Quotes Flashcards
What is Helmers nickname for Nora about money
spendthrift
Nora’s first word in the play
it is very significant that Nora’s first word in the play is “Hide”
numerous critics suggest that this immediately signals her secrecy and links to the facade she maintains
role of money in the play, an early hint that money and debt will play a central part in the action of the play
Torvald says that “a home that is founded on debts and borrowing can never be a place of freedom and beauty”
Nora enjoys working because it gives her freedom and independence
“working and earning money… almost like being a man”
the audience may at first sympathise with Nora, she is fragile and innocent so there is something unsettling about Krogstad manipulating and intimidating someone so naïve, however, she is not entirely sympathetic - she displays classist attitudes when she regards Krogstad as a member of an inferior class
(no clear cut heroes or villains, all characters are complex and imperfect)
“one of my husband’s employees”
“filthy”
“beastly”
“one of my husband’s employees”
“filthy”
mirrors for Nora - while Mrs Linde shows Nora the independent and capable woman she can become, Krogstad also acts as a mirror as he and Nora have both committed the same crime and he shows her the scared and deceitful person she will become if she does not face her problems
“no bigger nor worse a crime than the one I once committed”
Nora’s dresses and costumes seem to be acquiring some kind of symbolic significance to her, they represent her false seeming and deception as well as Torvald’s control, she seems to be tired of having to dress up as her husband’s social and sexual inferior and being treated like a doll
she wants to “tear them into a million pieces” because of what they have come to symbolise
she wants to “tear them into a million pieces” because of what they have come to symbolise
Nora and Rank flirting with the silk stockings, it is quite shocking to see Nora be so crude and dominating in the conversation, contrasts to her being belittled and infantilised by Torvald
her remark that Rank can “look a bit higher” is shocking behaviour for a seemingly respectable, innocent wife
Torvald is oblivious to Nora’s manipulation and eager to become the guide and the protector in their marriage, he desires to be the powerful man and he expects Nora to be the submissive wife who constantly needs reassurance
he is only too happy to accept Nora’s invitation to “Correct me, lead me, the way you always do”
Nora may be being sarcastic here, she knows how to appeal to Torvald’s fragile masculinity and distract him but he is oblivious to her actions
Nora hints at the possibility of going mad, she is fragile and afraid at this point, she delivers a brief soliloquy here
“I should go out of my mind”
“Oh Torvald, Torvald! Now we’re lost”
Nora’s corruption of her children
she believes she is one of the “constitutional liars” that is “poisoning” her children
Torvald’s emotional insensitivity and inability to see that her exhaustion and anxiety is real, this is also the first time that Torvald has said anything outwardly violent and sinister, he seem to expect sex seeing as she is his wife, he thinks he owns her and her body, Nora refuses but he completely ignores her
“Don’t want, don’t want? Aren’t I your husband?”
Torvald drunkenly claims he will make a noble sacrifice for her, Nora now seems to be eager for the secret to be revealed, perhaps she is still convincing herself that he will be willing to forgive and sacrifice himself for her
“offer my life and my blood, everything”
Torvald locks the door, he traps her and confines her inside the ‘doll house’
“You’re going to stay here and explain yourself”
Torvald’s nicknames for Nora, he repeatedly objectifies her using animal names
“skylark”
“squirrel”
“squanderbird”
Nora purposefully playing into the roles that she knows Torvald loves, manipulating and influencing him to get what she wants, sexualising and objectifying herself
“turn myself into a little fairy and dance for you in the moonlight”
Torvald is not an evil character and cannot be easily categorised as a villain, he is controlling but seems to truly believe he is doing what is best for Nora and that he genuinely loves her
even when leaving Nora says “you’ve always been kind to me”
Torvald treats Nora like a trophy or an object to be showed off and displayed to other people, he shows her off to the neighbours at the party and then to Christine afterwards
“worth looking at, don’t you think?”
Torvald desires to be the rescuer and forgiver, he believes he is protecting her, when really he is imprisoning her, if anything he is the falcon that she needs saving from
“I shall watch over you like a hunted dove which I have snatched unharmed from the claws of the falcon”
Christine’s love and passion for work, she is an exemplification of ‘the New Woman’ and offers Nora a possible identity that she can adopt and work towards
she tells Krogstad it has been her “only joy”
Krogstad is the father presented most positively in the play, he is determined to fight for his job, which comes from a sense of responsibility he feels towards his children
“my sons are growing up: for their sake, I must try to regain what respectability !”
Rank’s love and genuine devotion to Nora, his sincerity and respect for her contrasts to Torvald’s false love that is merely desire, Rank seems to truly love her whereas Torvald constantly belittles and dehumanises her
he says he would “lay down [his] life” for her
Nora prioritising herself and deciding that she is more than the roles that society has assigned to her as a wife and a mother, she desires to be a human being rather than a doll
“first and foremost a human being”
Nora desiring independence and an identity for herself
“I must stand on my own feet if I am to find out the truth about myself and about life”
