Act_2_a_Doll's_House_Analysis

Preparation 2 A Doll’s House 1. Torvald is someone who has been well educated. He has lived experiences and knows the real value of money. He has a good job. He knows what is good and what is wrong. Nora on the other hand, has never been confronted to real life. She has lived no experience. She acts like a child, she is irresponsible and immature. She has no idea of the value of money and her life relies on the one of Torvald. Nora does not know what is wrong and what is right. The few times, where she has to make an important decision, she acted with her heart instead of with her brain, like Torvald would of. She has no experience whatsoever to base herself on or to help her. This has led her to doing things that Torvald completely disagrees with. Spending money – Torvald has a new job with a higher salary -> more money to spend Eating macaroons – “He’s worried in case they ruin my teeth you know” - Nora likes them Forging signatures – “Forgery. Have you any idea what that means'” “Perhaps circumstances left him no choice” - Nora had to save her Torvald Borrowing money – “We can always borrow in the meantime” “No debts! Never borrow!” - Nora had to save Torvald 2. At the beginning of the Act: She orders Helene in an excitable tone to hide the Christmas tree as the children "mustn't see it till tonight." -> Nora’s secretiveness. She comes back from town where she has been Christmas shopping -> “that doesn’t mean we can afford to be extravagant, you know”. Nora is a “spendthrift”. She has no idea of the value of money. She eats some macaroons which she has secretly bought. When Torvald asks her if she has been eating macaroons, she denies it and lies whole-heartedly, “I would never dream of doing anything you didn’t want me too”-> Audience discovers that she is capable of lying. Theme of lies. Nora has a peculiar relationship with her husband Torvald. It is not based on equality. Torvald is clearly superior and treats Nora like an object. She is child-like when she interacts with her husband. She behaves playfully yet obediently in his presence, always coaxing favours from him instead of communicating as equals. Torvald calls her “my little squirrel” or “my little sky-lark” as if she was a pet, to which she responds enthusiastically. When her guests leave, Nora goes back to playing with her children. She enjoys playing with her children. She can see as one of them as she gets as much fun as her children -> childish attitude In all, at the beginning, she appears as someone childish, ignorant, coquettish, immature, silly, irresponsible, and foolish. At the end of the Act: Throughout the Act, we learn about Nora’s past. Her conversation with Kristine reveals that she has saved her husband’s life when they were in Italy. She gathered up 1200$ to save her husband. She has told him that money had come from her father but in fact it came from her. She is very proud of having done such a thing, “I too have something to be proud and happy about”. She considers herself as “a wife with a bit of a sense for business”. Her conversation with Krogstad reveals that the money was originally borrowed from Krogstad. She is still paying him back and has worked to save money. As he threatens her of telling Torvald, she says: “That secret is all my pride and joy”. She doesn’t understand why Krogstad is arguing with her and asks: “Isn’t a daughter entitled to try and save her father from worry and anxiety on his deathbed' Isn’t a wife entitled to save her husband’s life'” So, by the end of this Act, we learn that Nora has not been thoughtlessly spending money. Rather, she has been economizing to pay off a secret debt. She knows what it means to struggle and take risks. In addition, the act of concealing the ill-gotten loan signifies Nora's independent streak. She is proud of the sacrifice she has made. Although she says nothing to Torvald, she brags about her actions with her old friend, Mrs. Linde. “Still think I’m not much good for anything'” => Nora has been leading some sort of double life. 3. A visitor arrives to see Nora, Kristine Linde. The two women have not seen each other for the past ten years. Christine Linde, having just returned to her hometown, tells Nora all about her unfortunate life. Nora does not spend much time listening to Mrs. Linde’s troubles. Rather selfishly, Nora discusses how excited she is about Torvald Helmer’s recent success. She clearly takes over the conversation and does not let her friend speak. She is trying to appear as someone who has succeeded in life, but in fact she has not gone through any of the hardships of life like Kristine has. Kristine did what she believed was right at the time by getting married with someone wealthy for the well-being of her family. Her mother was ill and she had two younger brothers who needed help. Her husband died, three years ago, leaving her absolutely nothing as his business was apparently dodgy. Nora, too, has married for money. She has been since a very young age, “at school you used to be a real spendthrift” and we can suspect that she has married Torvald, not just by love, but also because he has some money. It seems that loyalty to the family is a priority. She did not marry Krogstad as she should have done because she loved him, but she married someone else to help her love ones. Nora too, sacrificed herself for her husband, by leaving south and borrowing money. To the women is this era, loyalty to their loved ones is highly expected.  Both characters, express some sort of pride in their sacrifices. Both like to brag and boast about their achievements and how they managed to save members of their family. Kristine is, as she says herself: “And much, much older, Nora”. Kristine has experienced the hardships of a woman who was forced to make her own way. She is very independent and knows how harsh life can be. She struggled through poverty and worked very hard to survive. She points out that her toilsome life has aged her, while Nora is as innocent and childlike as ever. It seems also, that Mrs. Linde comes off as superior to Nora because she feels that Nora has never done hard work in her life, Mrs. Linde referring to the sacrifice she has made. She makes a remark about Nora still being a child, “What a child you are, Nora!”, as if to say that she was inexperienced. Nora is going to feel offended by Kristine and she is going to try and justify herself by telling Mrs. Linde a story. She declares that she too has worked and sacrificed all these years. Her work has saved the life of her husband. She describes how she secretly repaid instalments of the debt by stinting on her personal expenses and taking in copying work to do at night. Christine is amazed and starts to understand that Nora might not just be useless and silly. Nora speaks with ignorance. For example, she proposes to Kristine to go on holiday, “the best things for you would be a little holiday at some quiet little resort”. Kristine has just told her that she has no money and she replies angrily: “I haven’t any father I can fall back on for money, Nora”. Mrs Linde explains that: “That’s the worse with people in my position, they become so bitter”. She is so worn out and it irritates her to hear stupid comments like the ones of Nora. In all, Kristine and Nora are foil characters. Kristine’s unique role in the story is to enhance and point out particular qualities of Nora. 4. Naturalistic writers like Henrik Ibsen were influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. They believed that one's heredity and social environment largely determine one's character. In a Doll’s house, Torvald believes in this. At the beginning of the play, Torvald first points out that people can’t change. If they are born with some qualities or weaknesses, they keep these all their life. For example, Nora affirms: “I save everything I can” and Torvald responds to her: “But you simply can’t”. Basically, if you are a spendthrift, you stay it all your life. If someone does not like you because, you lack some qualities then he will never like you as you can’t change or adapt. Torvald says that: “One must accept you as you are. It’s in the blood. Oh yes, it is, Nora. That sort of thing is hereditary”. Torvald next says that she is: “just like your father”. She has inherited the same qualities and defects as her father. Nora says : “I only wish I’d inherited a few more of Daddy’s qualities”. During the end of the Act, Torvald explains the influence of environment on somebody. He explains that: “A fog of lies like that in a household, and it spreads disease and infection to every part of it. Every breath the children take in that kind of house is reeking with evil germs.” But also that: “Practically all juvenile delinquents come from homes where the mother is dishonest.” Basically, if one is brought up in an environment which is not healthy, this person will not be honest and generous later in life, he will be a thief. He uses the example of Krogstad whom he despises, “There’s Krogstad been poisoning his own children for years with lies and deceit.” Krogstad has been a liar all his life and is probably contaminating his own children. His children will grow to resemble him. At the end of the Act, Nora does not want to see her children, as she has been mixing with Krogstad and has been lying to Torvald. Following what Torvald has said, Nora does not want to corrupt her children and therefore does not want to see them. She does not want her dishonest behaviour to contaminate her children. She is terrified at the idea of corrupting her children and poisoning her home. Her last words are: “It’s not true! It could never, never be true!” She clearly does not think that she is doing anything wrong; for her, all her acts were done in a desperate moment and needed to be done that way to prevent death.