Comparative Essay (extensive)
jessiebear932HENRIK IBSEN (1828–1906)
CHARACTERS
TORVALD HELMER, a lawyer |
THE HELMERS’ THREE SMALL CHILDREN |
NORA, his wife |
ANNE-MARIE, their nurse |
DR. RANK |
HELENE, a maid |
MRS. LINDE |
A DELIVERY BOY |
NILS KROGSTAD, a bank clerk |
|
The action takes place in HELMER’S residence.
ACT I
A comfortable room, tastefully but not expensively furnished. A door to the right in the back wall leads to the entryway; another to the left leads toHELMER’S study. Between these doors, a piano. Midway in the left-hand wall a door, and further back a window. Near the window a round table with an armchair and a small sofa. In the right-hand wall, toward the rear, a door, and nearer the foreground a porcelain stove with two armchairs and a rocking chair beside it. Between the stove and the side door, a small table. Engravings on the walls. An etagère with china figures and other small art objects; a small bookcase with richly bound books; the floor carpeted; a fire burning in the stove. It is a winter day.
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A bell rings in the entryway; shortly after we hear the door being unlocked. NORA comes into the room, humming happily to herself; she is wearing street clothes and carries an armload of packages, which she puts down on the table to the right. She has left the hall door open; and through it a DELIVERY BOY is seen, holding a Christmas tree and a basket, which he gives to the MAID who let them in.
NORA: Hide the tree well, Helene. The children mustn’t get a glimpse of it till this evening, after it’s trimmed. [To the DELIVERY BOY, taking out her purse.] How much?
DELIVERY BOY: Fifty, ma’am.
NORA: There’s a crown. No, keep the change. [The BOY thanks her and leaves. NORAshuts the door. She laughs softly to herself while taking off her street things. Drawing a bag of macaroons from her pocket, she eats a couple, then steals over and listens at her husband’s study door.] Yes, he’s home. [Hums again as she moves to the table right.]
HELMER: [From the study.] Is that my little lark twittering out there?
NORA: [Busy opening some packages.] Yes, it is.
HELMER: Is that my squirrel rummaging around?
NORA: Yes!
HELMER: When did my squirrel get in?
NORA: Just now. [Putting the macaroon bag in her pocket and wiping her mouth.] Do come in, Torvald, and see what I’ve bought.
HELMER: Can’t be disturbed. [After a moment he opens the door and peers in, pen in hand.] Bought, you say? All that there? Has the little spendthrift been out throwing money around again?
NORA: Oh, but Torvald, this year we really should let ourselves go a bit. It’s the first Christmas we haven’t had to economize.
HELMER: But you know we can’t go squandering.
NORA: Oh yes, Torvald, we can squander a little now. Can’t we? Just a tiny, wee bit. Now that you’ve got a big salary and are going to make piles and piles of money.
HELMER: Yes—starting New Year’s. But then it’s a full three months till the raise comes through.
NORA: Pooh! We can borrow that long.
HELMER: Nora! [Goes over and playfully takes her by the ear.] Are your scatterbrains off again? What if today I borrowed a thousand crowns, and you squandered them over Christmas week, and then on New Year’s Eve a roof tile fell on my head, and I lay there—
NORA: [Putting her hand on his mouth.] Oh! Don’t say such things!
HELMER: Yes, but what if it happened—then what?
NORA: If anything so awful happened, then it just wouldn’t matter if I had debts or not.
HELMER: Well, but the people I’d borrowed from?
NORA: Them? Who cares about them! They’re strangers.
HELMER: Nora, Nora, how like a woman! No, but seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that. No debts! Never borrow! Something of freedom’s lost—and something of beauty, too—from a home that’s founded on borrowing and debt. We’ve made a brave stand up to now, the two of us; and we’ll go right on like that the little while we have to.
NORA: [Going toward the stove.] Yes, whatever you say, Torvald.
HELMER: [Following her.] Now, now, the little lark’s wings mustn’t droop. Come on, don’t be a sulky squirrel. [Taking out his wallet.] Nora, guess what I have here.
NORA: [Turning quickly.] Money!
HELMER: There, see. [Hands her some notes.] Good grief, I know how costs go up in a house at Christmastime.
NORA: Ten—twenty—thirty—forty. Oh, thank you, Torvald; I can manage no end on this.
HELMER: You really will have to.
NORA: Oh yes, I promise I will. But come here so I can show you everything I bought. And so cheap! Look, new clothes for Ivar here—and a sword. Here a horse and a trumpet for Bob. And a doll and a doll’s bed here for Emmy; they’re nothing much, but she’ll tear them to bits in no time anyway. And here I have dress material and handkerchiefs for the maids. Old Anne-Marie really deserves something more.
HELMER: And what’s in that package there?
NORA: [With a cry.] Torvald, no! You can’t see that till tonight!
HELMER: I see. But tell me now, you little prodigal, what have you thought of for yourself?
NORA: For myself? Oh, I don’t want anything at all.
HELMER: Of course you do. Tell me just what—within reason—you’d most like to have.
NORA: I honestly don’t know. Oh, listen, Torvald—
HELMER: Well?
NORA: [Fumbling at his coat buttons, without looking at him.] If you want to give me something, then maybe you could—you could—
HELMER: Come, on, out with it.
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NORA: [Hurriedly.] You could give me money, Torvald. No more than you think you can spare; then one of these days I’ll buy something with it.
HELMER: But Nora—
NORA: Oh, please, Torvald darling, do that! I beg you, please. Then I could hang the bills in pretty gilt paper on the Christmas tree. Wouldn’t that be fun?
HELMER: What are those little birds called that always fly through their fortunes?
NORA: Oh yes, spendthrifts; I know all that. But let’s do as I say, Torvald; then I’ll have time to decide what I really need most. That’s very sensible, isn’t it?
HELMER: [Smiling.] Yes, very—that is, if you actually hung onto the money I give you, and you actually used it to buy yourself something. But it goes for the house and for all sorts of foolish things, and then I only have to lay out some more.
NORA: Oh, but Torvald—
HELMER: Don’t deny it, my dear little Nora. [Putting his arm around her waist.] Spendthrifts are sweet, but they use up a frightful amount of money. It’s incredible what it costs a man to feed such birds.
NORA: Oh, how can you say that! Really, I save everything I can.
HELMER: [Laughing.] Yes, that’s the truth. Everything you can. But that’s nothing at all.
NORA: [Humming, with a smile of quiet satisfaction.] Hm, if you only knew what expenses we larks and squirrels have, Torvald.
HELMER: You’re an odd little one. Exactly the way your father was. You’re never at a loss for scaring up money; but the moment you have it, it runs right out through your fingers; you never know what you’ve done with it. Well, one takes you as you are. It’s deep in your blood. Yes, these things are hereditary, Nora.
NORA: Ah, I could wish I’d inherited many of Papa’s qualities.
HELMER: And I couldn’t wish you anything but just what you are, my sweet little lark. But wait; it seems to me you have a very—what should I call it?—a very suspicious look today—
NORA: I do?
HELMER: You certainly do. Look me straight in the eye.
NORA: [Looking at him.] Well?
HELMER: [Shaking an admonitory finger.] Surely my sweet tooth hasn’t been running riot in town today, has she?
NORA: No. Why do you imagine that?
HELMER: My sweet tooth really didn’t make a little detour through the confectioner’s?
NORA: No, I assure you, Torvald—
HELMER: Hasn’t nibbled some pastry?
NORA: No, not at all.
HELMER: Not even munched a macaroon or two?
NORA: No, Torvald, I assure you, really—
HELMER: There, there now. Of course I’m only joking.
NORA: [Going to the table, right.] You know I could never think of going against you.
HELMER: No, I understand that; and you have given me your word. [Going over to her.] Well, you keep your little Christmas secrets to yourself, Nora darling. I expect they’ll come to light this evening, when the tree is lit.
NORA: Did you remember to ask Dr. Rank?
HELMER: No. But there’s no need for that; it’s assumed he’ll be dining with us. All the same, I’ll ask him when he stops by here this morning. I’ve ordered some fine wine. Nora, you can’t imagine how I’m looking forward to this evening.
NORA: So am I. And what fun for the children, Torvald!
HELMER: Ah, it’s so gratifying to know that one’s gotten a safe, secure job, and with a comfortable salary. It’s a great satisfaction, isn’t it?
NORA: Oh, it’s wonderful!
HELMER: Remember last Christmas? Three whole weeks before, you shut yourself in every evening till long after midnight, making flowers for the Christmas tree, and all the other decorations to surprise us. Ugh, that was the dullest time I’ve ever lived through.
NORA: It wasn’t at all dull for me.
HELMER: [Smiling.] But the outcome was pretty sorry, Nora.
NORA: Oh, don’t tease me with that again. How could I help it that the cat came in and tore everything to shreds.
HELMER: No, poor thing, you certainly couldn’t. You wanted so much to please us all, and that’s what counts. But it’s just as well that the hard times are past.
NORA: Yes, it’s really wonderful.
HELMER: Now I don’t have to sit here alone, boring myself, and you don’t have to tire your precious eyes and your fair little delicate hands—
NORA: [Clapping her hands.] No, is it really true, Torvald, I don’t have to? Oh, how wonderfully lovely to hear! [Taking his arm.] Now I’ll tell you just how I’ve thought we should plan things. Right after Christmas—[The doorbell rings.] Oh, the bell. [Straightening the room up a bit.] Somebody would have to come. What a bore!
HELMER: I’m not at home to visitors, don’t forget.
MAID: [From the hall doorway.] Ma’am, a lady to see you—
NORA: All right, let her come in.
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MAID: [To HELMER.] And the doctor’s just come too.
HELMER: Did he go right to my study?
MAID: Yes, he did.
[HELMER goes into his room. The MAID shows in MRS. LINDE, dressed in traveling clothes, and shuts the door after her.]
MRS. LINDE: [In a dispirited and somewhat hesitant voice.] Hello, Nora.
NORA: [Uncertain.] Hello—
MRS. LINDE: You don’t recognize me.
NORA: No, I don’t know—but wait, I think—[Exclaiming.] What! Kristine! Is it really you?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, it’s me.
NORA: Kristine! To think I didn’t recognize you. But then, how could I? [More quietly.] How you’ve changed, Kristine!
MRS. LINDE: Yes, no doubt I have. In nine—ten long years.
NORA: Is it so long since we met! Yes, it’s all of that. Oh, these last eight years have been a happy time, believe me. And so now you’ve come in to town, too. Made the long trip in the winter. That took courage.
MRS. LINDE: I just got here by ship this morning.
NORA: To enjoy yourself over Christmas, of course. Oh, how lovely! Yes, enjoy ourselves, we’ll do that. But take your coat off. You’re not still cold? [Helping her.] There now, let’s get cozy here by the stove. No, the easy chair there! I’ll take the rocker here. [Seizing her hands.] Yes, now you have your old look again; it was only in that first moment. You’re a bit more pale, Kristine—and maybe a bit thinner.
MRS. LINDE: And much, much older, Nora.
NORA: Yes, perhaps a bit older; a tiny, tiny bit; not much at all. [Stopping short; suddenly serious.] Oh, but thoughtless me, to sit here, chattering away. Sweet, good Kristine, can you forgive me?
MRS. LINDE: What do you mean, Nora?
NORA: [Softly.] Poor Kristine, you’ve become a widow.
MRS. LINDE: Yes, three years ago.
NORA: Oh, I knew it, of course; I read it in the papers. Oh, Kristine, you must believe me; I often thought of writing you then, but I kept postponing it, and something always interfered.
MRS. LINDE: Nora dear, I understand completely.
NORA: No, it was awful of me, Kristine. You poor thing, how much you must have gone through. And he left you nothing?
MRS. LINDE: No.
NORA: And no children?
MRS. LINDE: No.
NORA: Nothing at all, then?
MRS. LINDE: Not even a sense of loss to feed on.
NORA: [Looking incredulously at her.] But Kristine, how could that be?
MRS. LINDE: [Smiling wearily and smoothing her hair.] Oh, sometimes it happens, Nora.
NORA: So completely alone. How terribly hard that must be for you. I have three lovely children. You can’t see them now; they’re out with the maid. But now you must tell me everything—
MRS. LINDE: No, no, no, tell me about yourself.
NORA: No, you begin. Today I don’t want to be selfish. I want to think only of you today. But there is something I must tell you. Did you hear of the wonderful luck we had recently?
MRS. LINDE: No, what’s that?
NORA: My husband’s been made manager in the bank, just think!
MRS. LINDE: Your husband? How marvelous!
NORA: Isn’t it? Being a lawyer is such an uncertain living, you know, especially if one won’t touch any cases that aren’t clean and decent. And of course Torvald would never do that, and I’m with him completely there. Oh, we’re simply delighted, believe me! He’ll join the bank right after New Year’s and start getting a huge salary and lots of commissions. From now on we can live quite differently—just as we want. Oh, Kristine, I feel so light and happy! Won’t it be lovely to have stacks of money and not a care in the world?
MRS. LINDE: Well, anyway, it would be lovely to have enough for necessities.
NORA: No, not just for necessities, but stacks and stacks of money!
MRS. LINDE: [Smiling.] Nora, Nora, aren’t you sensible yet? Back in school you were such a free spender.
NORA: [With a quiet laugh.] Yes, that’s what Torvald still says. [Shaking her finger.] But “Nora, Nora” isn’t as silly as you all think. Really, we’ve been in no position for me to go squandering. We’ve had to work, both of us.
MRS. LINDE: You too?
NORA: Yes, at odd jobs—needlework, crocheting, embroidery, and such—[Casually.] and other things too. You remember that Torvald left the department when we were married? There was no chance of promotion in his office, and of course he needed to earn more money. But that first year he drove himself terribly. He took on all kinds of extra work that kept him going morning and night. It wore him down, and then he fell deathly ill. The doctors said it was essential for him to travel south.
MRS. LINDE: Yes, didn’t you spend a whole year in Italy?
NORA: That’s right. It wasn’t easy to get away, you know. Ivar had just been born. But of course we had to go. Oh, that was a beautiful trip, and it saved Torvald’s life. But it cost a frightful sum, Kristine.
MRS. LINDE: I can well imagine.
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NORA: Four thousand, eight hundred crowns it cost. That’s really a lot of money.
MRS. LINDE: But it’s lucky you had it when you needed it.
NORA: Well, as it was, we got it from Papa.
MRS. LINDE: I see. It was just about the time your father died.
NORA: Yes, just about then. And, you know, I couldn’t make that trip out to nurse him. I had to stay here, expecting Ivar any moment, and with my poor sick Torvald to care for. Dearest Papa, I never saw him again, Kristine. Oh, that was the worst time I’ve known in all my marriage.
MRS. LINDE: I know how you loved him. And then you went off to Italy?
NORA: Yes. We had the means now, and the doctors urged us. So we left a month after.
MRS. LINDE: And your husband came back completely cured?
NORA: Sound as a drum!
MRS. LINDE: But—the doctor?
NORA: Who?
MRS. LINDE: I thought the maid said he was a doctor, the man who came in with me.
NORA: Yes, that was Dr. Rank—but he’s not making a sick call. He’s our closest friend, and he stops by at least once a day. No, Torvald hasn’t had a sick moment since, and the children are fit and strong, and I am, too. [Jumping up and clapping her hands.] Oh, dear God, Kristine, what a lovely thing to live and be happy! But how disgusting of me—I’m talking of nothing but my own affairs. [Sits on a stool close by KRISTINE, arms resting across her knees.] Oh, don’t be angry with me! Tell me, is it really true that you weren’t in love with your husband? Why did you marry him, then?
MRS. LINDE: My mother was still alive, but bedridden and helpless—and I had my two younger brothers to look after. In all conscience, I didn’t think I could turn him down.
NORA: No, you were right there. But was he rich at the time?
MRS. LINDE: He was very well off, I’d say. But the business was shaky, Nora. When he died, it all fell apart, and nothing was left.
NORA: And then—?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, so I had to scrape up a living with a little shop and a little teaching and whatever else I could find. The last three years have been like one endless workday without a rest for me. Now it’s over, Nora. My poor mother doesn’t need me, for she’s passed on. Nor the boys, either; they’re working now and can take care of themselves.
NORA: How free you must feel—
MRS. LINDE: No—only unspeakably empty. Nothing to live for now. [Standing up anxiously.] That’s why I couldn’t take it any longer out in that desolate hole. Maybe here it’ll be easier to find something to do and keep my mind occupied. If I could only be lucky enough to get a steady job, some office work—
NORA: Oh, but Kristine, that’s so dreadfully tiring, and you already look so tired. It would be much better for you if you could go off to a bathing resort.
MRS. LINDE: [Going toward the window.] I have no father to give me travel money, Nora.
NORA: [Rising.] Oh, don’t be angry with me.
MRS. LINDE: [Going to her.] Nora dear, don’t you be angry with me. The worst of my kind of situation is all the bitterness that’s stored away. No one to work for, and yet you’re always having to snap up your opportunities. You have to live; and so you grow selfish. When you told me the happy change in your lot, do you know I was delighted less for your sakes than for mine?
NORA: How so? Oh, I see. You think maybe Torvald could do something for you.
MRS. LINDE: Yes, that’s what I thought.
NORA: And he will, Kristine! Just leave it to me; I’ll bring it up so delicately—find something attractive to humor him with. Oh, I’m so eager to help you.
MRS. LINDE: How very kind of you, Nora, to be so concerned over me—doubly kind, considering you really know so little of life’s burdens yourself.
NORA: I—? I know so little—?
MRS. LINDE: [Smiling.] Well, my heavens—a little needlework and such—Nora, you’re just a child.
NORA: [Tossing her head and pacing the floor.] You don’t have to act so superior.
MRS. LINDE: Oh?
NORA: You’re just like the others. You all think I’m incapable of anything serious—
MRS. LINDE: Come now—
NORA: That I’ve never had to face the raw world.
MRS. LINDE: Nora dear, you’ve just been telling me all your troubles.
NORA: Hm! Trivia! [Quietly.] I haven’t told you the big thing.
MRS. LINDE: Big thing? What do you mean?
NORA: You look down on me so, Kristine, but you shouldn’t. You’re proud that you worked so long and hard for your mother.
MRS. LINDE: I don’t look down on a soul. But it is true: I’m proud—and happy, too—to think it was given to me to make my mother’s last days almost free of care.
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NORA: And you’re also proud thinking of what you’ve done for your brothers.
MRS. LINDE: I feel I’ve a right to be.
NORA: I agree. But listen to this, Kristine—I’ve also got something to be proud and happy for.
MRS. LINDE: I don’t doubt it. But whatever do you mean?
NORA: Not so loud. What if Torvald heard! He mustn’t, not for anything in the world. Nobody must know, Kristine. No one but you.
MRS. LINDE: But what is it, then?
NORA: Come here. [Drawing her down beside her on the sofa.] It’s true—I’ve also got something to be proud and happy for. I’m the one who saved Torvald’s life.
MRS. LINDE: Saved—? Saved how?
NORA: I told you about the trip to Italy. Torvald never would have lived if he hadn’t gone south—
MRS. LINDE: Of course; your father gave you the means—
NORA: [Smiling.] That’s what Torvald and all the rest think, but—
MRS. LINDE: But—?
NORA: Papa didn’t give us a pin. I was the one who raised the money.
MRS. LINDE: You? That whole amount?
NORA: Four thousand, eight hundred crowns. What do you say to that?
MRS. LINDE: But Nora, how was it possible? Did you win the lottery?
NORA: [Disdainfully.] The lottery? Pooh! No art to that.
MRS. LINDE: But where did you get it from then?
NORA: [Humming, with a mysterious smile.] Hmm, tra-la-la-la.
MRS. LINDE: Because you couldn’t have borrowed it.
NORA: No? Why not?
MRS. LINDE: A wife can’t borrow without her husband’s consent.
NORA: [Tossing her head.] Oh, but a wife with a little business sense, a wife who knows how to manage—
MRS. LINDE: Nora, I simply don’t understand—
NORA: You don’t have to. Whoever said I borrowed the money? I could have gotten it other ways. [Throwing herself back on the sofa.] I could have gotten it from some admirer or other. After all, a girl with my ravishing appeal—
MRS. LINDE: You lunatic.
NORA: I’ll bet you’re eaten up with curiosity, Kristine.
MRS. LINDE: Now listen here, Nora—you haven’t done something indiscreet?
NORA: [Sitting up again.] Is it indiscreet to save your husband’s life?
MRS. LINDE: I think it’s indiscreet that without his knowledge you—
NORA: But that’s the point: he mustn’t know! My Lord, can’t you understand? He mustn’t ever know the close call he had. It was to me the doctors came to say his life was in danger—that nothing could save him but a stay in the south. Didn’t I try strategy then! I began talking about how lovely it would be for me to travel abroad like other young wives; I begged and I cried; I told him please to remember my condition, to be kind and indulge me; and then I dropped a hint that he could easily take out a loan. But at that, Kristine, he nearly exploded. He said I was frivolous, and it was his duty as man of the house not to indulge me in whims and fancies—as I think he called them. Aha, I thought, now you’ll just have to be saved—and that’s when I saw my chance.
MRS. LINDE: And your father never told Torvald the money wasn’t from him?
NORA: No, never. Papa died right about then. I’d considered bringing him into my secret and begging him never to tell. But he was too sick at the time—and then, sadly, it didn’t matter.
MRS. LINDE: And you’ve never confided in your husband since?
NORA: For heaven’s sake, no! Are you serious? He’s so strict on that subject. Besides—Torvald, with all his masculine pride—how painfully humiliating for him if he ever found out he was in debt to me. That would just ruin our relationship. Our beautiful, happy home would never be the same.
MRS. LINDE: Won’t you ever tell him?
NORA: [Thoughtfully.] Yes—maybe sometime years from now, when I’m no longer so attractive. Don’t laugh! I only mean when Torvald loves me less than now, when he stops enjoying my dancing and dressing up and reciting for him. Then it might be wise to have something in reserve—[Breaking off.] How ridiculous! That’ll never happen—Well, Kristine, what do you think of my big secret? I’m capable of something too, hm? You can imagine, of course, how this thing hangs over me. It really hasn’t been easy meeting the payments on time. In the business world there’s what they call quarterly interest and what they call amortization, and these are always so terribly hard to manage. I’ve had to skimp a little here and there, wherever I could, you know. I could hardly spare anything from my house allowance, because Torvald has to live well. I couldn’t let the children go poorly dressed; whatever I got for them, I felt I had to use up completely—the darlings!
MRS. LINDE: Poor Nora, so it had to come out of your own budget, then?
NORA: Yes, of course. But I was the one most responsible, too. Every time Torvald gave me money for new clothes and such, I never used more than half; always bought the simplest, cheapest outfits. It was a godsend that everything looks so well on me that Torvald never noticed. But it did weigh me down at times, Kristine. It is such a joy to wear fine things. You understand.
MRS. LINDE: Oh, of course.
NORA: And then I found other ways of making money. Last winter I was lucky enough to get a lot of copying to do. I locked myself in and sat writing every evening till late in the night. Ah, I was tired so often, dead tired. But still it was wonderful fun, sitting and working like that, earning money. It was almost like being a man.
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MRS. LINDE: But how much have you paid off this way so far?
NORA: That’s hard to say, exactly. These accounts, you know, aren’t easy to figure. I only know that I’ve paid out all I could scrape together. Time and again I haven’t known where to turn. [Smiling.] Then I’d sit here dreaming of a rich old gentleman who had fallen in love with me—
MRS. LINDE: What! Who is he?
NORA: Oh, really! And that he’d died, and when his will was opened, there in big letters it said, “All my fortune shall be paid over in cash, immediately, to that enchanting Mrs. Nora Helmer.”
MRS. LINDE: But Nora dear—who was this gentleman?
NORA: Good grief, can’t you understand? The old man never existed; that was only something I’d dream up time and again whenever I was at my wits’ end for money. But it makes no difference now; the old fossil can go where he pleases for all I care; I don’t need him or his will—because now I’m free. [Jumping up.] Oh, how lovely to think of that, Kristine! Carefree! To know you’re carefree, utterly carefree; to be able to romp and play with the children, and to keep up a beautiful, charming home—everything just the way Torvald likes it! And think, spring is coming, with big blue skies. Maybe we can travel a little then. Maybe I’ll see the ocean again. Oh yes, it is so marvelous to live and be happy!
[The front doorbell rings.]
MRS. LINDE: [Rising.] There’s the bell. It’s probably best that I go.
NORA: No, stay. No one’s expected. It must be for Torvald.
MAID: [From the hall doorway.] Excuse me, ma’am—there’s a gentleman here to see Mr. Helmer, but I didn’t know—since the doctor’s with him—
NORA: Who is the gentleman?
KROGSTAD: [From the doorway.] It’s me, Mrs. Helmer.
[MRS. LINDE starts and turns away toward the window.]
NORA: [Stepping toward him, tense, her voice a whisper.] You? What is it? Why do you want to speak to my husband?
KROGSTAD: Bank business—after a fashion. I have a small job in the investment bank, and I hear now your husband is going to be our chief—
NORA: In other words, it’s—
KROGSTAD: Just dry business, Mrs. Helmer. Nothing but that.
NORA: Yes, then please be good enough to step into the study. [She nods indifferently as she sees him out by the hall door, then returns and begins stirring up the stove.]
MRS. LINDE: Nora—who was that man?
NORA: That was a Mr. Krogstad—a lawyer.
MRS. LINDE: Then it really was him.
NORA: Do you know that person?
MRS. LINDE: I did once—many years ago. For a time he was a law clerk in our town.
NORA: Yes, he’s been that.
MRS. LINDE: How he’s changed.
NORA: I understand he had a very unhappy marriage.
MRS. LINDE: He’s a widower now.
NORA: With a number of children. There now, it’s burning. [She closes the stove door and moves the rocker a bit to one side.]
MRS. LINDE: They say he has a hand in all kinds of business.
NORA: Oh? That may be true; I wouldn’t know. But let’s not think about business. It’s so dull.
[DR. RANK enters from HELMER’S study.]
RANK: [Still in the doorway.] No, no, really—I don’t want to intrude, I’d just as soon talk a little while with your wife. [Shuts the door, then notices MRS. LINDE.] Oh, beg pardon. I’m intruding here too.
NORA: No, not at all. [Introducing him.] Dr. Rank, Mrs. Linde.
RANK: Well now, that’s a name much heard in this house. I believe I passed the lady on the stairs as I came.
MRS. LINDE: Yes, I take the stairs very slowly. They’re rather hard on me.
RANK: Uh-hm, some touch of internal weakness?
MRS. LINDE: More overexertion, I’d say.
RANK: Nothing else? Then you’re probably here in town to rest up in a round of parties?
MRS. LINDE: I’m here to look for work.
RANK: Is that the best cure for overexertion?
MRS. LINDE: One has to live, Doctor.
RANK: Yes, there’s a common prejudice to that effect.
NORA: Oh, come on, Dr. Rank—you really do want to live yourself.
RANK: Yes, I really do. Wretched as I am, I’ll gladly prolong my torment indefinitely. All my patients feel like that. And it’s quite the same, too, with the morally sick. Right at this moment there’s one of those moral invalids in there with Helmer—
MRS. LINDE: [Softly.] Ah!
NORA: Who do you mean?
RANK: Oh, it’s a lawyer, Krogstad, a type you wouldn’t know. His character is rotten to the root—but even he began chattering all-importantly about how he had tolive.
NORA: Oh? What did he want to talk to Torvald about?
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RANK: I really don’t know. I only heard something about the bank.
NORA: I didn’t know that Krog—that this man Krogstad had anything to do with the bank.
RANK: Yes, he’s gotten some kind of berth down there. [To MRS. LINDE.] I don’t know if you also have, in your neck of the woods, a type of person who scuttles about breathlessly, sniffing out hints of moral corruption, and then maneuvers his victim into some sort of key position where he can keep an eye on him. It’s the healthy these days that are out in the cold.
MRS. LINDE: All the same, it’s the sick who most need to be taken in.
RANK: [With a shrug.] Yes, there we have it. That’s the concept that’s turning society into a sanatorium.
[NORA, lost in her thoughts, breaks out into quiet laughter and claps her hands.]
RANK: Why do you laugh at that? Do you have any real idea of what society is?
NORA: What do I care about dreary old society? I was laughing at something quite different—something terribly funny. Tell me, Doctor—is everyone who works in the bank dependent now on Torvald?
RANK: Is that what you find so terribly funny?
NORA: [Smiling and humming.] Never mind, never mind [Pacing the floor.] Yes, that’s really immensely amusing: that we—that Torvald has so much power now over all those people. [Taking the bag out of her pocket.] Dr. Rank, a little macaroon on that?
RANK: See here, macaroons! I thought they were contraband here.
NORA: Yes, but these are some that Kristine gave me.
MRS. LINDE: What? I—?
NORA: Now, now, don’t be afraid. You couldn’t possibly know that Torvald had forbidden them. You see, he’s worried they’ll ruin my teeth. But hmp! Just this once! Isn’t that so, Dr. Rank? Help yourself! [Puts a macaroon in his mouth.] And you too, Kristine. And I’ll also have one, only a little one—or two, at the most. [Walking about again.] Now I’m really tremendously happy. Now there’s just one last thing in the world that I have an enormous desire to do.
RANK: Well! And what’s that?
NORA: It’s something I have such a consuming desire to say so Torvald could hear.
RANK: And why can’t you say it?
NORA: I don’t dare. It’s quite shocking.
MRS. LINDE: Shocking?
RANK: Well, then it isn’t advisable. But in front of us you certainly can. What do you have such a desire to say so Torvald could hear?
NORA: I have such a huge desire to say—to hell and be damned!
RANK: Are you crazy?
MRS. LINDE: My goodness, Nora!
RANK: Go on, say it. Here he is.
NORA: [Hiding the macaroon bag.] Shh, shh, shh!
[HELMER comes in from his study, hat in hand, overcoat over his arm.]
NORA: [Going toward him.] Well, Torvald dear, are you through with him?
HELMER: Yes, he just left.
NORA: Let me introduce you—this is Kristine, who’s arrived here in town.
HELMER: Kristine—? I’m sorry, but I don’t know—
NORA: Mrs. Linde, Torvald dear. Mrs. Kristine Linde.
HELMER: Of course. A childhood friend of my wife’s, no doubt?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, we knew each other in those days.
NORA: And just think, she made the long trip down here in order to talk with you.
HELMER: What’s this?
MRS. LINDE: Well, not exactly—
NORA: You see, Kristine is remarkably clever in office work, and so she’s terribly eager to come under a capable man’s supervision and add more to what she already knows—
HELMER: Very wise, Mrs. Linde.
NORA: And then when she heard that you’d become a bank manager—the story was wired out to the papers—then she came in as fast as she could and—Really, Torvald, for my sake you can do a little something for Kristine, can’t you?
HELMER: Yes, it’s not at all impossible. Mrs. Linde, I suppose you’re a widow?
MRS. LINDE: Yes.
HELMER: Any experience in office work?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, a good deal.
HELMER: Well, it’s quite likely that I can make an opening for you—
NORA: [Clapping her hands.] You see, you see!
HELMER: You’ve come at a lucky moment, Mrs. Linde.
MRS. LINDE: Oh, how can I thank you?
HELMER: Not necessary. [Putting his overcoat on.] But today you’ll have to excuse me—
RANK: Wait, I’ll go with you. [He fetches his coat from the hall and warms it at the stove.]
NORA: Don’t stay out long, dear.
HELMER: An hour; no more.
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NORA: Are you going too, Kristine?
MRS. LINDE: [Putting on her winter garments.] Yes, I have to see about a room now.
HELMER: Then perhaps we can all walk together.
NORA: [Helping her.] What a shame we’re so cramped here, but it’s quite impossible for us to—
MRS. LINDE: Oh, don’t even think of it! Good-bye, Nora dear, and thanks for everything.
NORA: Good-bye for now. Of course you’ll be back this evening. And you too, Dr. Rank. What? If you’re well enough? Oh, you’ve got to be! Wrap up tight now.
[In a ripple of small talk the company moves out into the hall; children’s voices are heard outside on the steps.]
NORA: There they are! There they are! [She runs to open the door. The children come in with their nurse, ANNE-MARIE.] Come in, come in! [Bends down and kisses them.] Oh, you darlings—! Look at them, Kristine. Aren’t they lovely!
RANK: No loitering in the draft here.
HELMER: Come, Mrs. Linde—this place is unbearable now for anyone but mothers.
[DR. RANK, HELMER, and MRS. LINDE go down the stairs. ANNE-MARIE goes into the living room with the children. NORA follows, after closing the hall door.]
NORA: How fresh and strong you look. Oh, such red cheeks you have! Like apples and roses. [The children interrupt her throughout the following.] And it was so much fun? That’s wonderful. Really? You pulled both Emmy and Bob on the sled? Imagine, all together! Yes, you’re a clever boy, Ivar. Oh, let me hold her a bit, Anne-Marie. My sweet little doll baby! [Takes the smallest from the nurse and dances with her.] Yes, yes, Mama will dance with Bob as well. What? Did you throw snowballs? Oh, if I’d only been there! No, don’t bother, Anne-Marie—I’ll undress them myself. Oh yes, let me. It’s such fun. Go in and rest; you look half frozen. There’s hot coffee waiting for you on the stove. [The nurse goes into the room to the left. NORA takes the children’s winter things off, throwing them about, while the children talk to her all at once.] Is that so? A big dog chased you? But it didn’t bite? No, dogs never bite little, lovely doll babies. Don’t peek in the packages, Ivar! What is it? Yes, wouldn’t you like to know. No, no, it’s an ugly something. Well? Shall we play? What shall we play? Hide-and-seek? Yes, let’s play hide-and-seek. Bob must hide first. I must? Yes, let me hide first. [Laughing and shouting, she and the children play in and out of the living room and the adjoining room to the right. At last NORA hides under the table. The children come storming in, search, but cannot find her, then hear her muffled laughter, dash over to the table, lift the cloth up and find her. Wild shouting. She creeps forward as if to scare them. More shouts. Meanwhile, a knock at the hall door; no one has noticed it. Now the door half opens, and KROGSTAD appears. He waits a moment; the game goes on.]
KROGSTAD: Beg pardon, Mrs. Helmer—
NORA: [With a strangled cry, turning and scrambling to her knees.] Oh! What do you want?
KROGSTAD: Excuse me. The outer door was ajar; it must be someone forgot to shut it—
NORA: [Rising.] My husband isn’t home, Mr. Krogstad.
KROGSTAD: I know that.
NORA: Yes—then what do you want here?
KROGSTAD: A word with you.
NORA: With—? [To the children, quietly.] Go in to Anne-Marie. What? No, the strange man won’t hurt Mama. When he’s gone, we’ll play some more. [She leads the children into the room to the left and shuts the door after them. Then, tense and nervous:] You want to speak to me?
KROGSTAD: Yes, I want to.
NORA: Today? But it’s not yet the first of the month—
KROGSTAD: No, it’s Christmas Eve. It’s going to be up to you how merry a Christmas you have.
NORA: What is it you want? Today I absolutely can’t—
KROGSTAD: We won’t talk about that till later. This is something else. You do have a moment to spare, I suppose?
NORA: Oh yes, of course—I do, except—
KROGSTAD: Good. I was sitting over at Olsen’s Restaurant when I saw your husband go down the street—
NORA: Yes?
KROGSTAD: With a lady.
NORA: Yes. So?
KROGSTAD: If you’ll pardon my asking: wasn’t that lady a Mrs. Linde?
NORA: Yes.
KROGSTAD: Just now come into town?
NORA: Yes, today.
KROGSTAD: She’s a good friend of yours?
NORA: Yes, she is. But I don’t see—
KROGSTAD: I also knew her once.
NORA: I’m aware of that.
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KROGSTAD: Oh? You know all about it. I thought so. Well, then let me ask you short and sweet: is Mrs. Linde getting a job in the bank?
NORA: What makes you think you can cross-examine me, Mr. Krogstad—you, one of my husband’s employees? But since you ask, you might as well know—yes, Mrs. Linde’s going to be taken on at the bank. And I’m the one who spoke for her, Mr. Krogstad. Now you know.
KROGSTAD: So I guessed right.
NORA: [Pacing up and down.] Oh, one does have a tiny bit of influence, I should hope. Just because I am a woman, don’t think it means that—When one has a subordinate position, Mr. Krogstad, one really ought to be careful about pushing somebody who—hm—
KROGSTAD: Who has influence?
NORA: That’s right.
KROGSTAD: [In a different tone.] Mrs. Helmer, would you be good enough to use your influence on my behalf?
NORA: What? What do you mean?
KROGSTAD: Would you please make sure that I keep my subordinate position in the bank?
NORA: What does that mean? Who’s thinking of taking away your position?
KROGSTAD: Oh, don’t play the innocent with me. I’m quite aware that your friend would hardly relish the chance of running into me again; and I’m also aware now whom I can thank for being turned out.
NORA: But I promise you—
KROGSTAD: Yes, yes, yes, to the point: there’s still time, and I’m advising you to use your influence to prevent it.
NORA: But Mr. Krogstad, I have absolutely no influence.
KROGSTAD: You haven’t? I thought you were just saying—
NORA: You shouldn’t take me so literally. I! How can you believe that I have any such influence over my husband?
KROGSTAD: Oh, I’ve known your husband from our student days. I don’t think the great bank manager’s more steadfast than any other married man.
NORA: You speak insolently about my husband, and I’ll show you the door.
KROGSTAD: The lady has spirit.
NORA: I’m not afraid of you any longer. After New Year’s, I’ll soon be done with the whole business.
KROGSTAD: [Restraining himself.] Now listen to me, Mrs. Helmer. If necessary, I’ll fight for my little job in the bank as if it were life itself.
NORA: Yes, so it seems.
KROGSTAD: It’s not just a matter of income; that’s the least of it. It’s something else—All right, out with it! Look, this is the thing. You know, just like all the others, of course, that once, a good many years ago, I did something rather rash.
NORA: I’ve heard rumors to that effect.
KROGSTAD: The case never got into court; but all the same, every door was closed in my face from then on. So I took up those various activities you know about. I had to grab hold somewhere; and I dare say I haven’t been among the worst. But now I want to drop all that. My boys are growing up. For their sakes, I’ll have to win back as much respect as possible here in town. That job in the bank was like the first rung in my ladder. And now your husband wants to kick me right back down in the mud again.
NORA: But for heaven’s sake, Mr. Krogstad, it’s simply not in my power to help you.
KROGSTAD: That’s because you haven’t the will to—but I have the means to make you.
NORA: You certainly won’t tell my husband that I owe you money?
KROGSTAD: Hm—what if I told him that?
NORA: That would be shameful of you. [Nearly in tears.] This secret—my joy and my pride—that he should learn it in such a crude and disgusting way—learn it from you. You’d expose me to the most horrible unpleasantness—
KROGSTAD: Only unpleasantness?
NORA: [Vehemently.] But go on and try. It’ll turn out the worse for you, because then my husband will really see what a crook you are, and then you’ll never be able to hold your job.
KROGSTAD: I asked if it was just domestic unpleasantness you were afraid of?
NORA: If my husband finds out, then of course he’ll pay what I owe at once, and then we’d be through with you for good.
KROGSTAD: [A step closer.] Listen, Mrs. Helmer—you’ve either got a very bad memory, or else no head at all for business. I’d better put you a little more in touch with the facts.
NORA: What do you mean?
KROGSTAD: When your husband was sick, you came to me for a loan of four thousand, eight hundred crowns.
NORA: Where else could I go?
KROGSTAD: I promised to get you that sum—
NORA: And you got it.
KROGSTAD: I promised to get you that sum, on certain conditions. You were so involved in your husband’s illness, and so eager to finance your trip, that I guess you didn’t think out all the details. It might just be a good idea to remind you. I promised you the money on the strength of a note I drew up.
NORA: Yes, and that I signed.
KROGSTAD: Right. But at the bottom I added some lines for your father to guarantee the loan. He was supposed to sign down there.
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NORA: Supposed to? He did sign.
KROGSTAD: I left the date blank. In other words, your father would have dated his signature himself. Do you remember that?
NORA: Yes, I think—
KROGSTAD: Then I gave you the note for you to mail to your father. Isn’t that so?
NORA: Yes.
KROGSTAD: And naturally you sent it at once—because only some five, six days later you brought me the note, properly signed. And with that, the money was yours.
NORA: Well, then; I’ve made my payments regularly, haven’t I?
KROGSTAD: More or less. But—getting back to the point—those were hard times for you then, Mrs. Helmer.
NORA: Yes, they were.
KROGSTAD: Your father was very ill, I believe.
NORA: He was near the end.
KROGSTAD: He died soon after?
NORA: Yes.
KROGSTAD: Tell me, Mrs. Helmer, do you happen to recall the date of your father’s death? The day of the month, I mean.
NORA: Papa died the twenty-ninth of September.
KROGSTAD: That’s quite correct; I’ve already looked into that. And now we come to a curious thing—[Taking out a paper.] which I simply cannot comprehend.
NORA: Curious thing? I don’t know—
KROGSTAD: This is the curious thing: that your father co-signed the note for your loan three days after his death.
NORA: How—? I don’t understand.
KROGSTAD: Your father died the twenty-ninth of September. But look. Here your father dated his signature October second. Isn’t that curious, Mrs. Helmer? [NORAis silent.] Can you explain it to me? [NORA remains silent.] It’s also remarkable that the words “October second” and the year aren’t written in your father’s hand, but rather in one that I think I know. Well, it’s easy to understand. Your father forgot perhaps to date his signature, and then someone or other added it, a bit sloppily, before anyone knew of his death. There’s nothing wrong in that. It all comes down to the signature. And there’s no question about that, Mrs. Helmer. It really was your father who signed his own name here, wasn’t it?
NORA: [After a short silence, throwing her head back and looking squarely at him.] No, it wasn’t. I signed papa’s name.
KROGSTAD: Wait, now—are you fully aware that this is a dangerous confession?
NORA: Why? You’ll soon get your money.
KROGSTAD: Let me ask you a question—why didn’t you send the paper to your father?
NORA: That was impossible. Papa was so sick. If I’d asked him for his signature, I also would have had to tell him what the money was for. But I couldn’t tell him, sick as he was, that my husband’s life was in danger. That was just impossible.
KROGSTAD: Then it would have been better if you’d given up the trip abroad.
NORA: I couldn’t possibly. The trip was to save my husband’s life. I couldn’t give that up.
KROGSTAD: But didn’t you ever consider that this was a fraud against me?
NORA: I couldn’t let myself be bothered by that. You weren’t any concern of mine. I couldn’t stand you, with all those cold complications you made, even though you knew how badly off my husband was.
KROGSTAD: Mrs. Helmer, obviously you haven’t the vaguest idea of what you’ve involved yourself in. But I can tell you this: it was nothing more and nothing worse that I once did—and it wrecked my whole reputation.
NORA: You? Do you expect me to believe that you ever acted bravely to save your wife’s life?
KROGSTAD: Laws don’t inquire into motives.
NORA: Then they must be very poor laws.
KROGSTAD: Poor or not—if I introduce this paper in court, you’ll be judged according to law.
NORA: This I refuse to believe. A daughter hasn’t a right to protect her dying father from anxiety and care? A wife hasn’t a right to save her husband’s life? I don’t know much about laws, but I’m sure that somewhere in the books these things are allowed. And you don’t know anything about it—you who practice the law? You must be an awful lawyer, Mr. Krogstad.
KROGSTAD: Could be. But business—the kind of business we two are mixed up in—don’t you think I know about that? All right. Do what you want now. But I’m telling you this: if I get shoved down a second time, you’re going to keep me company. [He bows and goes out through the hall.]
NORA: [Pensive for a moment, then tossing her head.] Oh, really! Trying to frighten me! I’m not so silly as all that. [Begins gathering up the children’s clothes, but soon stops.] But—? No, but that’s impossible! I did it out of love.
THE CHILDREN: [In the doorway, left.] Mama, that strange man’s gone out the door.
NORA: Yes, yes, I know it. But don’t tell anyone about the strange man. Do you hear? Not even Papa!
THE CHILDREN: No, Mama. But now will you play again?
NORA: No, not now.
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THE CHILDREN: Oh, but Mama, you promised.
NORA: Yes, but I can’t now. Go inside; I have too much to do. Go in, go in, my sweet darlings. [She herds them gently back in the room and shuts the door after them. Settling on the sofa, she takes up a piece of embroidery and makes some stitches, but soon stops abruptly.] No! [Throws the work aside, rises, goes to the hall door and calls out.] Helene! Let me have the tree in here. [Goes to the table, left, opens the table drawer, and stops again.] No, but that’s utterly impossible!
MAID: [With the Christmas tree.] Where should I put it, ma’am?
NORA: There. The middle of the floor.
MAID: Should I bring anything else?
NORA: No, thanks. I have what I need.
[The MAID, who has set the tree down, goes out.]
NORA: [Absorbed in trimming the tree.] Candles here—and flowers here. That terrible creature! Talk, talk, talk! There’s nothing to it at all. The tree’s going to be lovely. I’ll do anything to please you, Torvald. I’ll sing for you, dance for you—
[HELMER comes in from the hall, with a sheaf of papers under his arm.]
NORA: Oh! You’re back so soon?
HELMER: Yes. Has anyone been here?
NORA: Here? No.
HELMER: That’s odd. I saw Krogstad leaving the front door.
NORA: So? Oh yes, that’s true. Krogstad was here a moment.
HELMER: Nora, I can see by your face that he’s been here, begging you to put in a good word for him.
NORA: Yes.
HELMER: And it was supposed to seem like your own idea? You were to hide it from me that he’d been here. He asked you that, too, didn’t he?
NORA: Yes, Torvald, but—
HELMER: Nora, Nora, and you could fall for that? Talk with that sort of person and promise him anything? And then in the bargain, tell me an untruth.
NORA: An untruth—?
HELMER: Didn’t you say that no one had been here? [Wagging his finger.] My little songbird must never do that again. A songbird needs a clean beak to warble with. No false notes. [Putting his arm about her waist.] That’s the way it should be, isn’t it? Yes, I’m sure of it. [Releasing her.] And so, enough of that. [Sitting by the stove.] Ah, how snug and cozy it is here. [Leafing among his papers.]
NORA: [Busy with the tree, after a short pause.] Torvald!
HELMER: Yes.
NORA: I’m so much looking forward to the Stenborgs’ costume party, day after tomorrow.
HELMER: And I can’t wait to see what you’ll surprise me with.
NORA: Oh, that stupid business!
HELMER: What?
NORA: I can’t find anything that’s right. Everything seems so ridiculous, so inane.
HELMER: So my little Nora’s come to that recognition?
NORA: [Going behind his chair, her arms resting on its back.] Are you very busy, Torvald?
HELMER: Oh—
NORA: What papers are those?
HELMER: Bank matters.
NORA: Already?
HELMER: I’ve gotten full authority from the retiring management to make all necessary changes in personnel and procedure. I’ll need Christmas week for that. I want to have everything in order by New Year’s.
NORA: So that was the reason this poor Krogstad—
HELMER: Hm.
NORA: [Still leaning on the chair and slowly stroking the nape of his neck.] If you weren’t so very busy, I would have asked you an enormous favor, Torvald.
HELMER: Let’s hear. What is it?
NORA: You know, there isn’t anyone who has your good taste—and I want so much to look well at the costume party. Torvald, couldn’t you take over and decide what I should be and plan my costume?
HELMER: Ah, is my stubborn little creature calling for a lifeguard?
NORA: Yes, Torvald, I can’t get anywhere without your help.
HELMER: All right—I’ll think it over. We’ll hit on something.
NORA: Oh, how sweet of you. [Goes to the tree again. Pause.] Aren’t the red flowers pretty—? But tell me, was it really such a crime that this Krogstad committed?
HELMER: Forgery. Do you have any idea what that means?
NORA: Couldn’t he have done it out of need?
HELMER: Yes, or thoughtlessness, like so many others. I’m not so heartless that I’d condemn a man categorically for just one mistake.
NORA: No, of course not, Torvald!
HELMER: Plenty of men have redeemed themselves by openly confessing their crimes and taking their punishment.
NORA: Punishment—?
HELMER: But now Krogstad didn’t go that way. He got himself out by sharp practices, and that’s the real cause of his moral breakdown.
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NORA: Do you really think that would—?
HELMER: Just imagine how a man with that sort of guilt in him has to lie and cheat and deceive on all sides, has to wear a mask even with the nearest and dearest he has, even with his own wife and children. And with the children, Nora—that’s where it’s most horrible.
NORA: Why?
HELMER: Because that kind of atmosphere of lies infects the whole life of a home. Every breath the children take in is filled with the germs of something degenerate.
NORA: [Coming closer behind him.] Are you sure of that?
HELMER: Oh, I’ve seen it often enough as a lawyer. Almost everyone who goes bad early in life has a mother who’s a chronic liar.
NORA: Why just—the mother?
HELMER: It’s usually the mother’s influence that’s dominant, but the father’s works in the same way, of course. Every lawyer is quite familiar with it. And still this Krogstad’s been going home year in, year out, poisoning his own children with lies and pretense; that’s why I call him morally lost. [Reaching his hands out toward her.] So my sweet little Nora must promise me never to plead his cause. Your hand on it. Come, come, what’s this? Give me your hand. There, now. All settled. I can tell you it’d be impossible for me to work alongside of him. I literally feel physically revolted when I’m anywhere near such a person.
NORA: [Withdraws her hand and goes to the other side of the Christmas tree.] How hot it is here! And I’ve got so much to do.
HELMER: [Getting up and gathering his papers.] Yes, and I have to think about getting some of these read through before dinner. I’ll think about your costume, too. And something to hang on the tree in gilt paper, I may even see about that. [Putting his hand on her head.] Oh you, my darling little songbird. [He goes into his study and closes the door after him.]
NORA: [Softly, after a silence.] Oh, really! it isn’t so. It’s impossible. It must be impossible.
ANNE-MARIE: [In the doorway, left.] The children are begging so hard to come in to Mama.
NORA: No, no, no, don’t let them in to me! You stay with them, Anne-Marie.
ANNE-MARIE: Of course, ma’am. [Closes the door.]
NORA: [Pale with terror]. Hurt my children—! Poison my home? [A moment’s pause; then she tosses her head.] That’s not true. Never. Never in all the world.
ACT II
Same room. Beside the piano the Christmas tree now stands stripped of ornament, burned-down candle stubs on its ragged branches. NORA’S streetclothes lie on the sofa. NORA, alone in the room, moves restlessly about; at last she stops at the sofa and picks up her coat.
NORA: [Dropping the coat again.] Someone’s coming! [Goes toward the door, listens.] No—there’s no one. Of course—nobody’s coming today, Christmas Day—or tomorrow, either. But maybe—[Opens the door and looks out.] No, nothing in the mailbox. Quite empty. [Coming forward.] What nonsense! He won’t do anything serious. Nothing terrible could happen. It’s impossible. Why, I have three small children.
[ANNE-MARIE, with a large carton, comes in from the room to the left.]
ANNE-MARIE: Well, at last I found the box with the masquerade clothes.
NORA: Thanks. Put it on the table.
ANNE-MARIE: [Does so.] But they’re all pretty much of a mess.
NORA: Ahh! I’d love to rip them in a million pieces!
ANNE-MARIE: Oh, mercy, they can be fixed right up. Just a little patience.
NORA: Yes, I’ll go get Mrs. Linde to help me.
ANNE-MARIE: Out again now? In this nasty weather? Miss Nora will catch cold—get sick.
NORA: Oh, worse things could happen—How are the children?
ANNE-MARIE: The poor mites are playing with their Christmas presents, but—
NORA: Do they ask for me much?
ANNE-MARIE: They’re so used to having Mama around, you know.
NORA: Yes, but Anne-Marie, I can’t be together with them as much as I was.
ANNE-MARIE: Well, small children get used to anything.
NORA: You think so? Do you think they’d forget their mother if she was gone for good?
ANNE-MARIE: Oh, mercy—gone for good!
NORA: Wait, tell me, Anne-Marie—I’ve wondered so often—how could you ever have the heart to give your child over to strangers?
ANNE-MARIE: But I had to, you know, to become little Nora’s nurse.
NORA: Yes, but how could you do it?
ANNE-MARIE: When I could get such a good place? A girl who’s poor and who’s gotten in trouble is glad enough for that. Because that slippery fish, he didn’t do a thing for me, you know.
NORA: But your daughter’s surely forgotten you.
ANNE-MARIE: Oh, she certainly has not. She’s written to me, both when she was confirmed and when she was married.
NORA: [Clasping her about the neck.] You old Anne-Marie, you were a good mother for me when I was little.
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p. 809
ANNE-MARIE: Poor little Nora, with no other mother but me.
NORA: And if the babies didn’t have one, then I know that you’d—What silly talk! [Opening the carton.] Go in to them. Now I’ll have to—Tomorrow you can see how lovely I’ll look.
ANNE-MARIE: Oh, there won’t be anyone at the party as lovely as Miss Nora. [She goes off into the room, left.]
NORA: [Begins unpacking the box, but soon throws it aside.] Oh, if I dared to go out. If only nobody would come. If only nothing would happen here while I’m out. What craziness—nobody’s coming. Just don’t think. This muff—needs a brushing. Beautiful gloves, beautiful gloves. Let it go. Let it go! One, two, three, four, five, six—[With a cry.] Oh, there they are! [Poises to move toward the door, but remains irresolutely standing. MRS. LINDE enters from the hall, where she has removed her street clothes.]
NORA: Oh, it’s you, Kristine. There’s no one else out there? How good that you’ve come.
MRS. LINDE: I hear you were up asking for me.
NORA: Yes, I just stopped by. There’s something you really can help me with. Let’s get settled on the sofa. Look, there’s going to be a costume party tomorrow evening at the Stenborgs’ right above us, and now Torvald wants me to go as a Neapolitan peasant girl and dance the tarantella that I learned in Capri.
MRS. LINDE: Really, are you giving a whole performance?
NORA: Torvald says yes, I should. See, here’s the dress. Torvald had it made for me down there; but now it’s all so tattered that I just don’t know—
MRS. LINDE: Oh, we’ll fix that up in no time. It’s nothing more than the trimmings—they’re a bit loose here and there. Needle and thread? Good, now we have what we need.
NORA: Oh, how sweet of you!
MRS. LINDE: [Sewing.] So you’ll be in disguise tomorrow, Nora. You know what? I’ll stop by then for a moment and have a look at you all dressed up. But listen, I’ve absolutely forgotten to thank you for that pleasant evening yesterday.
NORA: [Getting up and walking about.] I don’t think it was as pleasant as usual yesterday. You should have come to town a bit sooner, Kristine—Yes, Torvald really knows how to give a home elegance and charm.
MRS. LINDE: And you do, too, if you ask me. You’re not your father’s daughter for nothing. But tell me, is Dr. Rank always so down in the mouth as yesterday?
NORA: No, that was quite an exception. But he goes around critically ill all the time—tuberculosis of the spine, poor man. You know, his father was a disgusting thing who kept mistresses and so on—and that’s why the son’s been sickly from birth.
MRS. LINDE: [Lets her sewing fall to her lap.] But my dearest Nora, how do you know about such things?
NORA: [Walking more jauntily.] Hmp! When you’ve had three children, then you’ve had a few visits from—from women who know something of medicine, and they tell you this and that.
MRS. LINDE: [Resumes sewing; a short pause.] Does Dr. Rank come here every day?
NORA: Every blessed day. He’s Torvald’s best friend from childhood, and my good friend, too. Dr. Rank almost belongs to this house.
MRS. LINDE: But tell me—is he quite sincere? I mean, doesn’t he rather enjoy flattering people?
NORA: Just the opposite. Why do you think that?
MRS. LINDE: When you introduced us yesterday, he was proclaiming that he’d often heard my name in this house; but later I noticed that your husband hadn’t the slightest idea who I really was. So how could Dr. Rank—?
NORA: But it’s all true, Kristine. You see, Torvald loves me beyond words, and, as he puts it, he’d like to keep me all to himself. For a long time he’d almost be jealous if I even mentioned any of my old friends back home. So of course I dropped that. But with Dr. Rank I talk a lot about such things, because he likes hearing about them.
MRS. LINDE: Now listen, Nora; in many ways you’re still like a child. I’m a good deal older than you, with a little more experience. I’ll tell you something: you ought to put an end to all this with Dr. Rank.
NORA: What should I put an end to?
MRS. LINDE: Both parts of it, I think. Yesterday you said something about a rich admirer who’d provide you with money—
NORA: Yes, one who doesn’t exist—worse luck. So?
MRS. LINDE: Is Dr. Rank well off?
NORA: Yes, he is.
MRS. LINDE: With no dependents?
NORA: No, no one. But—
MRS. LINDE: And he’s over here every day?
NORA: Yes, I told you that.
MRS. LINDE: How can a man of such refinement be so grasping?
NORA: I don’t follow you at all.
MRS. LINDE: Now don’t try to hide it, Nora. You think I can’t guess who loaned you the forty-eight hundred crowns?
NORA: Are you out of your mind? How could you think such a thing! A friend of ours, who comes here every single day. What an intolerable situation that would have been!
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p. 811
MRS. LINDE: Then it really wasn’t him.
NORA: No, absolutely not. It never even crossed my mind for a moment—And he had nothing to lend in those days; his inheritance came later.
MRS. LINDE: Well, I think that was a stroke of luck for you, Nora dear.
NORA: No, it never would have occurred to me to ask Dr. Rank—Still, I’m quite sure that if I had asked him—
MRS. LINDE: Which you won’t, of course.
NORA: No, of course not. I can’t see that I’d ever need to. But I’m quite positive that if I talked to Dr. Rank—
MRS. LINDE: Behind your husband’s back?
NORA: I’ve got to clear up this other thing; that’s also behind his back. I’ve got to clear it all up.
MRS. LINDE: Yes, I was saying that yesterday, but—
NORA: [Pacing up and down.] A man handles these problems so much better than a woman—
MRS. LINDE: One’s husband does, yes.
NORA: Nonsense. [Stopping.] When you pay everything you owe, then you get your note back, right?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, naturally.
NORA: And can rip it into a million pieces and burn it up—that filthy scrap of paper!
MRS. LINDE: [Looking hard at her, laying her sewing aside, and rising slowly.] Nora, you’re hiding something from me.
NORA: You can see it in my face?
MRS. LINDE: Something’s happened to you since yesterday morning. Nora, what is it?
NORA: [Hurrying toward her.] Kristine! [Listening.] Shh! Torvald’s home. Look, go in with the children a while. Torvald can’t bear all this snipping and stitching. Let Anne-Marie help you.
MRS. LINDE: [Gathering up some of the things.] All right, but I’m not leaving here until we’ve talked this out. [She disappears into the room, left, as TORVALD enters from the hall.]
NORA: Oh, how I’ve been waiting for you, Torvald dear.
HELMER: Was that the dressmaker?
NORA: No, that was Kristine. She’s helping me fix up my costume. You know, it’s going to be quite attractive.
HELMER: Yes, wasn’t that a bright idea I had?
NORA: Brilliant! But then wasn’t I good as well to give in to you?
HELMER: Good—because you give in to your husband’s judgment? All right, you little goose, I know you didn’t mean it like that. But I won’t disturb you. You’ll want to have a fitting, I suppose.
NORA: And you’ll be working?
HELMER: Yes. [Indicating a bundle of papers.] See. I’ve been down to the bank. [Starts toward his study.]
NORA: Torvald.
HELMER: [Stops.] Yes.
NORA: If your little squirrel begged you, with all her heart and soul, for something—?
HELMER: What’s that?
NORA: Then would you do it?
HELMER: First, naturally, I’d have to know what it was.
NORA: Your squirrel would scamper about and do tricks, if you’d only be sweet and give in.
HELMER: Out with it.
NORA: Your lark would be singing high and low in every room—
HELMER: Come on, she does that anyway.
NORA: I’d be a wood nymph and dance for you in the moonlight.
HELMER: Nora—don’t tell me it’s that same business from this morning?
NORA: [Coming closer.] Yes, Torvald, I beg you, please!
HELMER: And you actually have the nerve to drag that up again?
NORA: Yes, yes, you’ve got to give in to me; you have to let Krogstad keep his job in the bank.
HELMER: My dear Nora, I’ve slated his job for Mrs. Linde.
NORA: That’s awfully kind of you. But you could just fire another clerk instead of Krogstad.
HELMER: This is the most incredible stubbornness! Because you go and give an impulsive promise to speak up for him, I’m expected to—
NORA: That’s not the reason, Torvald. It’s for your own sake. That man does writing for the worst papers; you said it yourself. He could do you any amount of harm. I’m scared to death of him—
HELMER: Ah, I understand. It’s the old memories haunting you.
NORA: What do you mean by that?
HELMER: Of course, you’re thinking about your father.
NORA: Yes, all right. Just remember how those nasty gossips wrote in the papers about Papa and slandered him so cruelly. I think they’d have had him dismissed if the department hadn’t sent you up to investigate, and if you hadn’t been so kind and open-minded toward him.
HELMER: My dear Nora, there’s a notable difference between your father and me. Your father’s official career was hardly above reproach. But mine is; and I hope it’ll stay that way as long as I hold my position.
NORA: Oh, who can ever tell what vicious minds can invent? We could be so snug and happy now in our quiet, carefree home—you and I and the children, Torvald! That’s why I’m pleading with you so—
HELMER: And just by pleading for him you make it impossible for me to keep him on. It’s already known at the bank that I’m firing Krogstad. What if it’s rumored around now that the new bank manager was vetoed by his wife—
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p. 813
NORA: Yes, what then—?
HELMER: Oh yes—as long as our little bundle of stubbornness gets her way—! I should go and make myself ridiculous in front of the whole office—give people the idea I can be swayed by all kinds of outside pressure. Oh, you can bet I’d feel the effects of that soon enough! Besides—there’s something that rules Krogstad right out at the bank as long as I’m the manager.
NORA: What’s that?
HELMER: His moral failings I could maybe overlook if I had to—
NORA: Yes, Torvald, why not?
HELMER: And I hear he’s quite efficient on the job. But he was a crony of mine back in my teens—one of those rash friendships that crop up again and again to embarrass you later in life. Well, I might as well say it straight out: we’re on a first-name basis. And that tactless fool makes no effort at all to hide it in front of others. Quite the contrary—he thinks that entitles him to take a familiar air around me, and so every other second he comes booming out with his “Yes, Torvald!” and “Sure thing, Torvald!” I tell you, it’s been excruciating for me. He’s out to make my place in the bank unbearable.
NORA: Torvald, you can’t be serious about all this.
HELMER: Oh no? Why not?
NORA: Because these are such petty considerations.
HELMER: What are you saying? Petty? You think I’m petty!
NORA: No, just the opposite, Torvald dear. That’s exactly why—
HELMER: Never mind. You call my motives petty; then I might as well be just that. Petty! All right! We’ll put a stop to this for good. [Goes to the hall door and calls.] Helene!
NORA: What do you want?
HELMER: [Searching among his papers.] A decision. [The MAID comes in.] Look here; take this letter; go out with it at once. Get hold of a messenger and have him deliver it. Quick now. It’s already addressed. Wait, here’s some money.
MAID: Yes, sir. [She leaves with the letter.]
HELMER: [Straightening his papers.] There, now, little Miss Willful.
NORA: [Breathlessly.] Torvald, what was that letter?
HELMER: Krogstad’s notice.
NORA: Call it back, Torvald! There’s still time. Oh, Torvald, call it back! Do it for my sake—for your sake, for the children’s sake! Do you hear, Torvald; do it! You don’t know how this can harm us.
HELMER: Too late.
NORA: Yes, too late.
HELMER: Nora dear, I can forgive you this panic, even though basically you’re insulting me. Yes, you are! Or isn’t it an insult to think that I should be afraid of a courtroom hack’s revenge? But I forgive you anyway, because this shows so beautifully how much you love me. [Takes her in his arms.] This is the way it should be, my darling Nora. Whatever comes, you’ll see: when it really counts, I have strength and courage enough as a man to take on the whole weight myself.
NORA: [Terrified.] What do you mean by that?
HELMER: The whole weight, I said.
NORA: [Resolutely.] No, never in all the world.
HELMER: Good. So we’ll share it, Nora, as man and wife. That’s as it should be. [Fondling her.] Are you happy now? There, there, there—not these frightened dove’s eyes. It’s nothing at all but empty fantasies—Now you should run through your tarantella and practice your tambourine. I’ll go to the inner office and shut both doors, so I won’t hear a thing; you can make all the noise you like. [Turning in the doorway.] And when Rank comes, just tell him where he can find me. [He nods to her and goes with his papers into the study, closing the door.]
NORA: [Standing as though rooted, dazed with fright, in a whisper.] He really could do it. He will do it. He’ll do it in spite of everything. No, not that, never, never! Anything but that! Escape! A way out—[The doorbell rings.] Dr. Rank! Anything but that! Anything, whatever it is! [Her hands pass over her face, smoothing it; she pulls herself together, goes over and opens the hall door. DR. RANK stands outside, hanging his fur coat up. During the following scene, it begins getting dark.]
NORA: Hello, Dr. Rank. I recognized your ring. But you mustn’t go in to Torvald yet; I believe he’s working.
RANK: And you?
NORA: For you, I always have an hour to spare—you know that. [He has entered, and she shuts the door after him.]
RANK: Many thanks. I’ll make use of these hours while I can.
NORA: What do you mean by that? While you can?
RANK: Does that disturb you?
NORA: Well, it’s such an odd phrase. Is anything going to happen?
RANK: What’s going to happen is what I’ve been expecting so long—but I honestly didn’t think it would come so soon.
NORA: [Gripping his arm.] What is it you’ve found out? Dr. Rank, you have to tell me!
RANK: [Sitting by the stove.] It’s all over with me. There’s nothing to be done about it.
NORA: [Breathing easier.] Is it you—then—?
RANK: Who else? There’s no point in lying to one’s self. I’m the most miserable of all my patients, Mrs. Helmer. These past few days I’ve been auditing my internal accounts. Bankrupt! Within a month I’ll probably be laid out and rotting in the churchyard.
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p. 815
NORA: Oh, what a horrible thing to say.
RANK: The thing itself is horrible. But the worst of it is all the other horror before it’s over. There’s only one final examination left; when I’m finished with that, I’ll know about when my disintegration will begin. There’s something I want to say. Helmer with his sensitivity has such a sharp distaste for anything ugly. I don’t want him near my sickroom.
NORA: Oh, but Dr. Rank—
RANK: I won’t have him in there. Under no condition. I’ll lock my door to him—As soon as I’m completely sure of the worst, I’ll send you my calling card marked with a black cross, and you’ll know then the wreck has started to come apart.
NORA: No, today you’re completely unreasonable. And I wanted you so much to be in a really good humor.
RANK: With death up my sleeve? And then to suffer this way for somebody else’s sins. Is there any justice in that? And in every single family, in some way or another, this inevitable retribution of nature goes on—
NORA: [Her hands pressed over her ears.] Oh, stuff! Cheer up! Please—be gay!
RANK: Yes, I’d just as soon laugh at it all. My poor, innocent spine, serving time for my father’s gay army days.
NORA: [By the table, left.] He was so infatuated with asparagus tips and pâté de foie gras, wasn’t that it?
RANK: Yes—and with truffles.
NORA: Truffles, yes. And then with oysters, I suppose?
RANK: Yes, tons of oysters, naturally.
NORA: And then the port and champagne to go with it. It’s so sad that all these delectable things have to strike at our bones.
RANK: Especially when they strike at the unhappy bones that never shared in the fun.
NORA: Ah, that’s the saddest of all.
RANK: [Looks searchingly at her.] Hm.
NORA: [After a moment.] Why did you smile?
RANK: No, it was you who laughed.
NORA: No, it was you who smiled, Dr. Rank!
RANK: [Getting up.] You’re even a bigger tease than I’d thought.
NORA: I’m full of wild ideas today.
RANK: That’s obvious.
NORA: [Putting both hands on his shoulders.] Dear, dear Dr. Rank, you’ll never die for Torvald and me.
RANK: Oh, that loss you’ll easily get over. Those who go away are soon forgotten.
NORA: [Looks fearfully at him.] You believe that?
RANK: One makes new connections, and then—
NORA: Who makes new connections?
RANK: Both you and Torvald will when I’m gone. I’d say you’re well under way already. What was that Mrs. Linde doing here last evening?
NORA: Oh, come—you can’t be jealous of poor Kristine?
RANK: Oh yes, I am. She’ll be my successor here in the house. When I’m down under, that woman will probably—
NORA: Shh! Not so loud. She’s right in there.
RANK: Today as well. So you see.
NORA: Only to sew on my dress. Good gracious, how unreasonable you are. [Sitting on the sofa.] Be nice now, Dr. Rank. Tomorrow you’ll see how beautifully I’ll dance; and you can imagine then that I’m dancing only for you—yes, and of course for Torvald, too—that’s understood. [Takes various items out of the carton.] Dr. Rank, sit over here and I’ll show you something.
RANK: [Sitting.] What’s that?
NORA: Look here. Look.
RANK: Silk stockings.
NORA: Flesh-colored. Aren’t they lovely? Now it’s so dark here, but tomorrow—No, no, no, just look at the feet. Oh well, you might as well look at the rest.
RANK: Hm—
NORA: Why do you look so critical? Don’t you believe they’ll fit?
RANK: I’ve never had any chance to form an opinion on that.
NORA: [Glancing at him a moment.] Shame on you. [Hits him lightly on the ear with the stockings.] That’s for you. [Puts them away again.]
RANK: And what other splendors am I going to see now?
NORA: Not the least bit more, because you’ve been naughty. [She hums a little and rummages among her things.]
RANK: [After a short silence.] When I sit here together with you like this, completely easy and open, then I don’t know—I simply can’t imagine—whatever would have become of me if I’d never come into this house.
NORA: [Smiling.] Yes, I really think you feel completely at ease with us.
RANK: [More quietly, staring straight ahead.] And then to have to go away from it all—
NORA: Nonsense, you’re not going away.
RANK: [His voice unchanged.]—and not even be able to leave some poor show of gratitude behind, scarcely a fleeting regret—no more than a vacant place that anyone can fill.
NORA: And if I asked you now for—? No—
RANK: For what?
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p. 817
NORA: For a great proof of your friendship—
RANK: Yes, yes?
NORA: No, I mean—for an exceptionally big favor—
RANK: Would you really, for once, make me so happy?
NORA: Oh, you haven’t the vaguest idea what it is.
RANK: All right, then tell me.
NORA: No, but I can’t, Dr. Rank—it’s all out of reason. It’s advice and help, too—and a favor—
RANK: So much the better. I can’t fathom what you’re hinting at. Just speak out. Don’t you trust me?
NORA: Of course. More than anyone else. You’re my best and truest friend, I’m sure. That’s why I want to talk to you. All right, then, Dr. Rank: there’s something you can help me prevent. You know how deeply, how inexpressibly dearly Torvald loves me; he’d never hesitate a second to give up his life for me.
RANK: [Leaning close to her.] Nora—do you think he’s the only one—
NORA: [With a slight start.] Who—?
RANK: Who’d gladly give up his life for you.
NORA: [Heavily.] I see.
RANK: I swore to myself you should know this before I’m gone. I’ll never find a better chance. Yes, Nora, now you know. And also you know now that you can trust me beyond anyone else.
NORA: [Rising, natural and calm.] Let me by.
RANK: [Making room for her, but still sitting.] Nora—
NORA: [In the hall doorway.] Helene, bring the lamp in. [Goes over to the stove.] Ah, dear Dr. Rank, that was really mean of you.
RANK: [Getting up.] That I’ve loved you just as deeply as somebody else? Was thatmean?
NORA: No, but that you came out and told me. That was quite unnecessary—
RANK: What do you mean? Have you known—?
[The MAID comes in with the lamp, sets it on the table, and goes out again.]
RANK: Nora—Mrs. Helmer—I’m asking you: have you known about it?
NORA: Oh, how can I tell what I know or don’t know? Really, I don’t know what to say—Why did you have to be so clumsy, Dr. Rank! Everything was so good.
RANK: Well, in any case, you now have the knowledge that my body and soul are at your command. So won’t you speak out?
NORA: [Looking at him.] After that?
RANK: Please, just let me know what it is.
NORA: You can’t know anything now.
RANK: I have to. You mustn’t punish me like this. Give me the chance to do whatever is humanly possible for you.
NORA: Now there’s nothing you can do for me. Besides, actually, I don’t need any help. You’ll see—it’s only my fantasies. That’s what it is. Of course! [Sits in the rocker, looks at him, and smiles.] What a nice one you are, Dr. Rank. Aren’t you a little bit ashamed, now that the lamp is here?
RANK: No, not exactly. But perhaps I’d better go—for good?
NORA: No, you certainly can’t do that. You must come here just as you always have. You know Torvald can’t do without you.
RANK: Yes, but you?
NORA: You know how much I enjoy it when you’re here.
RANK: That’s precisely what threw me off. You’re a mystery to me. So many times I’ve felt you’d almost rather be with me than with Helmer.
NORA: Yes—you see, there are some people that one loves most and other people that one would almost prefer being with.
RANK: Yes, there’s something to that.
NORA: When I was back home, of course I loved Papa most. But I always thought it was so much fun when I could sneak down to the maids’ quarters, because they never tried to improve me, and it was always so amusing, the way they talked to each other.
RANK: Aha, so it’s their place that I’ve filled.
NORA: [Jumping up and going to him.] Oh, dear, sweet Dr. Rank, that’s not what I meant at all. But you can understand that with Torvald it’s just the same as with Papa—
[The MAID enters from the hall.]
MAID: Ma’am—please! [She whispers to NORA and hands her a calling card.]
NORA: [Glancing at the card.] Ah! [Slips it into her pocket.]
RANK: Anything wrong?
NORA: No, no, not at all. It’s only some—it’s my new dress—
RANK: Really? But—there’s your dress.
NORA: Oh, that. But this is another one—I ordered it—Torvald mustn’t know—
RANK: Ah, now we have the big secret.
NORA: That’s right. Just go in with him—he’s back in the inner study. Keep him there as long as—
RANK: Don’t worry. He won’t get away. [Goes into the study.]
NORA: [To the MAID.] And he’s standing waiting in the kitchen?
MAID: Yes, he came up by the back stairs.
NORA: But didn’t you tell him somebody was here?
MAID: Yes, but that didn’t do any good.
NORA: He won’t leave?
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p. 819
MAID: No, he won’t go till he’s talked with you, ma’am.
NORA: Let him come in, then—but quietly. Helene, don’t breathe a word about this. It’s a surprise for my husband.
MAID: Yes, yes, I understand—[Goes out.]
NORA: This horror—it’s going to happen. No, no, no, it can’t happen, it mustn’t.
[She goes and bolts HELMER’S door. The MAID opens the hall door for KROGSTADand shuts it behind him. He is dressed for travel in a fur coat, boots, and a fur cap.]
NORA: [Going toward him.] Talk softly. My husband’s home.
KROGSTAD: Well, good for him.
NORA: What do you want?
KROGSTAD: Some information.
NORA: Hurry up, then. What is it?
KROGSTAD: You know, of course, that I got my notice.
NORA: I couldn’t prevent it, Mr. Krogstad. I fought for you to the bitter end, but nothing worked.
KROGSTAD: Does your husband’s love for you run so thin? He knows everything I can expose you to, and all the same he dares to—
NORA: How can you imagine he knows anything about this?
KROGSTAD: Ah, no—I can’t imagine it either, now. It’s not at all like my fine Torvald Helmer to have so much guts—
NORA: Mr. Krogstad, I demand respect for my husband!
KROGSTAD: Why, of course—all due respect. But since the lady’s keeping it so carefully hidden, may I presume to ask if you’re also a bit better informed than yesterday about what you’ve actually done?
NORA: More than you ever could teach me.
KROGSTAD: Yes, I am such an awful lawyer.
NORA: What is it you want from me?
KROGSTAD: Just a glimpse of how you are, Mrs. Helmer. I’ve been thinking about you all day long. A cashier, a night-court scribbler, a—well, a type like me also has a little of what they call a heart, you know.
NORA: Then show it. Think of my children.
KROGSTAD: Did you or your husband ever think of mine? But never mind. I simply wanted to tell you that you don’t need to take this thing too seriously. For the present, I’m not proceeding with any action.
NORA: Oh no, really! Well—I knew that.
KROGSTAD: Everything can be settled in a friendly spirit. It doesn’t have to get around town at all; it can stay just among us three.
NORA: My husband must never know anything of this.
KROGSTAD: How can you manage that? Perhaps you can pay me the balance?
NORA: No, not right now.
KROGSTAD: Or you know some way of raising the money in a day or two?
NORA: No way that I’m willing to use.
KROGSTAD: Well, it wouldn’t have done you any good, anyway. If you stood in front of me with a fistful of bills, you still couldn’t buy your signature back.
NORA: Then tell me what you’re going to do with it.
KROGSTAD: I’ll just hold onto it—keep it on file. There’s no outsider who’ll even get wind of it. So if you’ve been thinking of taking some desperate step—
NORA: I have.
KROGSTAD: Been thinking of running away from home—
NORA: I have!
KROGSTAD: Or even of something worse—
NORA: How could you guess that?
KROGSTAD: You can drop those thoughts.
NORA: How could you guess I was thinking of that?
KROGSTAD: Most of us think about that at first. I thought about it too, but I discovered I hadn’t the courage—
NORA: [Lifelessly.] I don’t either.
KROGSTAD: [Relieved.] That’s true, you haven’t the courage? You too?
NORA: I don’t have it—I don’t have it.
KROGSTAD: It would be terribly stupid, anyway. After that first storm at home blows out, why, then—I have here in my pocket a letter for your husband—
NORA: Telling everything?
KROGSTAD: As charitably as possible.
NORA: [Quickly.] He mustn’t ever get that letter. Tear it up. I’ll find some way to get money.
KROGSTAD: Beg pardon, Mrs. Helmer, but I think I just told you—
NORA: Oh, I don’t mean the money I owe you. Let me know how much you want from my husband, and I’ll manage it.
KROGSTAD: I don’t want any money from your husband.
NORA: What do you want, then?
KROGSTAD: I’ll tell you what. I want to recoup, Mrs. Helmer; I want to get on in the world—and there’s where your husband can help me. For a year and a half I’ve kept myself clean of anything disreputable—all that time struggling with the worst conditions; but I was satisfied, working my way up step by step. Now I’ve been written right off, and I’m just not in the mood to come crawling back. I tell you, I want to move on. I want to get back in the bank—in a better position. Your husband can set up a job for me—
NORA: He’ll never do that!
p. 820
p. 821
KROGSTAD: He’ll do it. I know him. He won’t dare breathe a word of protest. And once I’m in there together with him, you just wait and see! Inside of a year, I’ll be the manager’s right-hand man. It’ll be Nils Krogstad, not Torvald Helmer, who runs the bank.
NORA: You’ll never see the day!
KROGSTAD: Maybe you think you can—
NORA: I have the courage now—for that.
KROGSTAD: Oh, you don’t scare me. A smart, spoiled lady like you—
NORA: You’ll see; you’ll see!
KROGSTAD: Under the ice, maybe? Down in the freezing, coal-black water? There, till you float up in the spring, ugly, unrecognizable, with your hair falling out—
NORA: You don’t frighten me.
KROGSTAD: Nor do you frighten me. One doesn’t do these things, Mrs. Helmer. Besides, what good would it be? I’d still have him safe in my pocket.
NORA: Afterwards? When I’m no longer—?
KROGSTAD: Are you forgetting that I’ll be in control then over your final reputation? [NORA stands speechless, staring at him.] Good; now I’ve warned you. Don’t do anything stupid. When Helmer’s read my letter, I’ll be waiting for his reply. And bear in mind that it’s your husband himself who’s forced me back to my old ways. I’ll never forgive him for that. Good-bye, Mrs. Helmer. [He goes out through the hall.]
NORA: [Goes to the hall door, opens it a crack, and listens.] He’s gone. Didn’t leave the letter. Oh no, no, that’s impossible too! [Opening the door more and more.] What’s that? He’s standing outside—not going downstairs. He’s thinking it over? Maybe he’ll—? [A letter falls in the mailbox; then KROGSTAD’S footsteps are heard, dying away down a flight of stairs. NORA gives a muffled cry and runs over toward the sofa table. A short pause.] In the mailbox. [Slips warily over to the hall door.] It’s lying there. Torvald, Torvald—now we’re lost!
MRS. LINDE: [Entering with the costume from the room, left.] There now, I can’t see anything else to mend. Perhaps you’d like to try—
NORA: [In a hoarse whisper.] Kristine, come here.
MRS. LINDE: [Tossing the dress on the sofa.] What’s wrong? You look upset.
NORA: Come here. See that letter? There! Look—through the glass in the mailbox.
MRS. LINDE: Yes, yes, I see it.
NORA: That letter’s from Krogstad—
MRS. LINDE: Nora—it’s Krogstad who loaned you the money!
NORA: Yes, and now Torvald will find out everything.
MRS. LINDE: Believe me, Nora, it’s best for both of you.
NORA: There’s more you don’t know. I forged a name.
MRS. LINDE: But for heaven’s sake—?
NORA: I only want to tell you that, Kristine, so that you can be my witness.
MRS. LINDE: Witness? Why should I—?
NORA: If I should go out of my mind—it could easily happen—
MRS. LINDE: Nora!
NORA: Or anything else occurred—so I couldn’t be present here—
MRS. LINDE: Nora, Nora, you aren’t yourself at all!
NORA: And someone should try to take on the whole weight, all of the guilt, you follow me—
MRS. LINDE: Yes, of course, but why do you think—?
NORA: Then you’re the witness that it isn’t true, Kristine. I’m very much myself; my mind right now is perfectly clear; and I’m telling you: nobody else has known about this; I alone did everything. Remember that.
MRS. LINDE: I will. But I don’t understand all this.
NORA: Oh, how could you ever understand it? It’s the miracle now that’s going to take place.
MRS. LINDE: The miracle?
NORA: Yes, the miracle. But it’s so awful, Kristine. It mustn’t take place, not for anything in the world.
MRS. LINDE: I’m going right over and talk with Krogstad.
NORA: Don’t go near him; he’ll do you some terrible harm!
MRS. LINDE: There was a time once when he’d gladly have done anything for me.
NORA: He?
MRS. LINDE: Where does he live?
NORA: Oh, how do I know? Yes. [Searches in her pocket.] Here’s his card. But the letter, the letter—!
HELMER: [From the study, knocking on the door.] Nora!
NORA: [With a cry of fear.] Oh! What is it? What do you want?
HELMER: Now, now, don’t be so frightened. We’re not coming in. You locked the door—are you trying on the dress?
NORA: Yes, I’m trying it. I’ll look just beautiful, Torvald.
MRS. LINDE: [Who has read the card.] He’s living right around the corner.
NORA: Yes, but what’s the use? We’re lost. The letter’s in the box.
MRS. LINDE: And your husband has the key?
NORA: Yes, always.
MRS. LINDE: Krogstad can ask for his letter back unread; he can find some excuse—
NORA: But it’s just this time that Torvald usually—
MRS. LINDE: Stall him. Keep him in there. I’ll be back as quick as I can. [She hurries out through the hall entrance.]
NORA: [Goes to HELMER’S door, opens it, and peers in.] Torvald!
p. 822
p. 823
HELMER: [From the inner study.] Well—does one dare set foot in one’s own living room at last? Come on, Rank, now we’ll get a look—[In the doorway.] But what’s this?
NORA: What, Torvald dear?
HELMER: Rank had me expecting some grand masquerade.
RANK: [In the doorway.] That was my impression, but I must have been wrong.
NORA: No one can admire me in my splendor—not till tomorrow.
HELMER: But Nora dear, you look so exhausted. Have you practiced too hard?
NORA: No, I haven’t practiced at all yet.
HELMER: You know, it’s necessary—
NORA: Oh, it’s absolutely necessary, Torvald. But I can’t get anywhere without your help. I’ve forgotten the whole thing completely.
HELMER: Ah, we’ll soon take care of that.
NORA: Yes, take care of me, Torvald, please! Promise me that? Oh, I’m so nervous. That big party—You must give up everything this evening for me. No business—don’t even touch your pen. Yes? Dear Torvald, promise?
HELMER: It’s a promise. Tonight I’m totally at your service—you little helpless thing. Hm—but first there’s one thing I want to—[Goes toward the hall door.]
NORA: What are you looking for?
HELMER: Just to see if there’s any mail.
NORA: No, no, don’t do that, Torvald!
HELMER: Now what?
NORA: Torvald, please. There isn’t any.
HELMER: Let me look, though. [Starts out. NORA, at the piano, strikes the first notes of the tarantella. HELMER, at the door, stops.] Aha!
NORA: I can’t dance tomorrow if I don’t practice with you.
HELMER: [Going over to her.] Nora dear, are you really so frightened?
NORA: Yes, so terribly frightened. Let me practice right now; there’s still time before dinner. Oh, sit down and play for me, Torvald. Direct me. Teach me, the way you always have.
HELMER: Gladly, if it’s what you want. [Sits at the piano.]
NORA: [Snatches the tambourine up from the box, then a long, varicolored shawl, which she throws around herself, whereupon she springs forward and cries out:] Play for me now! Now I’ll dance!
[HELMER plays and NORA dances. RANK stands behind HELMER at the piano and looks on.]
HELMER: [As he plays.] Slower. Slow down.
NORA: Can’t change it.
HELMER: Not so violent, Nora!
NORA: Has to be just like this.
HELMER: [Stopping.] No, no, that won’t do at all.
NORA: [Laughing and swinging her tambourine.] Isn’t that what I told you?
RANK: Let me play for her.
HELMER: [Getting up.] Yes, go on. I can teach her more easily then.
[RANK sits at the piano and plays; NORA dances more and more wildly. HELMERhas stationed himself by the stove and repeatedly gives her directions; she seems not to hear them; her hair loosens and falls over her shoulders; she does not notice, but goes on dancing. MRS. LINDE enters.]
MRS. LINDE: [Standing dumbfounded at the door.] Ah—!
NORA: [Still dancing.] See what fun, Kristine!
HELMER: But Nora darling, you dance as if your life were at stake.
NORA: And it is.
HELMER: Rank, stop! This is pure madness. Stop it, I say!
[RANK breaks off playing, and NORA halts abruptly.]
HELMER: [Going over to her.] I never would have believed it. You’ve forgotten everything I taught you.
NORA: [Throwing away the tambourine.] You see for yourself.
HELMER: Well, there’s certainly room for instruction here.
NORA: Yes, you see how important it is. You’ve got to teach me to the very last minute. Promise me that, Torvald?
HELMER: You can bet on it.
NORA: You mustn’t, either today or tomorrow, think about anything else but me; you mustn’t open any letters—or the mailbox—
HELMER: Ah, it’s still the fear of that man—
NORA: Oh yes, yes, that too.
HELMER: Nora, it’s written all over you—there’s already a letter from him out there.
NORA: I don’t know. I guess so. But you mustn’t read such things now; there mustn’t be anything ugly between us before it’s all over.
RANK: [Quietly to HELMER.] You shouldn’t deny her.
HELMER: [Putting his arm around her.] The child can have her way. But tomorrow night, after you’ve danced—
NORA: Then you’ll be free.
MAID: [In the doorway, right.] Ma’am, dinner is served.
NORA: We’ll be wanting champagne, Helene.
MAID: Very good, ma’am. [Goes out.]
HELMER: So—a regular banquet, hm?
p. 824
p. 825
NORA: Yes, a banquet—champagne till daybreak! [Calling out.] And some macaroons, Helene. Heaps of them—just this once.
HELMER: [Taking her hands.] Now, now, now—no hysterics. Be my own little lark again.
NORA: Oh, I will soon enough. But go on in—and you, Dr. Rank. Kristine, help me put up my hair.
RANK: [Whispering, as they go.] There’s nothing wrong—really wrong, is there?
HELMER: Oh, of course not. It’s nothing more than this childish anxiety I was telling you about. [They go out, right.]
NORA: Well?
MRS. LINDE: Left town.
NORA: I could see by your face.
MRS. LINDE: He’ll be home tomorrow evening. I wrote him a note.
NORA: You shouldn’t have. Don’t try to stop anything now. After all, it’s a wonderful joy, this waiting here for the miracle.
MRS. LINDE: What is it you’re waiting for?
NORA: Oh, you can’t understand that. Go in to them; I’ll be along in a moment.
[MRS. LINDE goes into the dining room. NORA stands a short while as if composing herself; then she looks at her watch.]
NORA: Five. Seven hours to midnight. Twenty-four hours to the midnight after, and then the tarantella’s done. Seven and twenty-four? Thirty-one hours to live.
HELMER: [In the doorway, right.] What’s become of the little lark?
NORA: [Going toward him with open arms.] Here’s your lark!
ACT III
Same scene. The table, with chairs around it, has been moved to the center of the room. A lamp on the table is lit. The hall door stands open. Dance music drifts down from the floor above. MRS. LINDE sits at the table, absently paging through a book, trying to read, but apparently unable to focus her thoughts. Once or twice she pauses, tensely listening for a sound at the outer entrance.
MRS. LINDE: [Glancing at her watch.] Not yet—and there’s hardly any time left. If only he’s not—[Listening again.] Ah, there he is. [She goes out in the hall and cautiously opens the outer door. Quiet footsteps are heard on the stairs. She whispers:] Come in. Nobody’s here.
KROGSTAD: [In the doorway.] I found a note from you at home. What’s back of all this?
MRS. LINDE: I just had to talk to you.
KROGSTAD: Oh? And it just had to be here in this house?
MRS. LINDE: At my place it was impossible; my room hasn’t a private entrance. Come in; we’re all alone. The maid’s asleep, and the Helmers are at the dance upstairs.
KROGSTAD: [Entering the room.] Well, well, the Helmers are dancing tonight? Really?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, why not?
KROGSTAD: How true—why not?
MRS. LINDE: All right, Krogstad, let’s talk.
KROGSTAD: Do we two have anything more to talk about?
MRS. LINDE: We have a great deal to talk about.
KROGSTAD: I wouldn’t have thought so.
MRS. LINDE: No, because you’ve never understood me, really.
KROGSTAD: Was there anything more to understand—except what’s all too common in life? A calculating woman throws over a man the moment a better catch comes by.
MRS. LINDE: You think I’m so thoroughly calculating? You think I broke it off lightly?
KROGSTAD: Didn’t you?
MRS. LINDE: Nils—is that what you really thought?
KROGSTAD: If you cared, then why did you write me the way you did?
MRS. LINDE: What else could I do? If I had to break off with you, then it was my job as well to root out everything you felt for me.
KROGSTAD: [Wringing his hands.] So that was it. And this—all this, simply for money!
MRS. LINDE: Don’t forget I had a helpless mother and two small brothers. We couldn’t wait for you, Nils; you had such a long road ahead of you then.
KROGSTAD: That may be; but you still hadn’t the right to abandon me for somebody else’s sake.
MRS. LINDE: Yes—I don’t know. So many, many times I’ve asked myself if I did have that right.
KROGSTAD: [More softly.] When I lost you, it was as if all the solid ground dissolved from under my feet. Look at me; I’m a half-drowned man now, hanging onto a wreck.
MRS. LINDE: Help may be near.
KROGSTAD: It was near—but then you came and blocked it off.
MRS. LINDE: Without my knowing it, Nils. Today for the first time I learned that it’s you I’m replacing at the bank.
KROGSTAD: All right—I believe you. But now that you know, will you step aside?
p. 826
p. 827
MRS. LINDE: No, because that wouldn’t benefit you in the slightest.
KROGSTAD: Not “benefit” me, hm! I’d step aside anyway.
MRS. LINDE: I’ve learned to be realistic. Life and hard, bitter necessity have taught me that.
KROGSTAD: And life’s taught me never to trust fine phrases.
MRS. LINDE: Then life’s taught you a very sound thing. But you do have to trust in actions, don’t you?
KROGSTAD: What does that mean?
MRS. LINDE: You said you were hanging on like a half-drowned man to a wreck.
KROGSTAD: I’ve good reason to say that.
MRS. LINDE: I’m also like a half-drowned woman on a wreck. No one to suffer with; no one to care for.
KROGSTAD: You made your choice
MRS. LINDE: There wasn’t any choice then.
KROGSTAD: So—what of it?
MRS. LINDE: Nils, if only we two shipwrecked people could reach across to each other.
KROGSTAD: What are you saying?
MRS. LINDE: Two on one wreck are at least better off than each on his own.
KROGSTAD: Kristine!
MRS. LINDE: Why do you think I came into town?
KROGSTAD: Did you really have some thought of me?
MRS. LINDE: I have to work to go on living. All my born days, as long as I can remember, I’ve worked, and it’s been my best and my only joy. But now I’m completely alone in the world; it frightens me to be so empty and lost. To work for yourself—there’s no joy in that. Nils, give me something—someone to work for.
KROGSTAD: I don’t believe all this. It’s just some hysterical feminine urge to go out and make a noble sacrifice.
MRS. LINDE: Have you ever found me to be hysterical?
KROGSTAD: Can you honestly mean this? Tell me—do you know everything about my past?
MRS. LINDE: Yes.
KROGSTAD: And you know what they think I’m worth around here.
MRS. LINDE: From what you were saying before, it would seem that with me you could have been another person.
KROGSTAD: I’m positive of that.
MRS. LINDE: Couldn’t it happen still?
KROGSTAD: Kristine—you’re saying this in all seriousness? Yes, you are! I can see it in you. And do you really have the courage, then—?
MRS. LINDE: I need to have someone to care for; and your children need a mother. We both need each other. Nils, I have faith that you’re good at heart—I’ll risk everything together with you.
KROGSTAD: [Gripping her hands.] Kristine, thank you, thank you—Now I know I can win back a place in their eyes. Yes—but I forgot—
MRS. LINDE: [Listening.] Shh! The tarantella. Go now! Go on!
KROGSTAD: Why? What is it?
MRS. LINDE: Hear the dance up there? When that’s over, they’ll be coming down.
KROGSTAD: Oh, then I’ll go. But—it’s all pointless. Of course, you don’t know the move I made against the Helmers.
MRS. LINDE: Yes, Nils, I know.
KROGSTAD: And all the same, you have the courage to—?
MRS. LINDE: I know how far despair can drive a man like you.
KROGSTAD: Oh, if I only could take it all back.
MRS. LINDE: You easily could—your letter’s still lying in the mailbox.
KROGSTAD: Are you sure of that?
MRS. LINDE: Positive. But—
KROGSTAD: [Looks at her searchingly.] Is that the meaning of it, then? You’ll save your friend at any price. Tell me straight out. Is that it?
MRS. LINDE: Nils—anyone who’s sold herself for somebody else once isn’t going to do it again.
KROGSTAD: I’ll demand my letter back.
MRS. LINDE: No, no.
KROGSTAD: Yes, of course. I’ll stay here till Helmer comes down; I’ll tell him to give me my letter again—that it only involves my dismissal—that he shouldn’t read it—
MRS. LINDE: No, Nils, don’t call the letter back.
KROGSTAD: But wasn’t that exactly why you wrote me to come here?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, in that first panic. But it’s been a whole day and night since then, and in that time I’ve seen such incredible things in this house. Helmer’s got to learn everything; this dreadful secret has to be aired; those two have to come to a full understanding; all these lies and evasions can’t go on.
KROGSTAD: Well, then, if you want to chance it. But at least there’s one thing I can do, and do right away—
MRS. LINDE: [Listening.] Go now, go, quick! The dance is over. We’re not safe another second.
KROGSTAD: I’ll wait for you downstairs.
MRS. LINDE: Yes, please do; take me home.
KROGSTAD: I can’t believe it; I’ve never been so happy. [He leaves by way of the outer door; the door between the room and the hall stays open.]
p. 828
p. 829
MRS. LINDE: [Straightening up a bit and getting together her street clothes.] How different now! How different! Someone to work for, to live for—a home to build. Well, it is worth the try! Oh, if they’d only come! [Listening.] Ah, there they are. Bundle up. [She picks up her hat and coat. NORA’S and HELMER’S voices can be heard outside; a key turns in the lock, and HELMER brings NORA into the hall almost by force. She is wearing the Italian costume with a large black shawl about her; he has on evening dress, with a black domino open over it.]
NORA: [Struggling in the doorway.] No, no, no, not inside! I’m going up again. I don’t want to leave so soon.
HELMER: But Nora dear—
NORA: Oh, I beg you, please, Torvald. From the bottom of my heart, please—only an hour more!
HELMER: Not a single minute, Nora darling. You know our agreement. Come on, in we go; you’ll catch cold out here. [In spite of her resistance, he gently draws her into the room.]
MRS. LINDE: Good evening.
NORA: Kristine!
HELMER: Why, Mrs. Linde—are you here so late?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, I’m sorry, but I did want to see Nora in costume.
NORA: Have you been sitting here, waiting for me?
MRS. LINDE: Yes. I didn’t come early enough; you were all upstairs; and then I thought I really couldn’t leave without seeing you.
HELMER: [Removing NORA’s shawl.] Yes, take a good look. She’s worth looking at, I can tell you that, Mrs. Linde. Isn’t she lovely?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, I should say—
HELMER: A dream of loveliness, isn’t she? That’s what everyone thought at the party, too. But she’s horribly stubborn—this sweet little thing. What’s to be done with her? Can you imagine, I almost had to use force to pry her away.
NORA: Oh, Torvald, you’re going to regret you didn’t indulge me, even for just a half hour more.
HELMER: There, you see. She danced her tarantella and got a tumultuous hand—which was well earned, although the performance may have been a bit too naturalistic—I mean it rather overstepped the proprieties of art. But never mind—what’s important is, she made a success, an overwhelming success. You think I could let her stay on after that and spoil the effect? Oh no; I took my lovely little Capri girl—my capricious little Capri girl, I should say—took her under my arm; one quick tour of the ballroom, a curtsy to every side, and then—as they say in novels—the beautiful vision disappeared. An exit should always be effective, Mrs. Linde, but that’s what I can’t get Nora to grasp. Phew, it’s hot in here. [Flings the domino on a chair and opens the door to his room.] Why’s it dark in here? Oh yes, of course. Excuse me. [He goes in and lights a couple of candles.]
NORA: [In a sharp, breathless whisper.] So?
MRS. LINDE: [Quietly.] I talked with him.
NORA: And—?
MRS. LINDE: Nora—you must tell your husband everything.
NORA: [Dully.] I knew it.
MRS. LINDE: You’ve got nothing to fear from Krogstad, but you have to speak out.
NORA: I won’t tell.
MRS. LINDE: Then the letter will.
NORA: Thanks, Kristine. I know now what’s to be done. Shh!
HELMER: [Reentering.] Well, then, Mrs. Linde—have you admired her?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, and now I’ll say good night.
HELMER: Oh, come, so soon? Is this yours, this knitting?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, thanks. I nearly forgot it.
HELMER: Do you knit, then?
MRS. LINDE: Oh yes.
HELMER: You know what? You should embroider instead.
MRS. LINDE: Really? Why?
HELMER: Yes, because it’s a lot prettier. See here, one holds the embroidery so, in the left hand, and then one guides the needle with the right—so—in an easy, sweeping curve—right?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, I guess that’s—
HELMER: But, on the other hand, knitting—it can never be anything but ugly. Look, see here, the arms tucked in, the knitting needles going up and down—there’s something Chinese about it. Ah, that was really a glorious champagne they served.
MRS. LINDE: Yes, good night, Nora, and don’t be stubborn anymore.
HELMER: Well put, Mrs. Linde!
MRS. LINDE: Good night, Mr. Helmer.
HELMER: [Accompanying her to the door.] Good night, good night. I hope you get home all right. I’d be very happy to—but you don’t have far to go. Good night, good night. [She leaves. He shuts the door after her and returns.] There, now, at last we got her out the door. She’s a deadly bore, that creature.
NORA: Aren’t you pretty tired, Torvald?
HELMER: No, not a bit.
p. 830
p. 831
NORA: You’re not sleepy?
HELMER: Not at all. On the contrary, I’m feeling quite exhilarated. But you? Yes, you really look tired and sleepy.
NORA: Yes, I’m very tired. Soon now I’ll sleep.
HELMER: See! You see! I was right all along that we shouldn’t stay longer.
NORA: Whatever you do is always right.
HELMER: [Kissing her brow.] Now my little lark talks sense. Say, did you notice what a time Rank was having tonight?
NORA: Oh, was he? I didn’t get to speak with him.
HELMER: I scarcely did either, but it’s a long time since I’ve seen him in such high spirits. [Gazes at her a moment, then comes nearer her.] Hm—it’s marvelous, though, to be back home again—to be completely alone with you. Oh, you bewitchingly lovely young woman!
NORA: Torvald, don’t look at me like that!
HELMER: Can’t I look at my richest treasure? At all that beauty that’s mine, mine alone—completely and utterly.
NORA: [Moving around to the other side of the table.] You mustn’t talk to me that way tonight.
HELMER: [Following her.] The tarantella is still in your blood, I can see—and it makes you even more enticing. Listen. The guests are beginning to go. [Dropping his voice.] Nora—it’ll soon be quiet through this whole house.
NORA: Yes, I hope so.
HELMER: You do, don’t you, my love? Do you realize—when I’m out at a party like this with you—do you know why I talk to you so little, and keep such a distance away; just send you a stolen look now and then—you know why I do it? It’s because I’m imagining then that you’re my secret darling, my secret young bride-to-be, and that no one suspects there’s anything between us.
NORA: Yes, yes; oh, yes, I know you’re always thinking of me.
HELMER: And then when we leave and I place the shawl over those fine young rounded shoulders—over that wonderful curving neck—then I pretend that you’re my young bride, that we’re just coming from the wedding, that for the first time I’m bringing you into my house—that for the first time I’m alone with you—completely alone with you, your trembling young beauty! All this evening I’ve longed for nothing but you. When I saw you turn and sway in the tarantella—my blood was pounding till I couldn’t stand it—that’s why I brought you down here so early—
NORA: Go away, Torvald! Leave me alone. I don’t want all this.
HELMER: What do you mean? Nora, you’re teasing me. You will, won’t you? Aren’t I your husband—?
[A knock at the outside door.]
NORA: [Startled.] What’s that?
HELMER: [Going toward the half.] Who is it?
RANK: [Outside.] It’s me. May I come in a moment?
HELMER: [With quiet irritation.] Oh, what does he want now? [Aloud.] Hold on. [Goes and opens the door.] Oh, how nice that you didn’t just pass us by!
RANK: I thought I heard your voice, and then I wanted so badly to have a look in. [Lightly glancing about.] Ah, me, these old familiar haunts. You have it snug and cozy in here, you two.
HELMER: You seemed to be having it pretty cozy upstairs, too.
RANK: Absolutely. Why shouldn’t I? Why not take in everything in life? As much as you can, anyway, and as long as you can. The wine was superb—
HELMER: The champagne especially.
RANK: You noticed that too? It’s amazing how much I could guzzle down.
NORA: Torvald also drank a lot of champagne this evening.
RANK: Oh?
NORA: Yes, and that always makes him so entertaining.
RANK: Well, why shouldn’t one have a pleasant evening after a well-spent day?
HELMER: Well spent? I’m afraid I can’t claim that.
RANK: [Slapping him on the back.] But I can, you see!
NORA: Dr. Rank, you must have done some scientific research today.
RANK: Quite so.
HELMER: Come now—little Nora talking about scientific research!
NORA: And can I congratulate you on the results?
RANK: Indeed you may.
NORA: Then they were good?
RANK: The best possible for both doctor and patient—certainty.
NORA: [Quickly and searchingly.] Certainty?
RANK: Complete certainty. So don’t I owe myself a gay evening afterwards?
NORA: Yes, you’re right, Dr. Rank.
HELMER: I’m with you—just so long as you don’t have to suffer for it in the morning.
RANK: Well, one never gets something for nothing in life.
NORA: Dr. Rank—are you very fond of masquerade parties?
RANK: Yes, if there’s a good array of odd disguises—
NORA: Tell me, what should we two go as at the next masquerade?
HELMER: You little featherhead—already thinking of the next!
p. 832
p. 833
RANK: We two? I’ll tell you what: you must go as Charmed Life—
HELMER: Yes, but find a costume for that!
RANK: Your wife can appear just as she looks every day.
HELMER: That was nicely put. But don’t you know what you’re going to be?
RANK: Yes, Helmer, I’ve made up my mind.
HELMER: Well?
RANK: At the next masquerade I’m going to be invisible.
HELMER: That’s a funny idea.
RANK: They say there’s a hat—black, huge—have you never heard of the hat that makes you invisible? You put it on, and then no one on earth can see you.
HELMER: [Suppressing a smile.] Ah, of course.
RANK: But I’m quite forgetting what I came for. Helmer, give me a cigar, one of the dark Havanas.
HELMER: With the greatest pleasure. [Holds out his case.]
RANK: Thanks. [Takes one and cuts off the tip.]
NORA: [Striking a match] Let me give you a light.
RANK: Thank you. [She holds the match for him; he lights the cigar.] And now good-bye.
HELMER: Good-bye, good-bye, old friend.
NORA: Sleep well, Doctor.
RANK: Thanks for that wish.
NORA: Wish me the same.
RANK: You? All right, if you like—Sleep well. And thanks for the light. [He nods to them both and leaves.]
HELMER: [His voice subdued.] He’s been drinking heavily.
NORA: [Absently.] Could be. [HELMER takes his keys from his pocket and goes out in the hall.] Torvald—what are you after?
HELMER: Got to empty the mailbox; it’s nearly full. There won’t be room for the morning papers.
NORA: Are you working tonight?
HELMER: You know I’m not. Why—what’s this? Someone’s been at the lock.
NORA: At the lock—?
HELMER: Yes, I’m positive. What do you suppose—? I can’t imagine one of the maids—? Here’s a broken hairpin. Nora, it’s yours—
NORA: [Quickly.] Then it must be the children—
HELMER: You’d better break them of that. Hm, hm—well, opened it after all. [Takes the contents out and calls into the kitchen.] Helene! Helene, would you put out the lamp in the hall. [He returns to the room, shutting the hall door, then displays the handful of mail.] Look how it’s piled up. [Sorting through them.] Now what’s this?
NORA: [At the window.] The letter! Oh, Torvald, no!
HELMER: Two calling cards—from Rank.
NORA: From Dr. Rank?
HELMER: [Examining them.] “Dr. Rank, Consulting Physician.” They were on top. He must have dropped them in as he left.
NORA: Is there anything on them?
HELMER: There’s a black cross over the name. See? That’s a gruesome notion. He could almost be announcing his own death.
NORA: That’s just what he’s doing.
HELMER: What! You’ve heard something? Something he’s told you?
NORA: Yes. That when those cards came, he’d be taking his leave of us. He’ll shut himself in now and die.
HELMER: Ah, my poor friend! Of course I knew he wouldn’t be here much longer. But so soon—And then to hide himself away like a wounded animal.
NORA: If it has to happen, then it’s best it happens in silence—don’t you think so, Torvald?
HELMER: [Pacing up and down.] He’d grown right into our lives. I simply can’t imagine him gone. He with his suffering and loneliness—like a dark cloud setting off our sunlit happiness. Well, maybe it’s best this way. For him, at least. [Standing still.] And maybe for us too, Nora. Now we’re thrown back on each other, completely. [Embracing her.] Oh you, my darling wife, how can I hold you close enough? You know what, Nora—time and again I’ve wished you were in some terrible danger, just so I could stake my life and soul and everything, for your sake.
NORA: [Tearing herself away, her voice firm and decisive.] Now you must read your mail, Torvald.
HELMER: No, no, not tonight. I want to stay with you, dearest.
NORA: With a dying friend on your mind?
HELMER: You’re right. We’ve both had a shock. There’s ugliness between us—these thoughts of death and corruption. We’ll have to get free of them first. Until then—we’ll stay apart.
NORA: [Clinging about his neck.] Torvald—good night! Good night!
HELMER: [Kissing her on the cheek.] Good night, little songbird. Sleep well, Nora. I’ll be reading my mail now. [He takes the letters into his room and shuts the door after him.]
NORA: [With bewildered glances, groping about, seizing HELMER’S domino, throwing it around her, and speaking in short, hoarse, broken whispers.] Never see him again. Never, never. [Putting her shawl over her head.] Never see the children either—them, too. Never, never. Oh, the freezing black water! The depths—down—Oh, I wish it were over—He has it now; he’s reading it—now. Oh no, no, not yet. Torvald, good-bye, you and the children—[She starts for the hall; as she does, HELMER throws open his door and stands with an open letter in his hand.]
p. 834
p. 835
HELMER: Nora!
NORA: [Screams.] Oh—!
HELMER: What is this? You know what’s in this letter?
NORA: Yes, I know. Let me go! Let me out!
HELMER: [Holding her back.] Where are you going?
NORA: [Struggling to break loose.] You can’t save me, Torvald!
HELMER: [Slumping back.] True! Then it’s true what he writes? How horrible! No, no, it’s impossible—it can’t be true.
NORA: It is true. I’ve loved you more than all this world.
HELMER: Ah, none of your slippery tricks.
NORA: [Taking one step toward him.] Torvald—!
HELMER: What is this you’ve blundered into!
NORA: Just let me loose. You’re not going to suffer for my sake. You’re not going to take on my guilt.
HELMER: No more playacting. [Locks the hall door.] You stay right here and give me a reckoning. You understand what you’ve done? Answer! You understand?
NORA: [Looking squarely at him, her face hardening.] Yes. I’m beginning to understand everything now.
HELMER: [Striding about.] Oh, what an awful awakening! In all these eight years—she who was my pride and joy—a hypocrite, a liar—worse, worse—a criminal! How infinitely disgusting it all is! The shame! [NORA says nothing and goes on looking straight at him. He stops in front of her.] I should have suspected something of the kind. I should have known. All your father’s flimsy values—Be still! All your father’s flimsy values have come out in you. No religion, no morals, no sense of duty—Oh, how I’m punished for letting him off! I did it for your sake, and you repay me like this.
NORA: Yes, like this.
HELMER: Now you’ve wrecked all my happiness—ruined my whole future. Oh, it’s awful to think of. I’m in a cheap little grafter’s hands; he can do anything he wants with me, ask for anything, play with me like a puppet—and I can’t breathe a word. I’ll be swept down miserably into the depths on account of a featherbrained woman.
NORA: When I’m gone from this world, you’ll be free.
HELMER: Oh, quit posing. Your father had a mess of those speeches too. What good would that ever do me if you were gone from this world, as you say? Not the slightest. He can still make the whole thing known; and if he does, I could be falsely suspected as your accomplice. They might even think that I was behind it—that I put you up to it. And all that I can thank you for—you that I’ve coddled the whole of our marriage. Can you see now what you’ve done to me?
NORA: [Icily calm.] Yes.
HELMER: It’s so incredible, I just can’t grasp it. But we’ll have to patch up whatever we can. Take off the shawl. I said, take it off! I’ve got to appease him somehow or other. The thing has to be hushed up at any cost. And as for you and me, it’s got to seem like everything between us is just as it was—to the outside world, that is. You’ll go right on living in this house, of course. But you can’t be allowed to bring up the children; I don’t dare trust you with them—Oh, to have to say this to someone I’ve loved so much, and that I still—! Well, that’s done with. From now on happiness doesn’t matter; all that matters is saving the bits and pieces, the appearance—[The doorbell rings. HELMER starts.] What’s that? And so late. Maybe the worst—? You think he’d—? Hide, Nora! Say you’re sick. [NORAremains standing motionless. HELMER goes and opens the door.]
MAID: [Half dressed, in the hall.] A letter for Mrs. Helmer.
HELMER: I’ll take it. [Snatches the letter and shuts the door.] Yes, it’s from him. You don’t get it; I’m reading it myself.
NORA: Then read it.
HELMER: [By the lamp.] I hardly dare. We may be ruined, you and I. But—I’ve got to know. [Rips open the letter, skims through a few lines, glances at an enclosure, then cries out joyfully.] Nora! [NORA looks inquiringly at him.] Nora! Wait—better check it again—Yes, yes, it’s true. I’m saved. Nora, I’m saved!
NORA: And I?
HELMER: You too, of course. We’re both saved, both of us. Look. He’s sent back your note. He says he’s sorry and ashamed—that a happy development in his life—oh, who cares what he says! Nora, we’re saved! No one can hurt you. Oh, Nora, Nora—but first, this ugliness all has to go. Let me see—[Takes a look at the note.] No, I don’t want to see it; I want the whole thing to fade like a dream. [Tears the note and both letters to pieces, throws them into the stove and watches them burn.] There—now there’s nothing left—He wrote that since Christmas Eve you—Oh, they must have been three terrible days for you, Nora.
NORA: I fought a hard fight.
HELMER: And suffered pain and saw no escape but—No, we’re not going to dwell on anything unpleasant. We’ll just be grateful and keep on repeating: it’s over now, it’s over! You hear me, Nora? You don’t seem to realize—it’s over. What’s it mean—that frozen look? Oh, poor little Nora, I understand. You can’t believe I’ve forgiven you. But I have, Nora; I swear I have. I know that what you did, you did out of love for me.
NORA: That’s true.
p. 836
p. 837
HELMER: You loved me the way a wife ought to love her husband. It’s simply the means that you couldn’t judge. But you think I love you any the less for not knowing how to handle your affairs? No, no—just lean on me; I’ll guide you and teach you. I wouldn’t be a man if this feminine helplessness didn’t make you twice as attractive to me. You mustn’t mind those sharp words I said—that was all in the first confusion of thinking my world had collapsed. I’ve forgiven you, Nora; I swear I’ve forgiven you.
NORA: My thanks for your forgiveness. [She goes out through the door, right.]
HELMER: No, wait—[Peers in.] What are you doing in there?
NORA: [Inside.] Getting out of my costume.
HELMER: [By the open door.] Yes, do that. Try to calm yourself and collect your thoughts again, my frightened little songbird. You can rest easy now; I’ve got wide wings to shelter you with. [Walking about close by the door.] How snug and nice our home is, Nora. You’re safe here; I’ll keep you like a hunted dove I’ve rescued out of a hawk’s claws. I’ll bring peace to your poor, shuddering heart. Gradually it’ll happen, Nora; you’ll see. Tomorrow all this will look different to you; then everything will be as it was. I won’t have to go on repeating I forgive you; you’ll feel it for yourself. How can you imagine I’d ever conceivably want to disown you—or even blame you in any way? Ah, you don’t know a man’s heart, Nora. For a man there’s something indescribably sweet and satisfying in knowing he’s forgiven his wife—and forgiven her out of a full and open heart. It’s as if she belongs to him in two ways now: in a sense he’s given her fresh into the world again, and she’s become his wife and his child as well. From now on that’s what you’ll be to me—you little, bewildered, helpless thing. Don’t be afraid of anything, Nora; just open your heart to me, and I’ll be conscience and will to you both—[NORA enters in her regular clothes.] What’s this? Not in bed? You’ve changed your dress?
NORA: Yes, Torvald, I’ve changed my dress.
HELMER: But why now, so late?
NORA: Tonight I’m not sleeping.
HELMER: But Nora dear—
NORA: [Looking at her watch.] It’s still not so very late. Sit down, Torvald; we have a lot to talk over. [She sits at one side of the table.]
HELMER: Nora—what is this? That hard expression—
NORA: Sit down. This’ll take some time. I have a lot to say.
HELMER: [Sitting at the table directly opposite her.] You worry me, Nora. And I don’t understand you.
NORA: No, that’s exactly it. You don’t understand me. And I’ve never understood you either—until tonight. No, don’t interrupt. You can just listen to what I say. We’re closing out accounts, Torvald.
HELMER: How do you mean that?
NORA: [After a short pause.] Doesn’t anything strike you about our sitting here like this?
HELMER: What’s that?
NORA: We’ve been married now eight years. Doesn’t it occur to you that this is the first time we two, you and I, man and wife, have ever talked seriously together?
HELMER: What do you mean—seriously?
NORA: In eight whole years—longer even—right from our first acquaintance, we’ve never exchanged a serious word on any serious thing.
HELMER: You mean I should constantly go and involve you in problems you couldn’t possibly help me with?
NORA: I’m not talking of problems. I’m saying that we’ve never sat down seriously together and tried to get to the bottom of anything.
HELMER: But dearest, what good would that ever do you?
NORA: That’s the point right there: you’ve never understood me. I’ve been wronged greatly, Torvald—first by Papa, and then by you.
HELMER: What! By us—the two people who’ve loved you more than anyone else?
NORA: [Shaking her head.] You never loved me. You’ve thought it fun to be in love with me, that’s all.
HELMER: Nora, what a thing to say!
NORA: Yes, it’s true now, Torvald. When I lived at home with Papa, he told me all his opinions, so I had the same ones too; or if they were different I hid them, since he wouldn’t have cared for that. He used to call me his doll-child, and he played with me the way I played with my dolls. Then I came into your house—
HELMER: How can you speak of our marriage like that?
NORA: [Unperturbed.] I mean, then I went from Papa’s hands into yours. You arranged everything to your own taste, and so I got the same taste as you—or I pretended to; I can’t remember. I guess a little of both, first one, then the other. Now when I look back, it seems as if I’d lived here like a beggar—just from hand to mouth. I’ve lived by doing tricks for you, Torvald. But that’s the way you wanted it. It’s a great sin what you and Papa did to me. You’re to blame that nothing’s become of me.
HELMER: Nora, how unfair and ungrateful you are! Haven’t you been happy here?
NORA: No, never. I thought so—but I never have.
HELMER: Not—not happy!
NORA: No, only lighthearted. And you’ve always been so kind to me. But our home’s been nothing but a playpen. I’ve been your doll-wife here, just as at home I was Papa’s doll-child. And in turn the children have been my dolls. I thought it was fun when you played with me, just as they thought it fun when I played with them. That’s been our marriage, Torvald.
p. 838
p. 839
HELMER: There’s some truth in what you’re saying—under all the raving exaggeration. But it’ll all be different after this. Playtime’s over; now for the schooling.
NORA: Whose schooling—mine or the children’s?
HELMER: Both yours and the children’s, dearest.
NORA: Oh, Torvald, you’re not the man to teach me to be a good wife to you.
HELMER: And you can say that?
NORA: And I—how am I equipped to bring up children?
HELMER: Nora!
NORA: Didn’t you say a moment ago that that was no job to trust me with?
HELMER: In a flare of temper! Why fasten on that?
NORA: Yes, but you were so very right. I’m not up to the job. There’s another job I have to do first. I have to try to educate myself. You can’t help me with that. I’ve got to do it alone. And that’s why I’m leaving you now.
HELMER: [ Jumping up.] What’s that?
NORA: I have to stand completely alone, if I’m ever going to discover myself and the world out there. So I can’t go on living with you.
HELMER: Nora, Nora!
NORA: I want to leave right away. Kristine should put me up for the night—
HELMER: You’re insane! You’ve no right! I forbid you!
NORA: From here on, there’s no use forbidding me anything. I’ll take with me whatever is mine. I don’t want a thing from you, either now or later.
HELMER: What kind of madness is this!
NORA: Tomorrow I’m going home—I mean, home where I came from. It’ll be easier up there to find something to do.
HELMER: Oh, you blind, incompetent child!
NORA: I must learn to be competent, Torvald.
HELMER: Abandon your home, your husband, your children! And you’re not even thinking what people will say.
NORA: I can’t be concerned about that. I only know how essential this is.
HELMER: Oh, it’s outrageous. So you’ll run out like this on your most sacred vows.
NORA: What do you think are my most sacred vows?
HELMER: And I have to tell you that! Aren’t they your duties to your husband and children?
NORA: I have other duties equally sacred.
HELMER: That isn’t true. What duties are they?
NORA: Duties to myself.
HELMER: Before all else, you’re a wife and a mother.
NORA: I don’t believe in that anymore. I believe that, before all else, I’m a human being, no less than you—or anyway, I ought to try to become one. I know the majority thinks you’re right, Torvald, and plenty of books agree with you, too. But I can’t go on believing what the majority says, or what’s written in books. I have to think over these things myself and try to understand them.
HELMER: Why can’t you understand your place in your own home? On a point like that, isn’t there one everlasting guide you can turn to? Where’s your religion?
NORA: Oh, Torvald, I’m really not sure what religion is.
HELMER: What—?
NORA: I only know what the minister said when I was confirmed. He told me religion was this thing and that. When I get clear and away by myself, I’ll go into that problem too. I’ll see if what the minister said was right, or, in any case, if it’s right for me.
HELMER: A young woman your age shouldn’t talk like that. If religion can’t move you, I can try to rouse your conscience. You do have some moral feeling? Or, tell me—has that gone too?
NORA: It’s not easy to answer that, Torvald. I simply don’t know. I’m all confused about these things. I just know I see them so differently from you. I find out, for one thing, that the law’s not at all what I’d thought—but I can’t get it through my head that the law is fair. A woman hasn’t a right to protect her dying father or save her husband’s life! I can’t believe that.
HELMER: You talk like a child. You don’t know anything of the world you live in.
NORA: No, I don’t. But now I’ll begin to learn for myself. I’ll try to discover who’s right, the world or I.
HELMER: Nora, you’re sick; you’ve got a fever. I almost think you’re out of your head.
NORA: I’ve never felt more clearheaded and sure in my life.
HELMER: And—clearheaded and sure—you’re leaving your husband and children?
NORA: Yes.
HELMER: Then there’s only one possible reason.
NORA: What?
HELMER: You no longer love me.
NORA: No. That’s exactly it.
HELMER: Nora! You can’t be serious!
NORA: Oh, this is so hard, Torvald—you’ve been so kind to me always. But I can’t help it. I don’t love you anymore.
p. 840
p. 841
HELMER: [Struggling for composure.] Are you also clearheaded and sure about that?
NORA: Yes, completely. That’s why I can’t go on staying here.
HELMER: Can you tell me what I did to lose your love?
NORA: Yes, I can tell you. It was this evening when the miraculous thing didn’t come—then I knew you weren’t the man I’d imagined.
HELMER: Be more explicit; I don’t follow you.
NORA: I’ve waited now so patiently eight long years—for, my Lord, I know miracles don’t come every day. Then this crisis broke over me, and such a certainty filled me: now the miraculous event would occur. While Krogstad’s letter was lying out there, I never for an instant dreamed that you could give in to his terms. I was so utterly sure you’d say to him: go on, tell your tale to the whole wide world. And when he’d done that—
HELMER: Yes, what then? When I’d delivered my own wife into shame and disgrace—!
NORA: When he’d done that, I was so utterly sure that you’d step forward, take the blame on yourself and say: I am the guilty one.
HELMER: Nora—!
NORA: You’re thinking I’d never accept such a sacrifice from you? No, of course not. But what good would my protests be against you? That was the miracle I was waiting for, in terror and hope. And to stave that off, I would have taken my life.
HELMER: I’d gladly work for you day and night, Nora—and take on pain and deprivation. But there’s no one who gives up honor for love.
NORA: Millions of women have done just that.
HELMER: Oh, you think and talk like a silly child.
NORA: Perhaps. But you neither think nor talk like the man I could join myself to. When your big fright was over—and it wasn’t from any threat against me, only for what might damage you—when all the danger was past, for you it was just as if nothing had happened. I was exactly the same, your little lark, your doll, that you’d have to handle with double care now that I’d turned out so brittle and frail. [Gets up.] Torvald—in that instant it dawned on me that for eight years I’ve been living here with a stranger, and that I’d even conceived three children—oh, I can’t stand the thought of it! I could tear myself to bits.
HELMER: [Heavily.] I see. There’s a gulf that’s opened between us—that’s clear. Oh, but Nora, can’t we bridge it somehow?
NORA: The way I am now, I’m no wife for you.
HELMER: I have the strength to make myself over.
NORA: Maybe—if your doll gets taken away.
HELMER: But to part! To part from you! No, Nora, no—I can’t imagine it.
NORA: [Going out, right.] All the more reason why it has to be. [She reenters with her coat and a small overnight bag, which she puts on a chair by the table.]
HELMER: Nora, Nora, not now! Wait till tomorrow.
NORA: I can’t spend the night in a strange man’s room.
HELMER: But couldn’t we live here like brother and sister—
NORA: You know very well how long that would last. [Throws her shawl about her.] Good-bye, Torvald. I won’t look in on the children. I know they’re in better hands than mine. The way I am now, I’m no use to them.
HELMER: But someday, Nora—someday—?
NORA: How can I tell? I haven’t the least idea what’ll become of me.
HELMER: But you’re my wife, now and wherever you go.
NORA: Listen, Torvald—I’ve heard that when a wife deserts her husband’s house just as I’m doing, then the law frees him from all responsibility. In any case, I’m freeing you from being responsible. Don’t feel yourself bound, any more than I will. There has to be absolute freedom for us both. Here, take your ring back. Give me mine.
HELMER: That too?
NORA: That too.
HELMER: There it is.
NORA: Good. Well, now it’s all over. I’m putting the keys here. The maids know all about keeping up the house—better than I do. Tomorrow, after I’ve left town, Kristine will stop by to pack up everything that’s mine from home. I’d like those things shipped up to me.
HELMER: Over! All over! Nora, won’t you ever think about me?
NORA: I’m sure I’ll think of you often, and about the children and the house here.
HELMER: May I write you?
NORA: No—never. You’re not to do that.
HELMER: Oh, but let me send you—
NORA: Nothing. Nothing.
HELMER: Or help you if you need it.
NORA: No. I accept nothing from strangers.
HELMER: Nora—can I never be more than a stranger to you?
NORA: [Picking up the overnight bag.] Ah, Torvald—it would take the greatest miracle of all—
HELMER: Tell me the greatest miracle!
NORA: You and I both would have to transform ourselves to the point that—Oh, Torvald, I’ve stopped believing in miracles.
HELMER: But I’ll believe. Tell me! Transform ourselves to the point that—?
p. 842
p. 843
NORA: That our living together could be a true marriage. [She goes out down the hall.]
HELMER: [Sinks down on a chair by the door, face buried in his hands.] Nora! Nora! [Looking about and rising.] Empty. She’s gone. [A sudden hope leaps in him.] The greatest miracle—?
[From below, the sound of a door slamming shut.]
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