A Doll's House

About the show

Just prior to Christmas, Nora Helmer returns from shopping carrying many packages and presents. Her husband, Torvald, is working in his study. He playfully rebukes Nora for spending so much money on Christmas gifts, calling her his "little squirrel". He teases her about how, the previous year, she had spent weeks making gifts and ornaments by hand because money was scarce. Torvald has been recently promoted at the bank where he works, so Nora feels that they can now let themselves go a little. The maid announces two visitors: Mrs. Kristine Linde, an old friend of Nora's, who has come seeking employment; and Dr. Rank, a close friend of the family, who is let into the study. Kristine explains that she has fallen into poverty following her husband's death. Nora is empathetic, recalling her own past troubles: Torvald became very sick, and they had to travel to Italy for a rest cure. Nora promises to talk to Torvald about finding her a job. Kristine gently tells Nora that she is like a child. Nora is offended, so she tells her that she got money from "some admirer" so they could travel to Italy to improve Torvald's health. She told Torvald that her father gave her the money, but, in fact, she illegally borrowed it without his knowledge (women were forbidden from conducting financial activities such as signing cheques without a man's endorsement). Since then, she has been secretly working and saving up to pay off the borrowed money. Krogstad, a lower level employee at Torvald's bank, arrives and goes into the study. Nora is uneasy when she sees him. Dr. Rank leaves the study and mentions that he feels wretched, though like everyone he wants to go on living. In contrast to his physical illness, he says that the man in the study, Krogstad, is "morally diseased". After the meeting with Krogstad, Torvald comes out of the study. Nora asks him if he can give Kristine a position at the bank and Torvald is positive about this, saying that this is a fortunate moment, as a position has just become available. Torvald, Kristine, and Dr. Rank leave the house, leaving Nora alone. The nanny returns with the children, and Nora plays with them for a while until Krogstad creeps through the ajar door into the living room and surprises her. Krogstad tells Nora that Torvald intends to fire him from the bank and asks her to intercede with Torvald to allow him to keep his job. She refuses, and Krogstad blackmails her about the loan she took out from him for the trip to Italy; he knows that she obtained this loan by forging her father's signature after his death, a serious offence. Krogstad leaves, and, when Torvald returns, Nora tries to convince him not to fire Krogstad. Torvald refuses to hear her pleas, explaining that Krogstad is a liar and a hypocrite and that, years before, he had committed a crime: he forged other people's signatures. Torvald feels physically ill in the presence of a man "poisoning his own children with lies and dissimulation". Kristine arrives to help Nora repair a dress for a fancy-dress party that she and Torvald plan to attend the next day. Torvald returns from the bank, and Nora pleads with him to reinstate Krogstad, claiming she is worried Krogstad will publish libelous articles about Torvald and ruin his career. Torvald dismisses her fears and explains that, although Krogstad is a reasonable worker and seems to have turned his life around, he must be fired because he is too personally familiar with Torvald in front of other bank personnel due to their past friendship, then retires to his study to work. Dr. Rank then arrives. Nora teases him and builds up to ask him for a favour, but Rank responds by revealing that he has entered the terminal stage of his disease and that he has always been secretly in love with her. Nora tries to deny the first revelation and make light of it but is disturbed by his declaration of love. She then clumsily attempts to tell him that she is not in love with him but loves him dearly as a friend, and never discloses the nature of the favour she had in mind to ask him. Having been fired by Torvald, Krogstad arrives at the house. Nora convinces Dr. Rank to go into Torvald's study so he will not see Krogstad. When Krogstad confronts Nora, he declares that he no longer cares about the remaining balance of Nora's loan but that he will instead preserve the associated bond (or ’IOU’) to blackmail Torvald into not only keeping him employed but also promoting him in future. Nora explains that she has done her best to persuade her husband, but he refuses to change his mind. Krogstad informs Nora that he has written a letter detailing her crime (forging her father's signature of surety on the bond) and will put it in Torvald's letter box, which is locked. Nora tells Kristine of her difficult situation, gives her Krogstad's card with his address, and asks her to try to convince him to relent. Torvald enters and tries to retrieve his mail, but Nora distracts him by begging him to help her with the dance she has been rehearsing for the costume party, feigning anxiety about performing. She dances so badly and acts so childishly that Torvald agrees to spend the whole evening coaching her. When the others go to dinner, Nora stays behind for a few minutes and contemplates killing herself. Kristine tells Krogstad that she only married her husband because she had no other means to support her sick mother and young siblings and that she has returned to offer him her love again. She believes that he would not have stooped to unethical behavior if he had not been devastated by her abandonment and in dire financial straits. Krogstad changes his mind and offers to take back his letter to Torvald. Kristine, however, decides that Torvald should know the truth for the sake of his and Nora's marriage. Torvald drags Nora home from the party, and Rank departs, conveying obliquely to Nora that this is a final goodbye, as he has determined that his death is near. Torvald retrieves his letters. As he reads them, Nora prepares to run away for good, but Torvald confronts her with Krogstad's letter. Enraged, he declares that she is now completely in Krogstad's power; she must yield to Krogstad's demands and keep quiet about the whole affair. He berates Nora, calling her a dishonest and immoral woman and telling her that she is unfit to raise their children. He says that from now on their marriage will be only a matter of appearances. A maid enters, delivering a letter from Krogstad to Nora, which Torvald demands to read himself. Torvald then exults that he is saved, as Krogstad has returned the incriminating bond, which Torvald immediately burns along with Krogstad's letters. He takes back his harsh words to his wife and tells her that he forgives her. Nora realizes that her husband is not the strong and gallant man she thought he was, who would protect and defend her, and that he truly loves himself more than he does Nora. Torvald remarks when a man has forgiven his wife it makes him love her all the more since it reminds him that she is totally dependent on him, like a child. He preserves his peace of mind by thinking of the incident as a mere mistake that she made owing to her foolishness, one of her most endearing feminine traits. Disillusioned, Nora tells Torvald that she is leaving him because the pair have become strangers to each other and she has been treated like a doll all her life by both her father and husband. She reveals that she had hoped and expected that he would want to sacrifice his reputation for hers in this scandal and that she had planned to kill herself to prevent him from doing so. Torvald insists that she fulfill her duty as a wife and mother, which he says is more important than knowing herself, but Nora says that she has duties to herself that are just as important and that she cannot be a good mother or wife without learning to be more than just a plaything. She says she cannot return unless both she and Torvald are so changed that they are no longer strangers, which would be "the most wonderful thing of all." Nora leaves her keys and wedding ring; Torvald breaks down and begins to cry, completely baffled by what has happened. After Nora leaves the room, Torvald, for one second, still has a sense of hope and exclaims to himself "The most wonderful thing of all—?", just before the door at the entrance to the building is heard closing. Ibsen's German agent felt that the original ending would not play well in German theatres. In addition, copyright laws of the time would not preserve Ibsen's original work. Therefore, for it to be considered acceptable, and prevent the translator from altering his work, Ibsen was forced to write an alternative ending for the German premiere. In this ending, Nora is led to her children after having argued with Torvald. Seeing them, she collapses, and as the curtain is brought down, it is implied that she stays. Ibsen later called the ending a disgrace to the original play and referred to it as a "barbaric outrage". Virtually all productions today use the original ending, as do nearly all the film versions of the play.