Use at least two of the following passages as the basis for a discussion
on Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House
PASSAGE ONE
PASSAGE TWO
PASSAGE THREE
HELMER: Come along, Mrs Linde, this is no place for anyone but a
mother!
[He and Dr RANK and MRS LINDE go down the stairs. The
NURSE comes into the room with the CHILDREN, and NOR follows,
shutting the hall door.]
NORA: How nice and healthy you look! Oh, what pink cheeks – like
apples and roses!
[The CHILDREN keep chattering to her during the following:]
Did you enjoy yourselves? That’s good. And so you gave Emmy and Bob
a ride on your sledge? Both together? Well, fancy that! What a big boy
you are, Ivar. Oh, let me take her for a minute, Nanny – my little baby doll!
[She takes the youngest from the NURSE and dances with her.] Yes, yes,
Mummy’ll dance with Bobo too! What? You’ve been snowballing? Oh, I
wish I’d been there. No, leave them, Nanny, I’ll take their things off. Yes,
let me do it, it’s such fun. You look frozen – there’s some hot coffee for
you on the stove in the next room.
[The NURSE goes into the room on the left. NORA takes off the
CHILDREN’S outdoor things, throwing them down anywhere, while the
CHILDREN all talk at once.]
NORA: Well! So a great big dog ran after you? But he didn’t bit you? No,
dogs don’t bite dear little baby dollies! No, don’t look inside those parcels,
Ivar. What’s in them? Ah, wouldn’t you like to know? No, no, it isn’t
anything nice at all! What, you want a game? What shall we play? Hid
and seek? Yes, let’s play hide and seek. Bob, you hide first. Me? All
right, I’ll hide first.
[She and the CHILDREN play, laughing and shouting, both in this
room and the room on the right. At last, NORA hides under the table. The
CHILDREN come rushing in to look for her but they can’t find her. Then,
hearing her smothered laughter, they run to the table, lift the cloth, and see
her. Loud shouts. She comes out on all fours as if to frighten them. Fresh
shouts. Meanwhile there has been knocking on the front door, but no one
has noticed it. Now the door half opens, revealing KROGSTAD. He waits
a little as the game continues.]
KROGSTAD: Excuse me, Mrs Helmer…
NORA: No, Dr Rank, I can’t. It’s something really enormous – not just advice or
help, but a really great favour.
RANK: The greater the better. I can’t think what it can be, so tell me. Don’t you
trust me?
NORA: There’s no one else I’d trust more than you. I know you’re my best, most
faithful friend, so I’ll tell you… Well, Dr. Rank – it’s something you must help me to
stave off. You know how much – how incredibly deeply – Torvald loves me. He
wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to give his life for me.
RANK [learning nearer to her]: Nora… Do you think he’s the only one?
NORA [with a slight start]: The only one…?
RANK: Who’d gladly give his life for you?
NORA [sadly]: Ah…
RANK: I promised myself that I’d tell you before I went away, and I could never
have a better opportunity. Well, Nora, now you know. And you know, too, that you
can trust me – more than anyone else.
NORA [calmly and evenly; rising]: I must go.
RANK [making way for her, but still sitting]: Nora…
NORA [in the hall doorway]: Helena, bring the lamp. [Going to the stove] Oh, dear
Dr Rank, that was really horrid of you.
RANK [rising]: To have love you as deeply as anyone else – was that horrid?
NORA: No… but to go and tell me so. There was really no need to do that.
RANK: What do you mean? Did you know?
[The MAID brings in the lamp, puts it on the table, and goes again.]
RANK: Nora – Mrs Helmer – I ask: did you know?
NORA: Oh how can I say if I knew or didn’t know? I’ve really no idea. How could
you be so clumsy, Dr Rank? When everything was going so well…
RANK: Well, at any rate you know that I’m at your service – body and soul. So
won’t you say what it is?
NORA [looking at him]: After what’s happened?
RANK: Please – please tell me what it is?
NORA: I can never tell you now.
RANK: Please. You mustn’t punish me like this. If you’ll let me, I promise to do
anything for you that a man can.
NORA: There’s nothing you can do for me now. Besides, I certainly don’t need any
help – it was all my imagination, really it was. Honestly. [Smiling] You’re a fine
one, Dr Rank! Arent’ you ashamed of yourself, now that the lamp’s come in?
RANK: No.. not really. But perhaps I ought to go – for good.
NORA: no, you certainly mustn’t do that – of course you must come here just as
usual. You know Torvald couldn’t get on without you.
RANK: but what about you?
NORA: Oh, I’m always tremendously glad to see you.
RANK: That’s just what misled me. You’re a mystery to me… I’ve sometimes
thought you’d as soon be with me as with Helmer.
NORA: Aren’t you tired out, Torvald?
HELMER: No, not in the least.
NORA: Not sleepy?
HELMER: Not a bit – in fact, I feel particularly lively. What about you? Yes, you do
look tire out – why, you’re half asleep.
NORA: Yes, I’m very tired – I could fall asleep here and now.
HELMER: There you are – there you are! You see how right I was not to let you
stay any longer.
NORA: You’re always right, Torvald, whatever you do.
HELMER [kissing her on the forehead]: Now my little skylark’s talking like a
reasonable being. Did you notice how cheerful Rank was this evening?
NORA: Oh, was he? I didn’t get a chance to talk to him.
HELMER: I hardly did; but I haven’t seen him in such good spirits for a long time.
[He looks at NORA for a moment, then goes to her.] Ah, it’s wonderful to be back
home again, all alone with you… How fascinating you are, you lovely little thing.
NORA: Don’t look at me like that, Torvald.
HELMER: Mayn’t I look at my dearest treasure? At all the beauty that belongs to
no one but me – that’s all my very own?
NORA [going round to the other side of the table]: You mustn’t say things like that
tonight.
HELMER [following her]: I see you still have the tarantella in your blood – it makes
you more enchanting than ever. Listen – the party’s beginning to break up. [Softly]
Nora – soon the whole house’ll be quiet…
NORA: Yes, I hope so.
HELMER: Yes, you do, don’t you, my own darling Nora? I’ll tell you something:
when I’m out with you at a party, do you know why I hardly talk to you – don’t come
near you – and only steal a glance at you every now and then… do you know why?
It’s because I pretend that we’re secretly in love – engaged in secret – and that no
one dreams that there’s anything between us.
NORA: Oh yes, yes, I know that you’re always thinking of me.
HELMER: And when it’s time to go, and I’m putting your shawl over your lovely
young shoulders – round your exquisite neck – then I imagine that you’re my little
bride, that we’ve just come from the wedding, and that I’m bringing you back to my
home for the first time – that for the first time I shall be alone with you – all alone
with your young trembling loveliness. All the evening I’ve been longing for nothing
but you. When I watched you swaying and beckoning in the tarantella, it set my
blood on fire till I couldn’t bear it any longer. That’s why I brought you home so
earlyNORA: No, Torvald, go away. Leave me alone – I don’t want –
HELMER: What’s all this? So my little Nora’s playing with me! ‘Don’t want’? I’m
your husband, aren’t I?