Here are some resource you can use while we read Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House.
Watch the two trailers to give you an idea of what the play is about.
If you want to listen to the play while you read along, I've included an audio book.
Read the synopsis for act 1, act 2 and act 3 after we've read the act in class.
Answer the questions for act 1, act 2 and act 3. Support your answers with a quote and a page number.
There are two film versions you can watch. One from 1992 and one from 1973.
If you have 9 minutes and would like a recap of the main ideas, watch the video. It is an excellent overview of the play.
A promotional trailer for a stage production of Ibsen's A Doll's House. Performed by Sport for Jove Theatre.
Individualism versus social responsibility
Gender roles and marriage
Complications and deceptions
Answer these questions in your notebook. We will take them up together. You need textual support ( a quote with a page number) for your answer to be complete.
Torvald Helmer - A lawyer
Nora Helmer - Torvald’s wife
Dr. Rank - Torvald’s closest friend
Mrs Linde - Nora’s childhood friend
Nils Krogstad - A bank clerk
Ivar, Emmy, Bob - The Helmers’ three small children
Anne-marie - Their nurse
Helene - A maid
Delivery Boy
Nora Helmer enters her lovely living room laden with packages and a Christmas tree, humming a happy tune and sneaking a macaroon. Her husband, Torvald, greets her with questions about her spending, calling Nora his “little lark,” “squirrel,” spendthrift,” and “sweet tooth.” Nora reminds him that they have no worries since Torvald has just been offered a bank managerial position, but her husband opts for caution. When Torvald inquires what she desires for Christmas, Nora asks for money. Two visitors enter the house: Dr. Rank accompanies Torvald to his study, and Mrs. Linde, an old friend who has been out of touch, joins Nora. The two women share confidences, and Nora reveals that she has hidden more than macaroons from her husband. Due to Torvald’s serious illness several years prior, Nora explains, she had to finance a year of recovery in Italy. While she told Torvald that her father had left them the money, Nora actually forged her father’s signature and borrowed the money from a lawyer named Krogstad. Justifying her dishonesty by saving Torvald’s health and pride, Nora explains that she has been secretly working to pay off the loan, and she is almost free of her debt. Krogstad enters next, hoping to salvage his position at the bank by speaking to Torvald. After Krogstad leaves, Nora is able to talk Torvald into giving Mrs. Linde a position at the bank. Torvald, Dr. Rank, and Mrs. Linde leave, and Nora visits with her three children. Krogstad returns with a threat: Nora must get Torvald to keep Krogstad’s position at the bank, or Krogstad will reveal Nora’s deception and forgery. Upon Torvald’s return, Nora questions him about Krogstad’s past, and Torvald explains that Krogstad lost his own reputation due to forgery. Declaring that such a lie “infects the whole life of a home,” Helmer returns to his study, leaving Nora anxious but determined.
From the beginning of Act I, Torvald calls Nora several pet names. What do these names suggest about Torvald’s perception of his wife and his marriage?
Compare Nora’s and Kristine’s lives since marriage. Who is better off? Explain.
What might be the link between Nora’s “contraband” macaroons and her “huge desire to say – to hell and be damned?”
What crime has Nora committed?
Do Nora’s motives for committing the crime excuse her in some way?
What does Nora’s tree decorating and chattering at the end of Act I reveal about her character?
The curtain rises on the same room the next day, which is Christmas. Nora paces frantically, anxious that Krogstad will return to reveal her forgery to Torvald. The nurse enters with a box of masquerade clothes for the next evening’s festivities, and Nora questions her about children who grow up without mothers. Kristine Linde enters, and as she helps Nora repair her masquerade dress, Nora confides in her friend once again. Assuring Kristine that she did not get the money from Dr. Rank, Nora asks Mrs. Linde to play with the children while she speaks to Torvald. Promising “to scamper about and do tricks” if only Torvald would give in, Nora asks her husband to keep Krogstad at the bank. Reminding her that rumors would spread about his wife’s influence, Torvald denies Nora’s request. When she says his concerns about propriety are “petty,” Torvald becomes incensed and sends Krogstad’s termination letter to his home. Dr. Rank confides to Nora that he is dying and that he has loved her for years. Unable to ask the doctor for help after his admission, Nora asks for a lamp to be brought in. Krogstad, having received his termination, returns to threaten Nora again, and the two admit that though they have both considered suicide, neither can brave it. Krogstad leaves, but his letter revealing all is clearly heard entering the mail slot. Nora keeps Torvald from reading the letter by begging his help with the tarantella dance she will perform at the masquerade. Dancing frenetically as though her “life were at stake,” Nora keeps Torvald occupied re-teaching her the dance. But tomorrow night, she promises him, “then you’ll be free.”
When Nora sees the box of masquerade clothes, she wants to “rip them in a million pieces!” What does Ibsen symbolize with this characterization?
Discuss the foreshadowing in Nora’s conversation with Anne-Marie.
Why does Torvald make such a decisive show of mailing the letter firing Krogstad against Nora’s pleas?
After Dr. Rank professes his love, Nora demands the lamp be brought in. Why? Is this light real or artificial? What might Ibsen be suggesting about truth and light in the Helmer’s household?
Some histories of the tarantella dance explain that it is used to fight off the venomous effects of a spider bite. Other interpretations suggest it represents a woman’s frustration in oppression. Which of these explanations best fits Nora’s violent practice at the end of Act II? Might both apply? Explain.
The act opens, once again, in the Helmer’s living room, where Kristine Linde awaits the Helmers’ return from the party upstairs. Nora has just danced the tarantella. As Mrs. Linde waits, Krogstad arrives at her request. Kristine asks Krogstad to give them a second chance at a relationship. Krogstad agrees, promising to retrieve his letter of revelation, but Kristine convinces him to let the truth come to light for the good of both Nora and Torvald. The Helmers arrive from the party, Kristine leaves, and Torvald’s amorous mood is interrupted by a visit from Dr. Rank, who leaves his calling card marked by the black cross that announces his impending death. Helmer tells Nora that he has often wished for some danger to befall her so that he can rescue her, and Nora seizes this opportunity to encourage Torvald to read Krogstad’s letter. Torvald reads it and immediately chastises Nora, claiming she has wrecked his happiness and ruined his future. Torvald explains that Nora can stay in the house but will be unfit to raise the children. “From now on,” Torvald claims, “happiness doesn’t matter; all that matters is . . . the appearance.” When a letter arrives including Nora’s cancelled debt, Torvald is happy again. But Nora is forever changed by her husband’s reaction, and after removing her masquerade costume, she sits down with Torvald to share the first serious conversation of their eight year marriage. Declaring she has been “wronged greatly” by both her father and her husband, Nora compares her existence in their homes to a doll in a doll house. When Torvald declares his wife cannot leave because her husband and children are her “most sacred duties,” Nora responds with “I have other duties equally sacred. . . .Before all else, I’m a human being.” Nora is determined to remain strangers unless “the greatest miracle of all” could happen – the ability to live together in a “true marriage.” Nora departs, and the audience is left with the sound of a door slamming shut.
Why is Kristine willing to “risk everything” for Krogstad?
Why does Kristine encourage Krogstad to let Torvald read the letter revealing Nora’s deception?
Dr. Rank suggests Nora should go to the next masquerade dressed as “Charmed Life,” and that she should dress “just as she looks every day.” What is the implication about Nora’s daily life? Is it charmed? Or is the charm a masquerade? Explain.
Discuss the irony in Torvald’s accusation that Nora has played with him “like a puppet.”
Helmer’s pronouncement that “before all else, (Nora is) a wife and mother” is contradicted by Nora’s “before all else, I’m a human being.” Is this issue significant today, or is it only a sign of Ibsen’s time? Explain.
Discuss Nora’s decision to leave her family. Is it truly the only way she can reclaim her identity and humanity?
The last sound the audience hears is the door slamming shut after Nora’s departure. Examine the theatrical, literary, and historical significance of this stage device.
A promotional trailer for a stage production of Ibsen's A Doll's House. Performed by Digital Theatre.
The LibriVox Project's version of Ibsen's A Doll's House.
The BBC's 1992 version of Ibsen's A Doll's House.
A 1973 film version of Ibsen's A Doll's House.
Sommer's World Literature to go created a 9 minute version of Ibsen's A Doll's house.
Your opinion counts!
Write a "series of paragraphs to expressing your opinion", a personal opinion essay, on the following prompt:
The world you live in allows you to be an individual.
The Writing page has an Opinion Essay planner.
Make sure you have good transitions between your paragraphs.
Use a peer editor to review your draft. Review notes on the writing process.
Read the rubric.
Please use MLA format. YOU CAN USE PERSONAL PRONOUNS! I'm asking for your opinion!
Submit this assignment to Turnitin and Google Classroom.
Series of Paragraphs to Express an Opinion