, putting on a performance
● [HELMER comes in with a bundle of papers under his arm] → unexpected entrance; house is a
trap → males will come and go and are a source of pressure, Nora is trapped
● Helmer: ‘… And, worst of all, telling me a lie!’ → Dramatic irony
● [Shaking a finger at her] → parent to child action; Nora is a child
● ‘My little songbird’ → She is pet, caged, pretty bird; tamed, docile, submissive, part of the
furniture → Nora is something to be stroked, source of warmth and comfort to tend to the
home
● Nora: ‘I’m terribly looking forward…’ → hyperbole
● Helmer: ‘And I’m ‘terribly’ curious…’ → mimicking Nora; Torvald knows it’s her charm
● For Nora, her father and torvald are interchangeable; play the same role in her life
● Helmer: ‘So little Nora’s realised that?’ → patronising tone; father to child
● Nora: [behind his chair, with her arms on the chair-back] → flirtatious, loving, manipulation,
affectionate, drapes herself over him
● Nora: ‘What are all those papers?’ → she’s opening up the conversation
● Nora pities Krogsratd → his firing is imminent; ‘poor’ (p.178)
● ‘terribly’ → charm
● Nora working Torvald around → torvald is mentor and adviser to her
● Nora’s pleading tone feeds into flattery and Torvald’s ego and pride
● Change of topic to dress party shows her master of manipulation
● Naturalistic theatres: carefree, casual, comment downplayed yet is very significant for audience
● Helmer: ‘That’s what has corrupted him.’ → this is what Nora has done: continued deception:
IRONY
● ‘hypocrite...mask’ → pretence
● Helmer: ‘because an atmosphere of lies like that infects and poisons the whole life of a home.’
→ hereditary qualities and illness: parents and corrupt and infect → title!
● ‘moral outcast’ p.179
● Nora genuinely frightened: climate of corruption
● ‘Give me your hand’ (p.180) → controls all major and minor activities
● Nora: ‘How hot it is in here!’ → physically and emotionally agitated
● Nora: ‘Corrupt my little children – poison my home?’ → title
● Tension, afraid of herself
Characters
Nora
● Generosity
● Has to assert herself through manipulation
● Epithets → accepted part of their relationship
○ little skylark
○ little squirrel
○ little featherbrain
○ little prodigal → wasteful, allusion to ‘Prodigal son’
● ‘Spendthrift’
● Nora’s nature vs nurture → conundrum → how much of her behaviour is lack of agency;
responsibility
● Nora’s focus on children and responsibility to family
● Nora is irresponsible by nature but horizons are narrow, therefore limited experience
● Nora views male figures in her life with love, respect and admiration
● Nora does not understand Mrs Linde’s lack of money; entitled, well-off, take it for granted in an
almost cruel comment; Nora so embroiled in her own situation
● Nora is still generous and kind, yet frequently employs manipulation with her husband
● Nora recognises herself as a doll to entertain her husband → plaything, decorative doll; yet she
can envisage a time when this is not the case
● Ibsen explores the complexities of human nature: Nora is pragmatic and resourceful, ingenious,
clever, yet romantic, loves beauty and is hedonistic
● Changed view of Nora: some strength of character; we see her evasion and ability to romanticise
and idealise
● flirtatious behaviour has become a habit of Nora’s
● Nora’s focus on children and responsibility to family
● Nora as mother; kindness to children and nurse
● Nora Sees Mrs Linde as mirror image of single woman and Krogstad as mirror image of fraud
● Nora’s limited world-view, narrow horizons: believes motive is equally important as legality
● Nora’s compassion is instinct rather than principle that she applies to the world at large → not
applied to Krogstad
● She is pet, caged, pretty bird; tamed, docile, submissive, part of the furniture → Nora is
something to be stroked, source of warmth and comfort to tend to the home
● Nora genuinely frightened: climate of corruption
Mrs Linde
● poorer existence
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dark clothes
widow
a friend from school, thus the same age as Nora
Paler and thinner
Poverty evident
[stroking NORA’s hair with a sad smile] → tenderness from Mrs Linde as a more experienced,
worldly acquainted human
Mrs Linde’s husband left a hollow business, yet it’s interesting for Nora to see what a single
woman’s fate is
‘Struggle along’
Mrs Linde continued grinding-nature of work to provide for her family and herself
Mrs Linde acknowledges her own bitterness in seeing Nora and Helmer’s successful life
○ motivated by self-interest; exhibits transparency, openness and honesty, juxtaposed with
Nora’s secrecy
reference to physical and moral illness; moral illness → corruption ref to Krogstad
Nora Sees Mrs Linde as mirror image of single woman and Krogstad as mirror image of fraud
Nora and Mrs Linde not on the same page about Nora’s romanticised vision of a man to give her
money.
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Torvald Helmer
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There is a male sanctum which must not be entered by the women
Helmer’s double-take of ‘Did you say bought?’ → Helmer is a figure of fun, the typical husband
A characterisation of male/female domestic relationship → humour adding to the lightness
[He goes to her and takes her playfully by the ear.] → like talking to a child
Different attitudes to money and spending
○ stereotypes male/female approach to monetary matters: female is wasteful,
irresponsible; male is controlling, measured, responsible
Helmer ‘something ugly…about a home that’s founded on borrowing and debt.’ →
foreshadowing and dramatic irony
Helmer tests Nora (p.151) → double standard, has that authority over Nora
Promise is important to Helmer
HELMER comes in with a bundle of papers under his arm] → unexpected entrance; house is a
trap → males will come and go and are a source of pressure, Nora is trapped
Helmer: ‘… And, worst of all, telling me a lie!’ → Dramatic irony
[Shaking a finger at her] → parent to child action; Nora is a child
Helmer: ‘And I’m ‘terribly’ curious…’ → mimicking Nora; Torvald knows it’s her charm
For Nora, her father and torvald are interchangeable; play the same role in her life
● Helmer: ‘So little Nora’s realised that?’ → patronising tone; father to child
● ‘Give me your hand’ (p.180) → controls all major and minor activities
Krogstad
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not a typical blackmailer
catalyst for action
Nora: ‘He’s had a very unhappy married life.’ (about Krogstad)
‘rotten to the core’ → Krogstad → desperation
Moral Dilemma: Should a responsible society tolerate Krogstad’s corruption and put him in a
higher position to ‘keep an eye on him’ and deprive of honest, more capable people of such
opportunities? Society’s response has the power to judge whether someone is morally corrupt
and whether they should be persecuted.
● Krogstad as mirror image of fraud
● Krogstad → is he cruel? or is he representative of reality?
● Krogstad’s reputation and pride; mirror for Nora to view
Dr Rank
Dramatic Devices
Stage Directions
Act 1
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[going over to the stove] → domesticity; warmth, comfort
[going to the table on the right] → moves often when she’s lying or doesn’t want him to see her
[Dropping her voice] → secret
[with a toss of her head] → throw of society
[lying back on the sofa] → power, pride
Krogstad [in the doorway] → comes in dramatically; catalyst for action
[MRS LINDE … turns away] → often characters look to window; facial features can’t be seen’
looking out to something → foreshadowing
[She goes over and attends to the stove.] → return to familiarity
[She pops a macaroon into his mouth.] Flirtatious behaviour from Nora
[hiding the macaroons] - Duplicitous; made Mrs Linde and Rank complicit; power over them: ‘Sh!
Sh!’ → Nora full of confidence
[Now the door half opens, revealing KROGSTAD. He waits a little as the game continues.] →
manipulation of suspense; ominous presence; mood and tone is unique because there is no
stereotypical good/bad character
● [She pushes them gently into the other room and shuts the door after them] → Nora as mother;
confinement, entrapment, restricted arena in which she can operate
● [HELMER comes in with a bundle of papers under his arm] → unexpected entrance; house is a
trap → males will come and go and are a source of pressure, Nora is trapped
● Nora: [behind his chair, with her arms on the chair-back] → flirtatious, loving, manipulation,
affectionate, drapes herself over him
Thematic Concerns
Nature vs. Nurture
● Ibsen explores the complexities of human nature
● Nora’s nature vs nurture → conundrum → how much of her behaviour is lack of agency;
responsibility
● Naturalistic theatres: carefree, casual, comment downplayed yet is very significant for audience
Role of women
● Domestic bubble: her role is centred around Torvald
● role of women; less power but role is to protect; males are too proud, therefore lack of
transparency and honesty
● plays the role of a wife, putting on a performance
● Nora as mother; kindness to children and nurse
● Nora Playing with Children – idealised picture of mother
● Nora as mother; confinement, entrapment, restricted arena in which she can operate
Symbols/Motifs
Macaroons
Animal Imagery