Plot Flashcards
Act 1 Section 1: Nora and Torvald
Setting?
Comfortably, Tastefully… Not Expensively
Nora’s Secrecy and Deception
Hide the Christmas Tree
Torvald’s anthropomorphism
Skylark…Squirrel…Squanderbird
Nora’s Childlike expressions
“Lots and lots … Pooh”
Torvald’s Capitalist views
“Home founded on debts can never be a place of freedom and beauty”
Act 1 Section 2: Nora and Mrs Linde
Nora’s selfish remark
All alone…How dreadful
Christine’s remark on Nora’s Innocence (2)
Have you not grown up yet?
You know so little about the hardships in life
Christine’s view on the individual vs the self/Harsh societal boundaries
One has to live and so one becomes completely egocentric
Christine on the general hegemonic codes of Norway
A wife cannot borrow money without her husband’s consent
Nora’s sacrifice and protection of Torvald’s/The importance of societal acknowledgement
He’s so proud of being a man
Act 1 Section 3: Nora, Dr Rank, Christine
Dr Rank’s irony (Talking about Krogstad)
Morally sick… crippled… Twisted
Dr Rank’s probing of Nora’s knowledge
Do you really know what society is?
Nora’s Facade cracks (Without Toravld’s presence)
Bloody hell
Nora’s Irony towards her children
My baby doll
Nora playing Hide and Seek with her children (Representative of foreshadowed hiding from Krogstad/ Hiding away from the truth)
Nora hides under the tree
Krogstad’s Experience of Restricted societal bounds/ Mentioning of ruthless hegemonic codes
The law does not concern itself with motives
Nora’s critique of the hegemonic codes
The law must be very stupid
Act 1 Section 4: Nora and Torvald
Nora’s attempt to decorate her facade
Busy decorating the Christmas Tree
Torvald’s commentary on hereditary disease
An atmosphere of lies contaminates and poisons every corner of
Nora’s worry after Torvald’s comment on hereditary disease
Corrupt my little children! Poison my home
Act 2 Section 1: Nora, Christine and Torvald
Setting? Particularly the tree?
Stripped and dishevelled
Nora’s repressed wishes
I wish i could tear them into a million pieces
Nora’s Physical Facade/A Doll to dress up
Neapolitan Fisher Girl … Tarantella
Nora on Dr Rank’s hereditary disease
Terrible disease … Spinal Turbeculosis
Torvald’s commentary on Nora’s father
Not a man of unassailable reputation
Act 2 Section 2: Dr Rank and Nora
Dr Rank’s commentary on Torvald
I know he hates anything ugly
Dr Rank’s confession of love
Do you think he is the only one who would gladly lay down his life for you?
Dr Rank’s honesty on Nora and her deceit/ Commentary on her inability to find her true self
You have misled me. You riddle me
Act 2 Section 3: Krogstad and Nora
Krogstad’s motives
I was content to fight my way back inch by inch
Krogstad’s power over Nora
Your reputation is in my hands
Nora introduces the motif of the…
A miracle is about to happen
Act 2 Section 4: Nora and the preparation of the Tarantella
Nora’s way of breaking society confines
Dances more and more wildly
Torvald’s commentary on Nora’s wildness (2)
You’re dancing as if your life depended on it
Sheer lunacy
Act 3 Section 1: Mrs Linde and Krogstad’s reunion
Mrs Linde’s priorities
I was a helpless mother to take care of two little brothers
The forgiveness and path to redemption proposed by Mrs Linde (2)
Suppose to ship wrecked should could join hands
Better chance of survival together
Mrs Linde embracing the Individual over society
A woman who sold herself for the sake of other doesn’t make the same mistake again
Mrs Linde’s Political Strife
There must be an end to all these shiftings and evasions
Mrs Linde’s Love and Belongingness (Maslow)
I wont let this chance of happiness slip through my fingers
Act 3 Section 2: Torvald and Nora after the Tarantella
Torvald’s commentary of an exit after the Tarantella (Mockery of French Play/Reflect his old ways/Foreshadowing of Nora?)
An exit should always be dramatic
After Mrs Linde has left, Torvald’s lack of gentry
Dreadful bore that woman is
Torvald’s lustful remark
You’ve still got Tarantella in your blood … Makes you more desirable
Torval’d lustful remark
You’ve still got tarantella in your blood … Makes you more desirable
Torvald’s belittle of Nora again
Scientific Experiement! … Big words for my little Nora
Dr Rank sees through Nora’s facade (Uses Irony)
If only the disguises are amusing
Spirit of happiness … Your wife needs to appear as her normal self
Consequences for Dr Rank and his hereditary disease
He wants to shut himself up in his house and die
Torvald’s referral back to Nora’s father after finding out about the loan
Your father’s recklessness and instability
No religion, No morals, No sense of duty
Torvald’s Punishment of Nora
The children are taken out of your hands
Torvald’s true ambitions show after finding the ounce of hope that his reputation will not be wrecked
I am saved
Torvald’s condescending “Forgiveness understanding the reasons of her actions” (2)
Inexperience … Feminine helplessness… I have forgiven you
Satisfying in knowing he has forgiven his wife
The physical transition of Nora (from naivety to experience)
Taking off my fancy dress … everyday dress
Nora’s Anagnorisis (Ownership x2, Duty, Society, Stranger)
Ownership -
First by Papa now by you
The children have been my dolls
Can you neglect your most sacred duties … My duty is towards my self
You don’t understand how society works … but i intend to
Living with a complete stranger … I could tear myself to pieces
Referral back to the major motif
Now the miracle will take place
Miracles of miracles … I don’t believe in miracles any longer
Torvald’s rigidity in his beliefs constructed by societal status
No man can be expected to sacrifice his honour, even for the person he loves
Dramatic Exit foreshadowed
Slammed Shut
Motifs in A Dolls House
Christmas Tree
Stove
Letterbox
Macaroons
Tarantella
Miracles
Doors
What is the motif of the Christmas tree symbolic of?
Nora and her mental state (her duplicity)
Appearance vs Reality = Decoration means blotting her anxieties
Family happiness and unity
What is the motif of the stove symbolic of?
Reflects her constant effort to escape her guilt
Relief, Warmth, Security
What is the motif of the Letter box symbolic of?
Letterbox = locked away from Nora - Torvald’s control
Route to freedom
Secrecy
What is the motif of the Macaroons symbolic of?
Deception, Secrecy, Disobedience
Rebellious
Rejection of social conformity
What is the motif of the Tarantella symbolic of?
Drops the facade of a perfect mild-mannered Victorian wife with no boundaries/limits
Performance of those who were bit by a tarantula
What is the motif of the miracle symbolic of?
False hope due to Torvald
True forgiveness attained through the hope that Torvald’s would take responsibility = Trust in the divine insitution of marriage based on love
What is the motif of Doors symbolic of?
Caged
Free choice vs determinism by social pressures