A Doll's House Notes

A Doll’s House Notes
It opened in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879 at the Royal Theatre. The play is
set in a Norwegian town approximately 1879.
A Doll’s House Plot
Christmas Eve.
Torvald (Helmer) berates Nora for spending too much.
They have been on a tight budget for years.
New Position at bank
Dr Rank visits to talk to Torvald.

Kristine Linde visits Nora.
Secret Revealed/Nora borrowed money and told Torvald it was from her father
Krogstad is a junior employee and visits Torvald.

Krogstad tells Nora that Torvald wants to fire him
He notes that he has the contract which proves Nora forged her fathers
signature to attain money from the bank. He blackmails Nora, tells her to
stop her husband from firing him.
Nora tries to persuade Torvald not to fire Krogstad.

Torvald says Krogstad is immoral and refuses to listen to Nora.
Christmas Day: Kristine Linde visits.

Nora’s behaviour makes Mrs Linde believe that Dr Rank is the one who gave Nora the loan.
Nora and Torvald argue about Krogstad’s employment
Torvald sends the maid to give Krogstad his letter of dismissal
Nora and Dr Rank are left alone.

She flirts with him in an attempt to proposition his help in the Torvald/Krogstad fiasco/
Dr. Rank confesses that he loves her, Nora then refuses to proposition Dr Rank any further.
Krogstad wants an explanation for his dismissal. Now he not only wants his job, but wants a
higher position in the bank. He puts a letter revealing Nora’s forgery in Torvalds letter box.
Nora tells Torvald not to open the box until after the party.
Costume Party. Past revelation: Mrs Linde left Krogstad for a wealthier man who could support her.
Since her husband has died, she feels free from family obligation.
Mrs Linde convinces Krogstad to leave the letter which exposes Nora for Torvald to find.
Torvald reads the letter. He calls Nora a liar, a hypocrite and accuses her of ruining his joy.
He bars her from raising their children.
A new letter arrives from Krogstad and states he has returned Nora’s contract
This changes Torvalds mood. He ignores his past statements against Nora, but Nora now sees things
differently.
Nora says that they don’t understand each other. She says he has treated her like a “doll”.
She decides to leave Torvald. She walks out and slams the door behind her.
Roles and expectations of 19th Century Women (1801 –1900) – subservient to their
husbands, domesticity, modesty, motherhood.
Motherhood was viewed in advice literature, particularly by the 1890s, as one of the most
important contributions women could make to her family and to the nation.
In Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice the snobbish Caroline Bingley lists the skills required by
any young lady who considers herself accomplished:
A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and
the modern languages … ; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something
in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions
… (ch. 8)
In 1847 Charlotte Brontë put strong feelings about women’s limited role into the mouth of
her heroine Jane Eyre:
women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they
need exercise for their faculties and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers
do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men
would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say
that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to
playing on the piano and embroidering bags. (ch. 12)
I am obsessed with laying down for a year
“In the theatre that begins with Ibsen a play must have at least two ideas of equal importance
- two points of view. More important than that, two truths. The play sets these truths before
the audience with equal weight, and the audience must decide for itself which to accept. At
the end of A Doll's House, when Nora has announced her intention of leaving Torvald, he
tells her, "Your first duty is to your husband and your children." She tells him, "No, my first
duty is to myself." For the audience that first saw the play Nora's declaration was shocking.
We take it in stride, but the play only works if we feel that Torvald's idea of duty and Nora's
idea of duty both have value. We tend to side with Nora. If that is the case, there's no play
because there's no struggle.” – Stella Adler, taken from The Art of Acting.
“If two people simply agree on the stage, then we're finished. There's no play and nothing
more to say. The modern theatre is based on our ability to consider two points of view. In a
play, in any dramatic situation, I may be a proponent of the idea under discussion and my
partner may be against it. Torvald is for Nora's duty to him and her family. Nora is for her
duty to herself. Two contradictory ideas are expressed, and it's up to the audience either to
choose between them or to decide on some other course of action. When the discussion is
over, nobody wins.” – Stella Adler, taken from The Art of Acting.
Nora – perceived heroine of the story as she leaves her family to find her identity. Nora wants
respect from her husband and freedom from societal expectations of women
Extended Metaphor – a metaphor is a figure of speech that compares one thing to another.
An extended metaphor is developed over several lines. Ibsen creates an extended metaphor in
Act 3 – “the doll’s house”- which gives the play its title. What does this metaphor reveal or
suggest about Nora’s relationships with her husband, father and children?
Themes
 Money – Men’s control over women.
 Morality - Torvald and Nora have very different ideas about what is moral and just.
What do their opinions about the forged note reveal about their attitudes toward law
and society?
 Sexism/ Gender Roles
 Individual vs Society – being an individual within the confines of society
Pay attention to responses to the play during the time of its initial production
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/gender-roles-in-the-19th-century

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A Doll’s House Notes

A Doll’s House Plot

Dr Rank visits to talk to Torvald.

Krogstad is a junior employee and visits Torvald.

Nora tries to persuade Torvald not to fire Krogstad.

Christmas Day: Kristine Linde visits.

Nora and Dr Rank are left alone.

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