Doc Yoder's Notes
A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (1879)

Page numbers are keyed to the World Literature 2nd edition, edited by Donna Rosenberg (2004).

Act I (Christmas Eve)

• Nora brings in the Christmas tree; she's a big tipper (p. 142)
• Nora / Torvald: no credit; Nora as a spendthrift; sneaking macaroons (pp. 143-146)
• Nora / Mrs. Linden (pp. 146-153)
• Torvald's promotion
• Torvald's illness & the cost of the vacation ($1200 or 4800 crowns)
• Mrs. Linden's marriage for money to support her mother and brothers
• Nora's loan
• Nora / Krogstad / Rank / Mrs. Linden / Torvald (pp. 153-157)
• Nora tells Rank that she wants to say "damn" in front of Torvald
• Nora shares macaroons with Rank / blames Mrs. Linden for bringing them
• Is there a job for Mrs. Linden at Torvald's bank?
• Nora / the children: playing hide and seek (p. 157)
• Nora / Krogstad: (pp. 157-162)
• Krogstad's history
• Nora's forgery / Krogstad's threat to expose her if he gets fired
• Nora / Torvald (pp. 163-165)
• Torvald had seen Krogstad leave, and figures what he's up to
• Nora asks Torvald for help choosing a costume for the costume party
• No job for Krogstad because he "resorted to tricks and dodges" (164)
• Torvald's theory that corruption is in the blood

Act II (Christmas Day)

• Nora/Anna discuss children and how they remember their parents (165-166)
• Nora / Mrs. Linden (167-169): they discuss Dr. Rank's disease and his position in the Helmer household; Mrs. Linden thinks Dr. Rank lent Nora the money (this gives Nora an idea); Mrs. Linden offers to help repair Nora's dress
• Nora / Torvald (169-172) Torvald's superior toward Nora (lots of pet names); Torvald's past with Nora's father; Torvald's past with Krogstad; Torvald mails the letter firing Krogstad; Torvald makes a remark about shouldering the "whole burden," although he does not know what that may be
• Nora / Dr. Rank (172-176): Rank thinks he might be dying, plans to send her a card with a black cross as a sign; Nora flirts with him (showing him her stockings); as Nora starts to ask Rank for the money, he confesses his love for her, which stops Norašs plan ­ she can't ask him now; Ellen brings out the lamp; Nora implicitly compares Rank to the servants and Torvald to her father
• Nora / Krogstad (177-179): Krogstad has a new plan ­ he wants a promotion at the bank, and he plans to keep the form with Nora's forged signature of her father; Nora considers suicide; Krogstad leaves a letter for Torvald in the mailbox
• Nora / Mrs. Linden: (179-181): Mrs. Linden learns that Nora borrowed the money from Krogstad; Nora begins to talk of a miracle, of someone taking the blame if she is not there; Mrs. Linden reveals that she has a past with Krogstad; Mrs. Linden plans to exert some influence Krogstad to get him to ask for his letter back
• Nora / Torvald / Rank: (181-183): Nora prevents Torvald from checking the mail by getting him to coach her dancing; the dancing takes on a symbolic quality for Norašs dire situation ("as if it were a matter of life and death," 182); Rank wonders if Nora is pregnant
• Nora / Mrs. Linden: (183-184): Mrs. Linden has left a note for Krogstad who is out of town until tomorrow; Nora talks again of the miracle*
  *The miracle is Torvald's taking her sins upon himself; that is the connection to Christmas.

Act III (Day after Christmas)

• Mrs. Linden / Krogstad (184-187): Mrs. Linden is waiting for Nora to return from the costume party; Krogstad enters; their past together revealed; they are both "shipwrecked . . . clinging to a spar"; they decide to throw in together -- he has a family, she needs someone to care for; Mrs. Linden tells Krogstad not to ask for his letter back -- the truth needs to come out
• Nora / Torvald / Mrs. Linden (briefly) (187-190): Mrs. L tells Nora that she has nothing to fear from Krogstad, but that she must tell Torvald anyway; exit Mrs. L.; Nora did not want to leave the party, but Torvald is horny; his fantasy of the constantly virginal Nora
• Rank / Nora / Torvald (190-192): Dr. Rank shows up for a light and to let Nora know the results of his health test
• Nora / Torvald (192-202): Torvald checks the mail; finds Rank's card with the black cross; Torvald reads Krogstad's letter -- blames Nora's father (194), says he can't trust the children with Nora; they receive a second note from Krogstad which includes the IOU; they are saved; Torvald says that Nora is now his property in a double sense (196); Nora says that she has to leave; they have been married 8 years; she has suffered injustice from both her father and Torvald; Torvald argues that Nora lacks experience, that she has a duty to home, husband and children, religion, conscience and moral feeling; Nora says that she has a duty to herself, that she is a human being first, not a wife and mother; the miracle did not happen -- Torvald did not sacrifice himself for her, as all women do for their husbands; Nora leaves
Return to Doc Yoder's Literature Notes
Doc Yoder's Home