DOLLS_HOUSE|FORMFORM AND STRUCTURE (IDOLFORM)-The basic form for A Doll’s House comes from the French piece bienfaite (well-made play), with which Ibsen became familiar whileproducing plays in Oslo and Bergen, Norway. At the time, France wasthe leader in world drama; however, “serious” dramatists in Francelooked down on the piece bien faite as low-class entertainment.Typically, this kind of play contained the same stock characters-including the domineering father, the innocent woman in distress,the jealous husband, the loyal friend, the cruel villain- whounderwent predictable crises involving lost letters, guilty secrets,and mistaken identity. Intrigue and tension-building delays wereheaped on top of each other until the final embrace or pistol shot.There was always a moral to the story.Ibsen adopted the techniques but changed the characters. Insteadof being cardboard types, they are complicated people whose problemsthe audience can identify with. You (as the reader or audience member)can learn something about yourself and your world through the intrigueand tension onstage. Nora’s plight makes you consider your own ideasand relationships, for example.Another structural technique commonly used by Ibsen is to placeall of the important “events” before the play opens. Instead ofwitnessing the events as they occur, you find them revealed andexplained in different ways as the play progresses. The key past eventin this play is Nora’s secret loan obtained by forging her father’ssignature. Other important past events are Krogstad’s crime, Mrs.Linde’s marriage, and Dr. Rank’s inherited fatal illness.The action of the play is very compressed. It takes place in onelocation (the living room) over a period of three days. The five majorcharacters are closely related, and their lives and roles mirror orcontrast with each other’s. One character cannot act without affectingeach of the others. Even the small part of the nursemaid is tied in tothe major theme of Nora’s development from child to child-wife towoman. She not only connects Nora to the past but foreshadows thefuture when Nora will leave her own children to be cared for byanother.This unity of time, place, and characters gives the play what somehave called “unrelenting cohesion.” In addition, every prop andcostume is meant to be symbolic, every conversation layered withmeanings. For example, one reader points out that Nora addresses herbaby as “my sweet baby doll” (a reminder of her own doll role) andplays hide-and-seek (a reminder of hidden truth) with the olderchildren. You might want to list the ways in which the words,action, and setting give off many messages.Just as the details reveal the meaning, the overall action isconstructed to make you feel the tension mounting within the play. ActOne proceeds from the calm of everyday life to disturbinginterruptions and revelations. In Act Two, thoughts of death andsuicide culminate in the climax of Nora’s frantic tarantella. In ActThree, you feel the calm as the confrontation between Nora and Torvaldapproaches. Some think that the play’s resolution- Nora’s decisionto depart- is also its true climax. (See illustration.)
DOLLS_HOUSE|ACT_ONETHE STORY (IDOLSTOR)-ACT ONE-It’s Christmas Eve at the Helmers’ house, and a warm fire cracklesagainst the cold winter day outside. Nora Helmer, a beautiful youngwife and mother, happily comes home with her arms full of presents.She puts the packages on a table and gives a generous tip to thedelivery boy who’s brought the Christmas tree. Then she tells the maidto keep the tree hidden from the children and hums to herself as sheguiltily nibbles on macaroons, her favorite snack. We’re immediatelycaught up in the surprises and planning that surround Christmas.———————————————————————-NOTE: Ibsen’s stage description of the Helmers’ drawing room isunusually precise and detailed. You’ll find that this fits inperfectly. The play is so carefully planned that every prop serves afunction. Already we know the home fire is burning, and we’ll soon seethat, by eating macaroons, Nora is playing with fire. Her firstword, “hide,” portends that the appearance of a happy home is justthat: an appearance. Many things besides the tree are hidden fromview.———————————————————————-Nora “steals” over to listen at her husband’s study door, much theway a child might sneak around a grown-up. Torvald’s first words toher, “Is that my little lark twittering… my squirrelrummaging…?” could be a father’s to a small daughter. But if she’streated like a child or a pet, she’s an adored one. Torvald isgenuinely glad to see her, and he comes from his study to talk toher and see what she’s bought. Nora seems to be content with thisrelationship. From the beginning she manipulates her husband withthe same ingenious plots that children use to get their way. Shepleads and pouts and flirts, and bolsters his ego by chiming “Whateveryou say, Torvald,” and “You know I could never think of goingagainst you.”———————————————————————-NOTE: This dominant husband/submissive wife relationship representedthe ideal for many middle-class Europeans who first saw this play. Butrecognizing their own type of behavior at the beginning of the playmade the ending seem a personal insult. How do you view Nora andTorvald from this early exchange between the two?Ask yourself how you feel about relationships between men and women.Is there always some kind of role-playing going on? If so, whatkinds of roles seem to fulfill women? to fulfill men? Are rolesnecessary? As you read the play, try to figure out how Ibsen wouldanswer these questions.———————————————————————-Despite their playfulness, Nora and Torvald are speaking about aserious subject: money. Torvald is sure that Nora has a woman’sunderstanding of money- that is, she can’t handle it properly. Thus,all the finances in this household are attended to by him, and whenNora wants money she must wheedle it out of him. Now she wants himto borrow money for Christmas gifts. Even though he has just been mademanager of the bank and they won’t have to worry about money,Torvald doesn’t want to owe anyone anything, even for a month, forthen a bit of “freedom’s lost.” This question of borrowing foreshadowsthe revelation of Nora’s great secret of the past. When it isrevealed, think back to how she might be reacting now to thislecture about debt.Still he rewards Nora’s pout with money and condescendingly lays theblame for her alleged mismanagement on heredity. According to Torvald,Nora’s father let money carelessly run through his fingers in the sameway.———————————————————————-NOTE: HEREDITY This is a favorite theme of Ibsen’s. His nextplay, Ghosts, deals with a fatal illness that is inherited by a sonbecause of his father’s sexual activities.Throughout this play, heredity will be credited for passing onphysical traits or problems (like brown hair or Dr. Rank’s disease)from parent to child. Heredity will also be blamed for passing alongmoral traits like Krogstad’s dishonesty and Nora’s mismanagement ofmoney. But Ibsen wants you to wonder how much of moral characterresults from heredity and how much results from environment. Ischaracter determined by genes or by what you’re taught? What are theconsequences if character is something you’re born with? How is thesituation different if it’s something you learn? Be on the lookout forhow each character views heredity. Who is proven wrong?———————————————————————-Torvald suspects Nora has been eating macaroons, anotherextravagance of which he disapproves. She repeatedly denies it. Younow have a clear picture of the control Torvald exercises and hisway of thinking. Borrowing money or eating sweets is forbidden inthe Helmer house. Nora is adorable and impractical, and money runsthrough her fingers. But there is one flaw in this picture: Nora haslied about the macaroons. It’s a small thing which seems to fit intotheir domestic games. You will soon become aware of how important lieshave been in their married life. Almost immediately after presentingthis picture of typical middle-class married life, Ibsen will take youbeneath the surface. Past truths will be exposed to challenge thismarriage.The first voice from the past to disturb the comfortable presentis that of Nora’s old school friend Kristine, now Mrs. Linde, awidow who has just returned to town. The Helmers’ friend Dr. Rankcomes in at the same time. The men go into the study, leaving thewomen to talk. At first Nora acts the same way with Kristine as shehad acted with Torvald, continuing her pleasant, empty-headed chatter.But instead of being manipulated by it, Kristine treats Nora with pityand subtle insults. Kristine has been through years of hardship. Shemarried a man she didn’t love because she needed money to care for herailing mother. Since then, both her husband and her mother havedied. Kristine is now alone, trying to support herself. She assumes,justifiably, that Nora has been coddled and protected all her life.There is no sign in Nora’s childlike behavior up to this point thatshe’s ever faced hardship. The need for money and the way men in anearlier era controlled it at the expense of women is again beingraised. As you read, keep in mind the role of money and the waywomen had traditionally obtained it.———————————————————————-NOTE: Kristine’s description of her empty marriage, of how herhusband left her nothing, not even children or “a sense of loss tofeed on,” is beyond Nora’s comprehension. Here is anotherforeshadowing, this time of how completely Nora’s attitude towardTorvald and marriage will change in two days’ time.———————————————————————-Nora at once plans to help Kristine get a job in Torvald’s bank. Sheboasts about how she’ll arrange it by manipulating Torvald. Kristinethinks her offer of help is very kind, especially since Nora has noconcept of life’s burdens.Can you remember a time you’ve been indignant with someone forpassing judgment on you when that person didn’t even know all thefacts? That’s exactly how Nora feels when Kristine, who should beher equal, treats her like a sheltered child. She’s annoyed enoughto tell Kristine her biggest secret- the key “event” of the play, eventhough it has already taken place. Like Kristine, who has made asacrifice for her mother, Nora, too, has sacrificed for someone.Near the beginning of her marriage, Torvald became very ill andmight have died if he hadn’t traveled south to a milder climate.Knowing that Torvald’s principles would never have allowed him toborrow money for the trip, Nora herself secretly arranged for alarge sum from a moneylender and pretended it came from her father,who had recently died. For seven years she’s scrimped and saved to payoff the loan. In fact, far from being a spendthrift, she has beeneconomizing by making her own Christmas decorations and by secretlycopying documents to raise money!Now, with Torvald’s new position, she’ll be able to pay off theremainder of the debt and bury her secret.———————————————————————-NOTE: It now seems that Nora’s relationship with Torvald is guidedby keeping secrets. What is the necessity of secrets? Keep a countof the various secrets of each character as the play progresses. Howdo they affect each life? How are they revealed? When does secretinformation give power? When is it a burden?———————————————————————-We get an even more intimate picture of Nora and Torvald’s marriage.Kristine asks if Nora will ever tell Torvald what she’s done, and Noraresponds no! “How painfully humiliating for him if he ever found outhe was in debt to me. That would just ruin our relationship. Ourbeautiful happy home would never be the same.”———————————————————————-NOTE: KNOWING AND REALIZING Nora is absolutely right. Butalthough she knows, she doesn’t yet realize what a petty man Torvaldis. She knows their relationship is completely one-sided- Torvaldkeeps her in constant debt to him. Any sign of strength from her wouldruin their relationship. But she has a hunch she might need thepower over Torvald that this secret will give her, “when he stopsenjoying my dancing and dressing up and reciting for him.” Noraalready knows more about their relationship than she thinks shedoes, but she hasn’t ever been forced to consciously face these facts.What is the practical difference between knowing something andrealizing it? Would Nora behave the same way if she truly realizedwhat kind of man Torvald is?———————————————————————-It might seem a little odd that Nora talks so openly to a woman likeKristine who’s so different from her, and whom she hasn’t seen inten years. But once she’s confided her splendid secret, Nora goes onto talk of her fantasies- including one in which a wealthy old manfalls in love with her and leaves her his money when he dies.———————————————————————-NOTE: This fantasy serves two purposes: it underscores Nora’s”father fixation” for older men, and it announces Dr. Rank’sappearance. Watch for the significance of this fantasy in Nora andRank’s relationship.———————————————————————-No sooner has Nora finished describing her little Eden than theserpent enters the garden in the form of Mr. Krogstad. Both womenreact uneasily to his presence. Mrs. Linde turns away and looks outthe window, and Nora nervously asks why he wants to see Torvald.Krogstad, who works in Torvald’s bank, assures Nora it’s “drybusiness.” As Krogstad goes in to see Torvald, Dr. Rank comes out ofthe study to join the women.The first thing we learn about Dr. Rank is that he is terminallyill. He compares himself to Krogstad, who is “morally sick.” Watch forthe theme of inherited moral defects as the play progresses.In a mood of nervous gaiety, Nora throws caution to the wind bybreaking one of Torvald’s rules- she offers her guests the forbiddenmacaroons. But the minute Torvald appears, she hides the macaroons.Through flattery and exaggeration, she manages to get Kristine a jobin Torvald’s bank.Krogstad has already gone. Rank and Torvald then leave withKristine, who is off to find an apartment.As they are going, Nora’s three children come running in fromoutside with their nurse. Nora immediately drops everything to playwith them. Symbolically, she calls the youngest her “sweet little dollbaby” and joins them in a game of hide-and-seek. Doesn’t this remindyou of Nora’s “doll” status with Torvald and the “games” they playtogether? Not surprisingly, Nora is the one who hides. Also notsurprisingly, as you will learn, Krogstad is the one who returns tocatch her playing her game. He alone knows the game she’s been playingall these years.———————————————————————-NOTE: The fact that Ibsen chooses to bring the children on stagemeans he wants you to see them and hear them. They must be real to theaudience, because they’ll figure prominently in Nora’s future thoughtsand actions. It is also a chance for you to see Nora as a conventionalnineteenth-century mother, just as you have seen her as a conventionalwife.———————————————————————-Nora sends the children to their nurse and faces Krogstad alone.He reveals that he used to know Kristine Linde, and that the job shewas just promised is his job- Torvald is firing him. We alsodiscover another secret- Krogstad is the moneylender that Nora ispaying back. He threatens to tell Torvald about the loan unless Noragets him his job back. This job is vitally important to him, becauseit means respectability for the sake of his young sons. What does thissuggest about Krogstad’s view of transferable morality?Nora insists she can’t help him and dares him to reveal her debt. Itwould only cause a little unpleasantness for her, and Torvald wouldthen surely fire him. But Krogstad holds the cards this time. Nora,being a woman, could not have gotten the loan on her own credit. Infact, Nora had forged her father’s name but dated the signatureseveral days after her father’s death. Nora has committed a seriouscrime, forgery- the same crime that marred Krogstad’s reputation andhas continued to haunt him.———————————————————————-NOTE: In order to emphasize his ideas, Ibsen creates very closeparallels between his characters. Notice how Krogstad’s desire forrespectability echoes Torvald’s position. His plea on behalf of hischildren is no different, it seems, from Nora’s pleas on behalf ofhers. The identical nature of their crimes is not a coincidence. Howdo you react to this type of repetition? Does it seem unrealistic?Does it help you see what Ibsen’s message is? Do you understand thecharacters better?———————————————————————-Nora cries that their crimes weren’t similar at all. Her motives hadbeen pure, to save a life, while his motives had been for selfishgain. He calmly points out that “Laws don’t inquire into motives.”Nora thinks “they must be very poor laws.”———————————————————————-NOTE: There are other instances in the play where a woman stands forindividuality against a male-oriented society. Here, Krogstademphasizes that society is much more concerned with the letter ofthe law than with individual intent. How do society’s impersonal rulesand laws conflict with each character’s specific needs? What does thisplay say about the resolution of this conflict? Which is moreimportant- individual fulfillment or society’s demands?———————————————————————-Krogstad’s blackmail is complete. If he loses his job andrespectability, he will drag Nora down with him. He leaves a stunnedand disbelieving Nora behind. She simply can’t comprehend that aperson can be indicted for a crime committed out of love. Nora isshaken but returns to her usual techniques to keep reality at arm’slength. Torvald returns, asking if someone was just there. Nora liesagain, but to no avail. Torvald saw Krogstad leaving. He guesses theclerk’s purpose and is angered by Nora’s request that Krogstad bereinstated.A discussion of Krogstad’s- and by implication, Nora’s- crimefollows. It condemns her utterly. Like the law, Torvald has nointerest in motives, either. A person who’s committed forgery has toput on a false face even in family circles, says Torvald. Furthermore,dishonesty that turns up so early in life is usually caused by a lyingmother! The theme of moral sickness returns.When he leaves, Nora is clearly shaken by his attitude. The childrenbeg her to play, but she refuses to let them near her. Is she amoral invalid? The question terrifies her. “Hurt my children? Poisonmy home” she cries. “That’s not true. Never. Never in all theworld.” Her values remain intact. Home and family are her firstpriorities.How is Nora likely to respond to Krogstad’s threat at this point?How would you respond? Why is your answer likely to be differentfrom Nora’s? Is there any “right” way out of the situation?———————————————————————-NOTE: By now, you will have noticed that all the importantdramatic events in Nora’s life took place before the play started: theforgery, the borrowed money, the trip to save Torvald’s life. Thefirst act has served to reveal a situation that already exists.Krogstad’s attempt to dislodge and reveal the past sets the actionof Acts Two and Three in motion. From now on, coincidence and thecharacters’ responses to their current situations will determine theplay’s resolution.———————————————————————