A Dolls House Quotes Flashcards
“He’s so proud of being a man-
it’d be so painful and humiliating to know that he owed anything to me”
“Find some work that will
excersise and occupy my mind”
“We’re going to have heaps
and heaps of money”
“A home that is founded on
debts and borrowing can never be a place of freedom and beauty”
“If I get thrown into the gutter for a
second time, I shall take you with me”
-societal ladder
“I’ll do everything that you like Torvald. I’ll
sing for you, dance for you”
“Because an atmosphere of lies contaminates and poisons every corner of the home.
Every breath that the children draw in such a house contains the germs of evil”
“It was great fun […]
it was almost like being a man”
Torvald’s affectionate names for Nora
“my little skylark”
“my little sweetooth”
stage directions showing Nora’s secrecy Act 1
“Pops the bag of macaroons in her pocket and wipes her mouth”
stage directions showing Nora manipulating Torvald Act 1
“plays with his coat buttons; not looking at him”
- childish, using femininity to manipulate
(Mrs Linde) “I’m a bit older than you and
have a little more experience of the world”
(Torvald) “give the people the idea that
I am open to outside influence?”
-reputation
-victim of society’s attitudes
“I am man enough to
bear the burden for us both”
-men used to take the blame for crimes to protect women’s virtue
-seems like he is having to remind himself to fit in with societal attitudes
-Ibsen commenting that roles should be equal
“I feel the same about Torvald as
I did about Papa”
-marriage is like parent-child relationship
-child-wife
-Ibsen commenting on extreme and wired parallel and inequality in marriage
“Under the ice? Down in the cold, black water? And then in the spring,
to float up again, ugly, unrecognisable, hairless-?
-talking about suicide
-beauty valued
-more descriptive than all other dialogue (realist play)
stage directions of Nora’s tarentella
“dances more and more wildly”
“Helmer […] tries repeatedly to correct her, but she does not seem to hear him”
“Her hair works loose and falls over her shoulders”
-loose women- lower class behaviour
-disobeying Torvald
-representative of state of mind + psyche
description of christmas tree in Act 1 vs Act 2 + why
described in Act 1 as needing to be “decorated”, implied that it will be “extravagant”.
Act 2 “stripped and dishevelled”
-symbolic of state of mind
-more realistic, contrasts well-made play where sets are lavish
“Castaways have a better chance of
survival together than on their own”
(Mrs Linde saying to Krogstad”
“I practically had to use force
to get her away”
-husbands power of women
-Svenglai, moving performer
“Was I going to let her stay on and
spoil the impression?”
-bourgeious respectabilty and reputation
“my most treasured
possession”
-19th century view that husbands owned wives
“Aren’t I your husband”
-marital rape
- J.S Miller stood up against it
“All your father’s recklessness and
instability he has handed onto you!”
-heritidary sin
