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diff --git a/search-engine/books/A Doll's House : a play.txt b/search-engine/books/A Doll's House : a play.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..679e8b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/search-engine/books/A Doll's House : a play.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5168 @@ +Title: A Doll's House : a play +Author: Henrik Ibsen + +A Doll’s House + +by Henrik Ibsen + + +Contents + + ACT I. + ACT II. + ACT III. + + + DRAMATIS PERSONAE + +Torvald Helmer. +Nora, his wife. +Doctor Rank. +Mrs Linde. +Nils Krogstad. +Helmer’s three young children. +Anne, their nurse. +A Housemaid. +A Porter. + +_[The action takes place in Helmer’s house.]_ + + + + +A DOLL’S HOUSE + + + + +ACT I + + +_[SCENE.—A room furnished comfortably and tastefully, but not +extravagantly. At the back, a door to the right leads to the +entrance-hall, another to the left leads to Helmer’s study. Between the +doors stands a piano. In the middle of the left-hand wall is a door, +and beyond it a window. Near the window are a round table, arm-chairs +and a small sofa. In the right-hand wall, at the farther end, another +door; and on the same side, nearer the footlights, a stove, two easy +chairs and a rocking-chair; between the stove and the door, a small +table. Engravings on the walls; a cabinet with china and other small +objects; a small book-case with well-bound books. The floors are +carpeted, and a fire burns in the stove. It is winter._ + +_A bell rings in the hall; shortly afterwards the door is heard to +open. Enter NORA, humming a tune and in high spirits. She is in outdoor +dress and carries a number of parcels; these she lays on the table to +the right. She leaves the outer door open after her, and through it is +seen a PORTER who is carrying a Christmas Tree and a basket, which he +gives to the MAID who has opened the door.]_ + +NORA. +Hide the Christmas Tree carefully, Helen. Be sure the children do not +see it until this evening, when it is dressed. _[To the PORTER, taking +out her purse.]_ How much? + +PORTER. +Sixpence. + +NORA. +There is a shilling. No, keep the change. _[The PORTER thanks her, and +goes out. NORA shuts the door. She is laughing to herself, as she takes +off her hat and coat. She takes a packet of macaroons from her pocket +and eats one or two; then goes cautiously to her husband’s door and +listens.]_ Yes, he is in. _[Still humming, she goes to the table on the +right.]_ + +HELMER. +_[calls out from his room]_. Is that my little lark twittering out +there? + +NORA. +_[busy opening some of the parcels]_. Yes, it is! + +HELMER. +Is it my little squirrel bustling about? + +NORA. +Yes! + +HELMER. +When did my squirrel come home? + +NORA. +Just now. _[Puts the bag of macaroons into her pocket and wipes her +mouth.]_ Come in here, Torvald, and see what I have bought. + +HELMER. +Don’t disturb me. _[A little later, he opens the door and looks into +the room, pen in hand.]_ Bought, did you say? All these things? Has my +little spendthrift been wasting money again? + +NORA. +Yes but, Torvald, this year we really can let ourselves go a little. +This is the first Christmas that we have not needed to economise. + +HELMER. +Still, you know, we can’t spend money recklessly. + +NORA. +Yes, Torvald, we may be a wee bit more reckless now, mayn’t we? Just a +tiny wee bit! You are going to have a big salary and earn lots and lots +of money. + +HELMER. +Yes, after the New Year; but then it will be a whole quarter before the +salary is due. + +NORA. +Pooh! we can borrow until then. + +HELMER. +Nora! _[Goes up to her and takes her playfully by the ear.]_ The same +little featherhead! Suppose, now, that I borrowed fifty pounds today, +and you spent it all in the Christmas week, and then on New Year’s Eve +a slate fell on my head and killed me, and— + +NORA. +_[putting her hands over his mouth]_. Oh! don’t say such horrid things. + +HELMER. +Still, suppose that happened,—what then? + +NORA. +If that were to happen, I don’t suppose I should care whether I owed +money or not. + +HELMER. +Yes, but what about the people who had lent it? + +NORA. +They? Who would bother about them? I should not know who they were. + +HELMER. +That is like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about +that. No debt, no borrowing. There can be no freedom or beauty about a +home life that depends on borrowing and debt. We two have kept bravely +on the straight road so far, and we will go on the same way for the +short time longer that there need be any struggle. + +NORA. +_[moving towards the stove]_. As you please, Torvald. + +HELMER. +_[following her]_. Come, come, my little skylark must not droop her +wings. What is this! Is my little squirrel out of temper? _[Taking out +his purse.]_ Nora, what do you think I have got here? + +NORA. +_[turning round quickly]_. Money! + +HELMER. +There you are. _[Gives her some money.]_ Do you think I don’t know what +a lot is wanted for housekeeping at Christmas-time? + +NORA. +_[counting]_. Ten shillings—a pound—two pounds! Thank you, thank you, +Torvald; that will keep me going for a long time. + +HELMER. +Indeed it must. + +NORA. +Yes, yes, it will. But come here and let me show you what I have +bought. And all so cheap! Look, here is a new suit for Ivar, and a +sword; and a horse and a trumpet for Bob; and a doll and dolly’s +bedstead for Emmy,—they are very plain, but anyway she will soon break +them in pieces. And here are dress-lengths and handkerchiefs for the +maids; old Anne ought really to have something better. + +HELMER. +And what is in this parcel? + +NORA. +_[crying out]_. No, no! you mustn’t see that until this evening. + +HELMER. +Very well. But now tell me, you extravagant little person, what would +you like for yourself? + +NORA. +For myself? Oh, I am sure I don’t want anything. + +HELMER. +Yes, but you must. Tell me something reasonable that you would +particularly like to have. + +NORA. +No, I really can’t think of anything—unless, Torvald— + +HELMER. +Well? + +NORA. +_[playing with his coat buttons, and without raising her eyes to his]_. +If you really want to give me something, you might—you might— + +HELMER. +Well, out with it! + +NORA. +_[speaking quickly]_. You might give me money, Torvald. Only just as +much as you can afford; and then one of these days I will buy something +with it. + +HELMER. +But, Nora— + +NORA. +Oh, do! dear Torvald; please, please do! Then I will wrap it up in +beautiful gilt paper and hang it on the Christmas Tree. Wouldn’t that +be fun? + +HELMER. +What are little people called that are always wasting money? + +NORA. +Spendthrifts—I know. Let us do as you suggest, Torvald, and then I +shall have time to think what I am most in want of. That is a very +sensible plan, isn’t it? + +HELMER. +_[smiling]_. Indeed it is—that is to say, if you were really to save +out of the money I give you, and then really buy something for +yourself. But if you spend it all on the housekeeping and any number of +unnecessary things, then I merely have to pay up again. + +NORA. +Oh but, Torvald— + +HELMER. +You can’t deny it, my dear little Nora. _[Puts his arm round her +waist.]_ It’s a sweet little spendthrift, but she uses up a deal of +money. One would hardly believe how expensive such little persons are! + +NORA. +It’s a shame to say that. I do really save all I can. + +HELMER. +_[laughing]_. That’s very true,—all you can. But you can’t save +anything! + +NORA. +_[smiling quietly and happily]_. You haven’t any idea how many expenses +we skylarks and squirrels have, Torvald. + +HELMER. +You are an odd little soul. Very like your father. You always find some +new way of wheedling money out of me, and, as soon as you have got it, +it seems to melt in your hands. You never know where it has gone. +Still, one must take you as you are. It is in the blood; for indeed it +is true that you can inherit these things, Nora. + +NORA. +Ah, I wish I had inherited many of papa’s qualities. + +HELMER. +And I would not wish you to be anything but just what you are, my sweet +little skylark. But, do you know, it strikes me that you are looking +rather—what shall I say—rather uneasy today? + +NORA. +Do I? + +HELMER. +You do, really. Look straight at me. + +NORA. +_[looks at him]_. Well? + +HELMER. +_[wagging his finger at her]_. Hasn’t Miss Sweet Tooth been breaking +rules in town today? + +NORA. +No; what makes you think that? + +HELMER. +Hasn’t she paid a visit to the confectioner’s? + +NORA. +No, I assure you, Torvald— + +HELMER. +Not been nibbling sweets? + +NORA. +No, certainly not. + +HELMER. +Not even taken a bite at a macaroon or two? + +NORA. +No, Torvald, I assure you really— + +HELMER. +There, there, of course I was only joking. + +NORA. +_[going to the table on the right]_. I should not think of going +against your wishes. + +HELMER. +No, I am sure of that; besides, you gave me your word— _[Going up to +her.]_ Keep your little Christmas secrets to yourself, my darling. They +will all be revealed tonight when the Christmas Tree is lit, no doubt. + +NORA. +Did you remember to invite Doctor Rank? + +HELMER. +No. But there is no need; as a matter of course he will come to dinner +with us. However, I will ask him when he comes in this morning. I have +ordered some good wine. Nora, you can’t think how I am looking forward +to this evening. + +NORA. +So am I! And how the children will enjoy themselves, Torvald! + +HELMER. +It is splendid to feel that one has a perfectly safe appointment, and a +big enough income. It’s delightful to think of, isn’t it? + +NORA. +It’s wonderful! + +HELMER. +Do you remember last Christmas? For a full three weeks beforehand you +shut yourself up every evening until long after midnight, making +ornaments for the Christmas Tree, and all the other fine things that +were to be a surprise to us. It was the dullest three weeks I ever +spent! + +NORA. +I didn’t find it dull. + +HELMER. +_[smiling]_. But there was precious little result, Nora. + +NORA. +Oh, you shouldn’t tease me about that again. How could I help the cat’s +going in and tearing everything to pieces? + +HELMER. +Of course you couldn’t, poor little girl. You had the best of +intentions to please us all, and that’s the main thing. But it is a +good thing that our hard times are over. + +NORA. +Yes, it is really wonderful. + +HELMER. +This time I needn’t sit here and be dull all alone, and you needn’t +ruin your dear eyes and your pretty little hands— + +NORA. +_[clapping her hands]_. No, Torvald, I needn’t any longer, need I! It’s +wonderfully lovely to hear you say so! _[Taking his arm.]_ Now I will +tell you how I have been thinking we ought to arrange things, Torvald. +As soon as Christmas is over—_[A bell rings in the hall.]_ There’s the +bell. _[She tidies the room a little.]_ There’s some one at the door. +What a nuisance! + +HELMER. +If it is a caller, remember I am not at home. + +MAID. +_[in the doorway]_. A lady to see you, ma’am,—a stranger. + +NORA. +Ask her to come in. + +MAID. +_[to HELMER]_. The doctor came at the same time, sir. + +HELMER. +Did he go straight into my room? + +MAID. +Yes, sir. + +_[HELMER goes into his room. The MAID ushers in Mrs Linde, who is in +travelling dress, and shuts the door.]_ + +MRS LINDE. +_[in a dejected and timid voice]_. How do you do, Nora? + +NORA. +_[doubtfully]_. How do you do— + +MRS LINDE. +You don’t recognise me, I suppose. + +NORA. +No, I don’t know—yes, to be sure, I seem to—_[Suddenly.]_ Yes! +Christine! Is it really you? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, it is I. + +NORA. +Christine! To think of my not recognising you! And yet how could I—_[In +a gentle voice.]_ How you have altered, Christine! + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, I have indeed. In nine, ten long years— + +NORA. +Is it so long since we met? I suppose it is. The last eight years have +been a happy time for me, I can tell you. And so now you have come into +the town, and have taken this long journey in winter—that was plucky of +you. + +MRS LINDE. +I arrived by steamer this morning. + +NORA. +To have some fun at Christmas-time, of course. How delightful! We will +have such fun together! But take off your things. You are not cold, I +hope. _[Helps her.]_ Now we will sit down by the stove, and be cosy. +No, take this armchair; I will sit here in the rocking-chair. _[Takes +her hands.]_ Now you look like your old self again; it was only the +first moment—You are a little paler, Christine, and perhaps a little +thinner. + +MRS LINDE. +And much, much older, Nora. + +NORA. +Perhaps a little older; very, very little; certainly not much. _[Stops +suddenly and speaks seriously.]_ What a thoughtless creature I am, +chattering away like this. My poor, dear Christine, do forgive me. + +MRS LINDE. +What do you mean, Nora? + +NORA. +_[gently]_. Poor Christine, you are a widow. + +MRS LINDE. +Yes; it is three years ago now. + +NORA. +Yes, I knew; I saw it in the papers. I assure you, Christine, I meant +ever so often to write to you at the time, but I always put it off and +something always prevented me. + +MRS LINDE. +I quite understand, dear. + +NORA. +It was very bad of me, Christine. Poor thing, how you must have +suffered. And he left you nothing? + +MRS LINDE. +No. + +NORA. +And no children? + +MRS LINDE. +No. + +NORA. +Nothing at all, then. + +MRS LINDE. +Not even any sorrow or grief to live upon. + +NORA. +_[looking incredulously at her]_. But, Christine, is that possible? + +MRS LINDE. +_[smiles sadly and strokes her hair]_. It sometimes happens, Nora. + +NORA. +So you are quite alone. How dreadfully sad that must be. I have three +lovely children. You can’t see them just now, for they are out with +their nurse. But now you must tell me all about it. + +MRS LINDE. +No, no; I want to hear about you. + +NORA. +No, you must begin. I mustn’t be selfish today; today I must only think +of your affairs. But there is one thing I must tell you. Do you know we +have just had a great piece of good luck? + +MRS LINDE. +No, what is it? + +NORA. +Just fancy, my husband has been made manager of the Bank! + +MRS LINDE. +Your husband? What good luck! + +NORA. +Yes, tremendous! A barrister’s profession is such an uncertain thing, +especially if he won’t undertake unsavoury cases; and naturally Torvald +has never been willing to do that, and I quite agree with him. You may +imagine how pleased we are! He is to take up his work in the Bank at +the New Year, and then he will have a big salary and lots of +commissions. For the future we can live quite differently—we can do +just as we like. I feel so relieved and so happy, Christine! It will be +splendid to have heaps of money and not need to have any anxiety, won’t +it? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, anyhow I think it would be delightful to have what one needs. + +NORA. +No, not only what one needs, but heaps and heaps of money. + +MRS LINDE. +_[smiling]_. Nora, Nora, haven’t you learned sense yet? In our +schooldays you were a great spendthrift. + +NORA. +_[laughing]_. Yes, that is what Torvald says now. _[Wags her finger at +her.]_ But “Nora, Nora” is not so silly as you think. We have not been +in a position for me to waste money. We have both had to work. + +MRS LINDE. +You too? + +NORA. +Yes; odds and ends, needlework, crotchet-work, embroidery, and that +kind of thing. _[Dropping her voice.]_ And other things as well. You +know Torvald left his office when we were married? There was no +prospect of promotion there, and he had to try and earn more than +before. But during the first year he over-worked himself dreadfully. +You see, he had to make money every way he could, and he worked early +and late; but he couldn’t stand it, and fell dreadfully ill, and the +doctors said it was necessary for him to go south. + +MRS LINDE. +You spent a whole year in Italy, didn’t you? + +NORA. +Yes. It was no easy matter to get away, I can tell you. It was just +after Ivar was born; but naturally we had to go. It was a wonderfully +beautiful journey, and it saved Torvald’s life. But it cost a +tremendous lot of money, Christine. + +MRS LINDE. +So I should think. + +NORA. +It cost about two hundred and fifty pounds. That’s a lot, isn’t it? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, and in emergencies like that it is lucky to have the money. + +NORA. +I ought to tell you that we had it from papa. + +MRS LINDE. +Oh, I see. It was just about that time that he died, wasn’t it? + +NORA. +Yes; and, just think of it, I couldn’t go and nurse him. I was +expecting little Ivar’s birth every day and I had my poor sick Torvald +to look after. My dear, kind father—I never saw him again, Christine. +That was the saddest time I have known since our marriage. + +MRS LINDE. +I know how fond you were of him. And then you went off to Italy? + +NORA. +Yes; you see we had money then, and the doctors insisted on our going, +so we started a month later. + +MRS LINDE. +And your husband came back quite well? + +NORA. +As sound as a bell! + +MRS LINDE. +But—the doctor? + +NORA. +What doctor? + +MRS LINDE. +I thought your maid said the gentleman who arrived here just as I did, +was the doctor? + +NORA. +Yes, that was Doctor Rank, but he doesn’t come here professionally. He +is our greatest friend, and comes in at least once every day. No, +Torvald has not had an hour’s illness since then, and our children are +strong and healthy and so am I. _[Jumps up and claps her hands.]_ +Christine! Christine! it’s good to be alive and happy!—But how horrid +of me; I am talking of nothing but my own affairs. _[Sits on a stool +near her, and rests her arms on her knees.]_ You mustn’t be angry with +me. Tell me, is it really true that you did not love your husband? Why +did you marry him? + +MRS LINDE. +My mother was alive then, and was bedridden and helpless, and I had to +provide for my two younger brothers; so I did not think I was justified +in refusing his offer. + +NORA. +No, perhaps you were quite right. He was rich at that time, then? + +MRS LINDE. +I believe he was quite well off. But his business was a precarious one; +and, when he died, it all went to pieces and there was nothing left. + +NORA. +And then?— + +MRS LINDE. +Well, I had to turn my hand to anything I could find—first a small +shop, then a small school, and so on. The last three years have seemed +like one long working-day, with no rest. Now it is at an end, Nora. My +poor mother needs me no more, for she is gone; and the boys do not need +me either; they have got situations and can shift for themselves. + +NORA. +What a relief you must feel if— + +MRS LINDE. +No, indeed; I only feel my life unspeakably empty. No one to live for +anymore. _[Gets up restlessly.]_ That was why I could not stand the +life in my little backwater any longer. I hope it may be easier here to +find something which will busy me and occupy my thoughts. If only I +could have the good luck to get some regular work—office work of some +kind— + +NORA. +But, Christine, that is so frightfully tiring, and you look tired out +now. You had far better go away to some watering-place. + +MRS LINDE. +_[walking to the window]_. I have no father to give me money for a +journey, Nora. + +NORA. +_[rising]_. Oh, don’t be angry with me! + +MRS LINDE. +_[going up to her]_. It is you that must not be angry with me, dear. +The worst of a position like mine is that it makes one so bitter. No +one to work for, and yet obliged to be always on the lookout for +chances. One must live, and so one becomes selfish. When you told me of +the happy turn your fortunes have taken—you will hardly believe it—I +was delighted not so much on your account as on my own. + +NORA. +How do you mean?—Oh, I understand. You mean that perhaps Torvald could +get you something to do. + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, that was what I was thinking of. + +NORA. +He must, Christine. Just leave it to me; I will broach the subject very +cleverly—I will think of something that will please him very much. It +will make me so happy to be of some use to you. + +MRS LINDE. +How kind you are, Nora, to be so anxious to help me! It is doubly kind +in you, for you know so little of the burdens and troubles of life. + +NORA. +I—? I know so little of them? + +MRS LINDE. +_[smiling]_. My dear! Small household cares and that sort of thing!—You +are a child, Nora. + +NORA. +_[tosses her head and crosses the stage]_. You ought not to be so +superior. + +MRS LINDE. +No? + +NORA. +You are just like the others. They all think that I am incapable of +anything really serious— + +MRS LINDE. +Come, come— + +NORA. +—that I have gone through nothing in this world of cares. + +MRS LINDE. +But, my dear Nora, you have just told me all your troubles. + +NORA. +Pooh!—those were trifles. _[Lowering her voice.]_ I have not told you +the important thing. + +MRS LINDE. +The important thing? What do you mean? + +NORA. +You look down upon me altogether, Christine—but you ought not to. You +are proud, aren’t you, of having worked so hard and so long for your +mother? + +MRS LINDE. +Indeed, I don’t look down on anyone. But it is true that I am both +proud and glad to think that I was privileged to make the end of my +mother’s life almost free from care. + +NORA. +And you are proud to think of what you have done for your brothers? + +MRS LINDE. +I think I have the right to be. + +NORA. +I think so, too. But now, listen to this; I too have something to be +proud and glad of. + +MRS LINDE. +I have no doubt you have. But what do you refer to? + +NORA. +Speak low. Suppose Torvald were to hear! He mustn’t on any account—no +one in the world must know, Christine, except you. + +MRS LINDE. +But what is it? + +NORA. +Come here. _[Pulls her down on the sofa beside her.]_ Now I will show +you that I too have something to be proud and glad of. It was I who +saved Torvald’s life. + +MRS LINDE. +“Saved”? How? + +NORA. +I told you about our trip to Italy. Torvald would never have recovered +if he had not gone there— + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, but your father gave you the necessary funds. + +NORA. +_[smiling]_. Yes, that is what Torvald and all the others think, but— + +MRS LINDE. +But— + +NORA. +Papa didn’t give us a shilling. It was I who procured the money. + +MRS LINDE. +You? All that large sum? + +NORA. +Two hundred and fifty pounds. What do you think of that? + +MRS LINDE. +But, Nora, how could you possibly do it? Did you win a prize in the +Lottery? + +NORA. +_[contemptuously]_. In the Lottery? There would have been no credit in +that. + +MRS LINDE. +But where did you get it from, then? Nora _[humming and smiling with an +air of mystery]_. Hm, hm! Aha! + +MRS LINDE. +Because you couldn’t have borrowed it. + +NORA. +Couldn’t I? Why not? + +MRS LINDE. +No, a wife cannot borrow without her husband’s consent. + +NORA. +_[tossing her head]_. Oh, if it is a wife who has any head for +business—a wife who has the wit to be a little bit clever— + +MRS LINDE. +I don’t understand it at all, Nora. + +NORA. +There is no need you should. I never said I had borrowed the money. I +may have got it some other way. _[Lies back on the sofa.]_ Perhaps I +got it from some other admirer. When anyone is as attractive as I am— + +MRS LINDE. +You are a mad creature. + +NORA. +Now, you know you’re full of curiosity, Christine. + +MRS LINDE. +Listen to me, Nora dear. Haven’t you been a little bit imprudent? + +NORA. +_[sits up straight]_. Is it imprudent to save your husband’s life? + +MRS LINDE. +It seems to me imprudent, without his knowledge, to— + +NORA. +But it was absolutely necessary that he should not know! My goodness, +can’t you understand that? It was necessary he should have no idea what +a dangerous condition he was in. It was to me that the doctors came and +said that his life was in danger, and that the only thing to save him +was to live in the south. Do you suppose I didn’t try, first of all, to +get what I wanted as if it were for myself? I told him how much I +should love to travel abroad like other young wives; I tried tears and +entreaties with him; I told him that he ought to remember the condition +I was in, and that he ought to be kind and indulgent to me; I even +hinted that he might raise a loan. That nearly made him angry, +Christine. He said I was thoughtless, and that it was his duty as my +husband not to indulge me in my whims and caprices—as I believe he +called them. Very well, I thought, you must be saved—and that was how I +came to devise a way out of the difficulty— + +MRS LINDE. +And did your husband never get to know from your father that the money +had not come from him? + +NORA. +No, never. Papa died just at that time. I had meant to let him into the +secret and beg him never to reveal it. But he was so ill then—alas, +there never was any need to tell him. + +MRS LINDE. +And since then have you never told your secret to your husband? + +NORA. +Good Heavens, no! How could you think so? A man who has such strong +opinions about these things! And besides, how painful and humiliating +it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he +owed me anything! It would upset our mutual relations altogether; our +beautiful happy home would no longer be what it is now. + +MRS LINDE. +Do you mean never to tell him about it? + +NORA. +_[meditatively, and with a half smile]_. Yes—someday, perhaps, after +many years, when I am no longer as nice-looking as I am now. Don’t +laugh at me! I mean, of course, when Torvald is no longer as devoted to +me as he is now; when my dancing and dressing-up and reciting have +palled on him; then it may be a good thing to have something in +reserve—_[Breaking off.]_ What nonsense! That time will never come. +Now, what do you think of my great secret, Christine? Do you still +think I am of no use? I can tell you, too, that this affair has caused +me a lot of worry. It has been by no means easy for me to meet my +engagements punctually. I may tell you that there is something that is +called, in business, quarterly interest, and another thing called +payment in installments, and it is always so dreadfully difficult to +manage them. I have had to save a little here and there, where I could, +you understand. I have not been able to put aside much from my +housekeeping money, for Torvald must have a good table. I couldn’t let +my children be shabbily dressed; I have felt obliged to use up all he +gave me for them, the sweet little darlings! + +MRS LINDE. +So it has all had to come out of your own necessaries of life, poor +Nora? + +NORA. +Of course. Besides, I was the one responsible for it. Whenever Torvald +has given me money for new dresses and such things, I have never spent +more than half of it; I have always bought the simplest and cheapest +things. Thank Heaven, any clothes look well on me, and so Torvald has +never noticed it. But it was often very hard on me, Christine—because +it is delightful to be really well dressed, isn’t it? + +MRS LINDE. +Quite so. + +NORA. +Well, then I have found other ways of earning money. Last winter I was +lucky enough to get a lot of copying to do; so I locked myself up and +sat writing every evening until quite late at night. Many a time I was +desperately tired; but all the same it was a tremendous pleasure to sit +there working and earning money. It was like being a man. + +MRS LINDE. +How much have you been able to pay off in that way? + +NORA. +I can’t tell you exactly. You see, it is very difficult to keep an +account of a business matter of that kind. I only know that I have paid +every penny that I could scrape together. Many a time I was at my wits’ +end. _[Smiles.]_ Then I used to sit here and imagine that a rich old +gentleman had fallen in love with me— + +MRS LINDE. +What! Who was it? + +NORA. +Be quiet!—that he had died; and that when his will was opened it +contained, written in big letters, the instruction: “The lovely Mrs +Nora Helmer is to have all I possess paid over to her at once in cash.” + +MRS LINDE. +But, my dear Nora—who could the man be? + +NORA. +Good gracious, can’t you understand? There was no old gentleman at all; +it was only something that I used to sit here and imagine, when I +couldn’t think of any way of procuring money. But it’s all the same +now; the tiresome old person can stay where he is, as far as I am +concerned; I don’t care about him or his will either, for I am free +from care now. _[Jumps up.]_ My goodness, it’s delightful to think of, +Christine! Free from care! To be able to be free from care, quite free +from care; to be able to play and romp with the children; to be able to +keep the house beautifully and have everything just as Torvald likes +it! And, think of it, soon the spring will come and the big blue sky! +Perhaps we shall be able to take a little trip—perhaps I shall see the +sea again! Oh, it’s a wonderful thing to be alive and be happy. _[A +bell is heard in the hall.]_ + +MRS LINDE. +_[rising]_. There is the bell; perhaps I had better go. + +NORA. +No, don’t go; no one will come in here; it is sure to be for Torvald. + +SERVANT. +_[at the hall door]_. Excuse me, ma’am—there is a gentleman to see the +master, and as the doctor is with him— + +NORA. +Who is it? + +KROGSTAD. +_[at the door]_. It is I, Mrs Helmer. _[Mrs LINDE starts, trembles, and +turns to the window.]_ + +NORA. +_[takes a step towards him, and speaks in a strained, low voice]_. You? +What is it? What do you want to see my husband about? + +KROGSTAD. +Bank business—in a way. I have a small post in the Bank, and I hear +your husband is to be our chief now— + +NORA. +Then it is— + +KROGSTAD. +Nothing but dry business matters, Mrs Helmer; absolutely nothing else. + +NORA. +Be so good as to go into the study, then. _[She bows indifferently to +him and shuts the door into the hall; then comes back and makes up the +fire in the stove.]_ + +MRS LINDE. +Nora—who was that man? + +NORA. +A lawyer, of the name of Krogstad. + +MRS LINDE. +Then it really was he. + +NORA. +Do you know the man? + +MRS LINDE. +I used to—many years ago. At one time he was a solicitor’s clerk in our +town. + +NORA. +Yes, he was. + +MRS LINDE. +He is greatly altered. + +NORA. +He made a very unhappy marriage. + +MRS LINDE. +He is a widower now, isn’t he? + +NORA. +With several children. There now, it is burning up. [Shuts the door of +the stove and moves the rocking-chair aside.] + +MRS LINDE. +They say he carries on various kinds of business. + +NORA. +Really! Perhaps he does; I don’t know anything about it. But don’t let +us think of business; it is so tiresome. + +DOCTOR RANK. +_[comes out of HELMER’S study. Before he shuts the door he calls to +him]_. No, my dear fellow, I won’t disturb you; I would rather go in to +your wife for a little while. _[Shuts the door and sees Mrs LINDE.]_ I +beg your pardon; I am afraid I am disturbing you too. + +NORA. +No, not at all. _[Introducing him]_. Doctor Rank, Mrs Linde. + +RANK. +I have often heard Mrs Linde’s name mentioned here. I think I passed +you on the stairs when I arrived, Mrs Linde? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, I go up very slowly; I can’t manage stairs well. + +RANK. +Ah! some slight internal weakness? + +MRS LINDE. +No, the fact is I have been overworking myself. + +RANK. +Nothing more than that? Then I suppose you have come to town to amuse +yourself with our entertainments? + +MRS LINDE. +I have come to look for work. + +RANK. +Is that a good cure for overwork? + +MRS LINDE. +One must live, Doctor Rank. + +RANK. +Yes, the general opinion seems to be that it is necessary. + +NORA. +Look here, Doctor Rank—you know you want to live. + +RANK. +Certainly. However wretched I may feel, I want to prolong the agony as +long as possible. All my patients are like that. And so are those who +are morally diseased; one of them, and a bad case too, is at this very +moment with Helmer— + +MRS LINDE. +_[sadly]_. Ah! + +NORA. +Whom do you mean? + +RANK. +A lawyer of the name of Krogstad, a fellow you don’t know at all. He +suffers from a diseased moral character, Mrs Helmer; but even he began +talking of its being highly important that he should live. + +NORA. +Did he? What did he want to speak to Torvald about? + +RANK. +I have no idea; I only heard that it was something about the Bank. + +NORA. +I didn’t know this—what’s his name—Krogstad had anything to do with the +Bank. + +RANK. +Yes, he has some sort of appointment there. _[To Mrs Linde.]_ I don’t +know whether you find also in your part of the world that there are +certain people who go zealously snuffing about to smell out moral +corruption, and, as soon as they have found some, put the person +concerned into some lucrative position where they can keep their eye on +him. Healthy natures are left out in the cold. + +MRS LINDE. +Still I think the sick are those who most need taking care of. + +RANK. +_[shrugging his shoulders]_. Yes, there you are. That is the sentiment +that is turning Society into a sick-house. + +_[NORA, who has been absorbed in her thoughts, breaks out into +smothered laughter and claps her hands.]_ + +RANK. +Why do you laugh at that? Have you any notion what Society really is? + +NORA. +What do I care about tiresome Society? I am laughing at something quite +different, something extremely amusing. Tell me, Doctor Rank, are all +the people who are employed in the Bank dependent on Torvald now? + +RANK. +Is that what you find so extremely amusing? + +NORA. +_[smiling and humming]_. That’s my affair! _[Walking about the room.]_ +It’s perfectly glorious to think that we have—that Torvald has so much +power over so many people. _[Takes the packet from her pocket.]_ Doctor +Rank, what do you say to a macaroon? + +RANK. +What, macaroons? I thought they were forbidden here. + +NORA. +Yes, but these are some Christine gave me. + +MRS LINDE. +What! I?— + +NORA. +Oh, well, don’t be alarmed! You couldn’t know that Torvald had +forbidden them. I must tell you that he is afraid they will spoil my +teeth. But, bah!—once in a way—That’s so, isn’t it, Doctor Rank? By +your leave! _[Puts a macaroon into his mouth.]_ You must have one too, +Christine. And I shall have one, just a little one—or at most two. +_[Walking about.]_ I am tremendously happy. There is just one thing in +the world now that I should dearly love to do. + +RANK. +Well, what is that? + +NORA. +It’s something I should dearly love to say, if Torvald could hear me. + +RANK. +Well, why can’t you say it? + +NORA. +No, I daren’t; it’s so shocking. + +MRS LINDE. +Shocking? + +RANK. +Well, I should not advise you to say it. Still, with us you might. What +is it you would so much like to say if Torvald could hear you? + +NORA. +I should just love to say—Well, I’m damned! + +RANK. +Are you mad? + +MRS LINDE. +Nora, dear—! + +RANK. +Say it, here he is! + +NORA. +_[hiding the packet]_. Hush! Hush! Hush! _[HELMER comes out of his +room, with his coat over his arm and his hat in his hand.]_ + +NORA. +Well, Torvald dear, have you got rid of him? + +HELMER. +Yes, he has just gone. + +NORA. +Let me introduce you—this is Christine, who has come to town. + +HELMER. +Christine—? Excuse me, but I don’t know— + +NORA. +Mrs Linde, dear; Christine Linde. + +HELMER. +Of course. A school friend of my wife’s, I presume? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, we have known each other since then. + +NORA. +And just think, she has taken a long journey in order to see you. + +HELMER. +What do you mean? + +MRS LINDE. +No, really, I— + +NORA. +Christine is tremendously clever at book-keeping, and she is +frightfully anxious to work under some clever man, so as to perfect +herself— + +HELMER. +Very sensible, Mrs Linde. + +NORA. +And when she heard you had been appointed manager of the Bank—the news +was telegraphed, you know—she travelled here as quick as she could. +Torvald, I am sure you will be able to do something for Christine, for +my sake, won’t you? + +HELMER. +Well, it is not altogether impossible. I presume you are a widow, Mrs +Linde? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes. + +HELMER. +And have had some experience of book-keeping? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, a fair amount. + +HELMER. +Ah! well, it’s very likely I may be able to find something for you— + +NORA. +_[clapping her hands]_. What did I tell you? What did I tell you? + +HELMER. +You have just come at a fortunate moment, Mrs Linde. + +MRS LINDE. +How am I to thank you? + +HELMER. +There is no need. _[Puts on his coat.]_ But today you must excuse me— + +RANK. +Wait a minute; I will come with you. _[Brings his fur coat from the +hall and warms it at the fire.]_ + +NORA. +Don’t be long away, Torvald dear. + +HELMER. +About an hour, not more. + +NORA. +Are you going too, Christine? + +MRS LINDE. +_[putting on her cloak]_. Yes, I must go and look for a room. + +HELMER. +Oh, well then, we can walk down the street together. + +NORA. +_[helping her]_. What a pity it is we are so short of space here; I am +afraid it is impossible for us— + +MRS LINDE. +Please don’t think of it! Goodbye, Nora dear, and many thanks. + +NORA. +Goodbye for the present. Of course you will come back this evening. And +you too, Dr. Rank. What do you say? If you are well enough? Oh, you +must be! Wrap yourself up well. _[They go to the door all talking +together. Children’s voices are heard on the staircase.]_ + +NORA. +There they are! There they are! _[She runs to open the door. The NURSE +comes in with the children.]_ Come in! Come in! _[Stoops and kisses +them.]_ Oh, you sweet blessings! Look at them, Christine! Aren’t they +darlings? + +RANK. +Don’t let us stand here in the draught. + +HELMER. +Come along, Mrs Linde; the place will only be bearable for a mother +now! + +_[RANK, HELMER, and Mrs Linde go downstairs. The NURSE comes forward +with the children; NORA shuts the hall door.]_ + +NORA. +How fresh and well you look! Such red cheeks like apples and roses. +_[The children all talk at once while she speaks to them.]_ Have you +had great fun? That’s splendid! What, you pulled both Emmy and Bob +along on the sledge? —both at once?—that was good. You are a clever +boy, Ivar. Let me take her for a little, Anne. My sweet little baby +doll! _[Takes the baby from the MAID and dances it up and down.]_ Yes, +yes, mother will dance with Bob too. What! Have you been snowballing? I +wish I had been there too! No, no, I will take their things off, Anne; +please let me do it, it is such fun. Go in now, you look half frozen. +There is some hot coffee for you on the stove. + +_[The NURSE goes into the room on the left. NORA takes off the +children’s things and throws them about, while they all talk to her at +once.]_ + +NORA. +Really! Did a big dog run after you? But it didn’t bite you? No, dogs +don’t bite nice little dolly children. You mustn’t look at the parcels, +Ivar. What are they? Ah, I daresay you would like to know. No, no—it’s +something nasty! Come, let us have a game! What shall we play at? Hide +and Seek? Yes, we’ll play Hide and Seek. Bob shall hide first. Must I +hide? Very well, I’ll hide first. _[She and the children laugh and +shout, and romp in and out of the room; at last NORA hides under the +table, the children rush in and out for her, but do not see her; they +hear her smothered laughter, run to the table, lift up the cloth and +find her. Shouts of laughter. She crawls forward and pretends to +frighten them. Fresh laughter. Meanwhile there has been a knock at the +hall door, but none of them has noticed it. The door is half opened, +and KROGSTAD appears, he waits a little; the game goes on.]_ + +KROGSTAD. +Excuse me, Mrs Helmer. + +NORA. +_[with a stifled cry, turns round and gets up on to her knees]_. Ah! +what do you want? + +KROGSTAD. +Excuse me, the outer door was ajar; I suppose someone forgot to shut +it. + +NORA. +_[rising]_. My husband is out, Mr. Krogstad. + +KROGSTAD. +I know that. + +NORA. +What do you want here, then? + +KROGSTAD. +A word with you. + +NORA. +With me?—_[To the children, gently.]_ Go in to nurse. What? No, the +strange man won’t do mother any harm. When he has gone we will have +another game. _[She takes the children into the room on the left, and +shuts the door after them.]_ You want to speak to me? + +KROGSTAD. +Yes, I do. + +NORA. +Today? It is not the first of the month yet. + +KROGSTAD. +No, it is Christmas Eve, and it will depend on yourself what sort of a +Christmas you will spend. + +NORA. +What do you mean? Today it is absolutely impossible for me— + +KROGSTAD. +We won’t talk about that until later on. This is something different. I +presume you can give me a moment? + +NORA. +Yes—yes, I can—although— + +KROGSTAD. +Good. I was in Olsen’s Restaurant and saw your husband going down the +street— + +NORA. +Yes? + +KROGSTAD. +With a lady. + +NORA. +What then? + +KROGSTAD. +May I make so bold as to ask if it was a Mrs Linde? + +NORA. +It was. + +KROGSTAD. +Just arrived in town? + +NORA. +Yes, today. + +KROGSTAD. +She is a great friend of yours, isn’t she? + +NORA. +She is. But I don’t see— + +KROGSTAD. +I knew her too, once upon a time. + +NORA. +I am aware of that. + +KROGSTAD. +Are you? So you know all about it; I thought as much. Then I can ask +you, without beating about the bush—is Mrs Linde to have an appointment +in the Bank? + +NORA. +What right have you to question me, Mr. Krogstad?—You, one of my +husband’s subordinates! But since you ask, you shall know. Yes, Mrs +Linde is to have an appointment. And it was I who pleaded her cause, +Mr. Krogstad, let me tell you that. + +KROGSTAD. +I was right in what I thought, then. + +NORA. +_[walking up and down the stage]_. Sometimes one has a tiny little bit +of influence, I should hope. Because one is a woman, it does not +necessarily follow that—. When anyone is in a subordinate position, Mr. +Krogstad, they should really be careful to avoid offending anyone +who—who— + +KROGSTAD. +Who has influence? + +NORA. +Exactly. + +KROGSTAD. +_[changing his tone]_. Mrs Helmer, you will be so good as to use your +influence on my behalf. + +NORA. +What? What do you mean? + +KROGSTAD. +You will be so kind as to see that I am allowed to keep my subordinate +position in the Bank. + +NORA. +What do you mean by that? Who proposes to take your post away from you? + +KROGSTAD. +Oh, there is no necessity to keep up the pretence of ignorance. I can +quite understand that your friend is not very anxious to expose herself +to the chance of rubbing shoulders with me; and I quite understand, +too, whom I have to thank for being turned off. + +NORA. +But I assure you— + +KROGSTAD. +Very likely; but, to come to the point, the time has come when I should +advise you to use your influence to prevent that. + +NORA. +But, Mr. Krogstad, I have no influence. + +KROGSTAD. +Haven’t you? I thought you said yourself just now— + +NORA. +Naturally I did not mean you to put that construction on it. I! What +should make you think I have any influence of that kind with my +husband? + +KROGSTAD. +Oh, I have known your husband from our student days. I don’t suppose he +is any more unassailable than other husbands. + +NORA. +If you speak slightingly of my husband, I shall turn you out of the +house. + +KROGSTAD. +You are bold, Mrs Helmer. + +NORA. +I am not afraid of you any longer. As soon as the New Year comes, I +shall in a very short time be free of the whole thing. + +KROGSTAD. +_[controlling himself]_. Listen to me, Mrs Helmer. If necessary, I am +prepared to fight for my small post in the Bank as if I were fighting +for my life. + +NORA. +So it seems. + +KROGSTAD. +It is not only for the sake of the money; indeed, that weighs least +with me in the matter. There is another reason—well, I may as well tell +you. My position is this. I daresay you know, like everybody else, that +once, many years ago, I was guilty of an indiscretion. + +NORA. +I think I have heard something of the kind. + +KROGSTAD. +The matter never came into court; but every way seemed to be closed to +me after that. So I took to the business that you know of. I had to do +something; and, honestly, I don’t think I’ve been one of the worst. But +now I must cut myself free from all that. My sons are growing up; for +their sake I must try and win back as much respect as I can in the +town. This post in the Bank was like the first step up for me—and now +your husband is going to kick me downstairs again into the mud. + +NORA. +But you must believe me, Mr. Krogstad; it is not in my power to help +you at all. + +KROGSTAD. +Then it is because you haven’t the will; but I have means to compel +you. + +NORA. +You don’t mean that you will tell my husband that I owe you money? + +KROGSTAD. +Hm!—suppose I were to tell him? + +NORA. +It would be perfectly infamous of you. _[Sobbing.]_ To think of his +learning my secret, which has been my joy and pride, in such an ugly, +clumsy way—that he should learn it from you! And it would put me in a +horribly disagreeable position— + +KROGSTAD. +Only disagreeable? + +NORA. +_[impetuously]_. Well, do it, then!—and it will be the worse for you. +My husband will see for himself what a blackguard you are, and you +certainly won’t keep your post then. + +KROGSTAD. +I asked you if it was only a disagreeable scene at home that you were +afraid of? + +NORA. +If my husband does get to know of it, of course he will at once pay you +what is still owing, and we shall have nothing more to do with you. + +KROGSTAD. +_[coming a step nearer]_. Listen to me, Mrs Helmer. Either you have a +very bad memory or you know very little of business. I shall be obliged +to remind you of a few details. + +NORA. +What do you mean? + +KROGSTAD. +When your husband was ill, you came to me to borrow two hundred and +fifty pounds. + +NORA. +I didn’t know anyone else to go to. + +KROGSTAD. +I promised to get you that amount— + +NORA. +Yes, and you did so. + +KROGSTAD. +I promised to get you that amount, on certain conditions. Your mind was +so taken up with your husband’s illness, and you were so anxious to get +the money for your journey, that you seem to have paid no attention to +the conditions of our bargain. Therefore it will not be amiss if I +remind you of them. Now, I promised to get the money on the security of +a bond which I drew up. + +NORA. +Yes, and which I signed. + +KROGSTAD. +Good. But below your signature there were a few lines constituting your +father a surety for the money; those lines your father should have +signed. + +NORA. +Should? He did sign them. + +KROGSTAD. +I had left the date blank; that is to say, your father should himself +have inserted the date on which he signed the paper. Do you remember +that? + +NORA. +Yes, I think I remember— + +KROGSTAD. +Then I gave you the bond to send by post to your father. Is that not +so? + +NORA. +Yes. + +KROGSTAD. +And you naturally did so at once, because five or six days afterwards +you brought me the bond with your father’s signature. And then I gave +you the money. + +NORA. +Well, haven’t I been paying it off regularly? + +KROGSTAD. +Fairly so, yes. But—to come back to the matter in hand—that must have +been a very trying time for you, Mrs Helmer? + +NORA. +It was, indeed. + +KROGSTAD. +Your father was very ill, wasn’t he? + +NORA. +He was very near his end. + +KROGSTAD. +And died soon afterwards? + +NORA. +Yes. + +KROGSTAD. +Tell me, Mrs Helmer, can you by any chance remember what day your +father died?—on what day of the month, I mean. + +NORA. +Papa died on the 29th of September. + +KROGSTAD. +That is correct; I have ascertained it for myself. And, as that is so, +there is a discrepancy _[taking a paper from his pocket]_ which I +cannot account for. + +NORA. +What discrepancy? I don’t know— + +KROGSTAD. +The discrepancy consists, Mrs Helmer, in the fact that your father +signed this bond three days after his death. + +NORA. +What do you mean? I don’t understand— + +KROGSTAD. +Your father died on the 29th of September. But, look here; your father +has dated his signature the 2nd of October. It is a discrepancy, isn’t +it? _[NORA is silent.]_ Can you explain it to me? _[NORA is still +silent.]_ It is a remarkable thing, too, that the words “2nd of +October,” as well as the year, are not written in your father’s +handwriting but in one that I think I know. Well, of course it can be +explained; your father may have forgotten to date his signature, and +someone else may have dated it haphazard before they knew of his death. +There is no harm in that. It all depends on the signature of the name; +and that is genuine, I suppose, Mrs Helmer? It was your father himself +who signed his name here? + +NORA. +_[after a short pause, throws her head up and looks defiantly at him]_. +No, it was not. It was I that wrote papa’s name. + +KROGSTAD. +Are you aware that is a dangerous confession? + +NORA. +In what way? You shall have your money soon. + +KROGSTAD. +Let me ask you a question; why did you not send the paper to your +father? + +NORA. +It was impossible; papa was so ill. If I had asked him for his +signature, I should have had to tell him what the money was to be used +for; and when he was so ill himself I couldn’t tell him that my +husband’s life was in danger—it was impossible. + +KROGSTAD. +It would have been better for you if you had given up your trip abroad. + +NORA. +No, that was impossible. That trip was to save my husband’s life; I +couldn’t give that up. + +KROGSTAD. +But did it never occur to you that you were committing a fraud on me? + +NORA. +I couldn’t take that into account; I didn’t trouble myself about you at +all. I couldn’t bear you, because you put so many heartless +difficulties in my way, although you knew what a dangerous condition my +husband was in. + +KROGSTAD. +Mrs Helmer, you evidently do not realise clearly what it is that you +have been guilty of. But I can assure you that my one false step, which +lost me all my reputation, was nothing more or nothing worse than what +you have done. + +NORA. +You? Do you ask me to believe that you were brave enough to run a risk +to save your wife’s life? + +KROGSTAD. +The law cares nothing about motives. + +NORA. +Then it must be a very foolish law. + +KROGSTAD. +Foolish or not, it is the law by which you will be judged, if I produce +this paper in court. + +NORA. +I don’t believe it. Is a daughter not to be allowed to spare her dying +father anxiety and care? Is a wife not to be allowed to save her +husband’s life? I don’t know much about law; but I am certain that +there must be laws permitting such things as that. Have you no +knowledge of such laws—you who are a lawyer? You must be a very poor +lawyer, Mr. Krogstad. + +KROGSTAD. +Maybe. But matters of business—such business as you and I have had +together—do you think I don’t understand that? Very well. Do as you +please. But let me tell you this—if I lose my position a second time, +you shall lose yours with me. _[He bows, and goes out through the +hall.]_ + +NORA. +_[appears buried in thought for a short time, then tosses her head]_. +Nonsense! Trying to frighten me like that!—I am not so silly as he +thinks. _[Begins to busy herself putting the children’s things in +order.]_ And yet—? No, it’s impossible! I did it for love’s sake. + +THE CHILDREN. +_[in the doorway on the left]_. Mother, the stranger man has gone out +through the gate. + +NORA. +Yes, dears, I know. But, don’t tell anyone about the stranger man. Do +you hear? Not even papa. + +CHILDREN. +No, mother; but will you come and play again? + +NORA. +No, no,—not now. + +CHILDREN. +But, mother, you promised us. + +NORA. +Yes, but I can’t now. Run away in; I have such a lot to do. Run away +in, my sweet little darlings. _[She gets them into the room by degrees +and shuts the door on them; then sits down on the sofa, takes up a +piece of needlework and sews a few stitches, but soon stops.]_ No! +_[Throws down the work, gets up, goes to the hall door and calls out.]_ +Helen! bring the Tree in. _[Goes to the table on the left, opens a +drawer, and stops again.]_ No, no! it is quite impossible! + +MAID. +_[coming in with the Tree]_. Where shall I put it, ma’am? + +NORA. +Here, in the middle of the floor. + +MAID. +Shall I get you anything else? + +NORA. +No, thank you. I have all I want. [Exit MAID.] + +NORA. +_[begins dressing the tree]_. A candle here-and flowers here—The +horrible man! It’s all nonsense—there’s nothing wrong. The tree shall +be splendid! I will do everything I can think of to please you, +Torvald!—I will sing for you, dance for you—_[HELMER comes in with some +papers under his arm.]_ Oh! are you back already? + +HELMER. +Yes. Has anyone been here? + +NORA. +Here? No. + +HELMER. +That is strange. I saw Krogstad going out of the gate. + +NORA. +Did you? Oh yes, I forgot, Krogstad was here for a moment. + +HELMER. +Nora, I can see from your manner that he has been here begging you to +say a good word for him. + +NORA. +Yes. + +HELMER. +And you were to appear to do it of your own accord; you were to conceal +from me the fact of his having been here; didn’t he beg that of you +too? + +NORA. +Yes, Torvald, but— + +HELMER. +Nora, Nora, and you would be a party to that sort of thing? To have any +talk with a man like that, and give him any sort of promise? And to +tell me a lie into the bargain? + +NORA. +A lie—? + +HELMER. +Didn’t you tell me no one had been here? _[Shakes his finger at her.]_ +My little songbird must never do that again. A songbird must have a +clean beak to chirp with—no false notes! _[Puts his arm round her +waist.]_ That is so, isn’t it? Yes, I am sure it is. _[Lets her go.]_ +We will say no more about it. _[Sits down by the stove.]_ How warm and +snug it is here! _[Turns over his papers.]_ + +NORA. +_[after a short pause, during which she busies herself with the +Christmas Tree.]_ Torvald! + +HELMER. +Yes. + +NORA. +I am looking forward tremendously to the fancy-dress ball at the +Stenborgs’ the day after tomorrow. + +HELMER. +And I am tremendously curious to see what you are going to surprise me +with. + +NORA. +It was very silly of me to want to do that. + +HELMER. +What do you mean? + +NORA. +I can’t hit upon anything that will do; everything I think of seems so +silly and insignificant. + +HELMER. +Does my little Nora acknowledge that at last? + +NORA. +_[standing behind his chair with her arms on the back of it]_. Are you +very busy, Torvald? + +HELMER. +Well— + +NORA. +What are all those papers? + +HELMER. +Bank business. + +NORA. +Already? + +HELMER. +I have got authority from the retiring manager to undertake the +necessary changes in the staff and in the rearrangement of the work; +and I must make use of the Christmas week for that, so as to have +everything in order for the new year. + +NORA. +Then that was why this poor Krogstad— + +HELMER. +Hm! + +NORA. +_[leans against the back of his chair and strokes his hair]_. If you +hadn’t been so busy I should have asked you a tremendously big favour, +Torvald. + +HELMER. +What is that? Tell me. + +NORA. +There is no one has such good taste as you. And I do so want to look +nice at the fancy-dress ball. Torvald, couldn’t you take me in hand and +decide what I shall go as, and what sort of a dress I shall wear? + +HELMER. +Aha! so my obstinate little woman is obliged to get someone to come to +her rescue? + +NORA. +Yes, Torvald, I can’t get along a bit without your help. + +HELMER. +Very well, I will think it over, we shall manage to hit upon something. + +NORA. +That is nice of you. _[Goes to the Christmas Tree. A short pause.]_ How +pretty the red flowers look—. But, tell me, was it really something +very bad that this Krogstad was guilty of? + +HELMER. +He forged someone’s name. Have you any idea what that means? + +NORA. +Isn’t it possible that he was driven to do it by necessity? + +HELMER. +Yes; or, as in so many cases, by imprudence. I am not so heartless as +to condemn a man altogether because of a single false step of that +kind. + +NORA. +No, you wouldn’t, would you, Torvald? + +HELMER. +Many a man has been able to retrieve his character, if he has openly +confessed his fault and taken his punishment. + +NORA. +Punishment—? + +HELMER. +But Krogstad did nothing of that sort; he got himself out of it by a +cunning trick, and that is why he has gone under altogether. + +NORA. +But do you think it would—? + +HELMER. +Just think how a guilty man like that has to lie and play the hypocrite +with every one, how he has to wear a mask in the presence of those near +and dear to him, even before his own wife and children. And about the +children—that is the most terrible part of it all, Nora. + +NORA. +How? + +HELMER. +Because such an atmosphere of lies infects and poisons the whole life +of a home. Each breath the children take in such a house is full of the +germs of evil. + +NORA. +_[coming nearer him]_. Are you sure of that? + +HELMER. +My dear, I have often seen it in the course of my life as a lawyer. +Almost everyone who has gone to the bad early in life has had a +deceitful mother. + +NORA. +Why do you only say—mother? + +HELMER. +It seems most commonly to be the mother’s influence, though naturally a +bad father’s would have the same result. Every lawyer is familiar with +the fact. This Krogstad, now, has been persistently poisoning his own +children with lies and dissimulation; that is why I say he has lost all +moral character. _[Holds out his hands to her.]_ That is why my sweet +little Nora must promise me not to plead his cause. Give me your hand +on it. Come, come, what is this? Give me your hand. There now, that’s +settled. I assure you it would be quite impossible for me to work with +him; I literally feel physically ill when I am in the company of such +people. + +NORA. +_[takes her hand out of his and goes to the opposite side of the +Christmas Tree]_. How hot it is in here; and I have such a lot to do. + +HELMER. +_[getting up and putting his papers in order]_. Yes, and I must try and +read through some of these before dinner; and I must think about your +costume, too. And it is just possible I may have something ready in +gold paper to hang up on the Tree. _[Puts his hand on her head.]_ My +precious little singing-bird! _[He goes into his room and shuts the +door after him.]_ + +NORA. +_[after a pause, whispers]_. No, no—it isn’t true. It’s impossible; it +must be impossible. + +_[The NURSE opens the door on the left.]_ + +NURSE. +The little ones are begging so hard to be allowed to come in to mamma. + +NORA. +No, no, no! Don’t let them come in to me! You stay with them, Anne. + +NURSE. +Very well, ma’am. _[Shuts the door.]_ + +NORA. +_[pale with terror]_. Deprave my little children? Poison my home? _[A +short pause. Then she tosses her head.]_ It’s not true. It can’t +possibly be true. + + + + +ACT II + + +_[THE SAME SCENE.—THE Christmas Tree is in the corner by the piano, +stripped of its ornaments and with burnt-down candle-ends on its +dishevelled branches. NORA’S cloak and hat are lying on the sofa. She +is alone in the room, walking about uneasily. She stops by the sofa and +takes up her cloak.]_ + +NORA. +_[drops her cloak]_. Someone is coming now! _[Goes to the door and +listens.]_ No—it is no one. Of course, no one will come today, +Christmas Day—nor tomorrow either. But, perhaps—_[opens the door and +looks out]_. No, nothing in the letterbox; it is quite empty. _[Comes +forward.]_ What rubbish! of course he can’t be in earnest about it. +Such a thing couldn’t happen; it is impossible—I have three little +children. + +_[Enter the NURSE from the room on the left, carrying a big cardboard +box.]_ + +NURSE. +At last I have found the box with the fancy dress. + +NORA. +Thanks; put it on the table. + +NURSE. +_[doing so]_. But it is very much in want of mending. + +NORA. +I should like to tear it into a hundred thousand pieces. + +NURSE. +What an idea! It can easily be put in order—just a little patience. + +NORA. +Yes, I will go and get Mrs Linde to come and help me with it. + +NURSE. +What, out again? In this horrible weather? You will catch cold, ma’am, +and make yourself ill. + +NORA. +Well, worse than that might happen. How are the children? + +NURSE. +The poor little souls are playing with their Christmas presents, but— + +NORA. +Do they ask much for me? + +NURSE. +You see, they are so accustomed to have their mamma with them. + +NORA. +Yes, but, nurse, I shall not be able to be so much with them now as I +was before. + +NURSE. +Oh well, young children easily get accustomed to anything. + +NORA. +Do you think so? Do you think they would forget their mother if she +went away altogether? + +NURSE. +Good heavens!—went away altogether? + +NORA. +Nurse, I want you to tell me something I have often wondered about—how +could you have the heart to put your own child out among strangers? + +NURSE. +I was obliged to, if I wanted to be little Nora’s nurse. + +NORA. +Yes, but how could you be willing to do it? + +NURSE. +What, when I was going to get such a good place by it? A poor girl who +has got into trouble should be glad to. Besides, that wicked man didn’t +do a single thing for me. + +NORA. +But I suppose your daughter has quite forgotten you. + +NURSE. +No, indeed she hasn’t. She wrote to me when she was confirmed, and when +she was married. + +NORA. +_[putting her arms round her neck]_. Dear old Anne, you were a good +mother to me when I was little. + +NURSE. +Little Nora, poor dear, had no other mother but me. + +NORA. +And if my little ones had no other mother, I am sure you would—What +nonsense I am talking! _[Opens the box.]_ Go in to them. Now I must—. +You will see tomorrow how charming I shall look. + +NURSE. +I am sure there will be no one at the ball so charming as you, ma’am. +_[Goes into the room on the left.]_ + +NORA. +_[begins to unpack the box, but soon pushes it away from her]_. If only +I dared go out. If only no one would come. If only I could be sure +nothing would happen here in the meantime. Stuff and nonsense! No one +will come. Only I mustn’t think about it. I will brush my muff. What +lovely, lovely gloves! Out of my thoughts, out of my thoughts! One, +two, three, four, five, six— _[Screams.]_ Ah! there is someone coming—. +_[Makes a movement towards the door, but stands irresolute.]_ + +_[Enter Mrs Linde from the hall, where she has taken off her cloak and +hat.]_ + +NORA. +Oh, it’s you, Christine. There is no one else out there, is there? How +good of you to come! + +MRS LINDE. +I heard you were up asking for me. + +NORA. +Yes, I was passing by. As a matter of fact, it is something you could +help me with. Let us sit down here on the sofa. Look here. Tomorrow +evening there is to be a fancy-dress ball at the Stenborgs’, who live +above us; and Torvald wants me to go as a Neapolitan fisher-girl, and +dance the Tarantella that I learned at Capri. + +MRS LINDE. +I see; you are going to keep up the character. + +NORA. +Yes, Torvald wants me to. Look, here is the dress; Torvald had it made +for me there, but now it is all so torn, and I haven’t any idea— + +MRS LINDE. +We will easily put that right. It is only some of the trimming come +unsewn here and there. Needle and thread? Now then, that’s all we want. + +NORA. +It is nice of you. + +MRS LINDE. +_[sewing]_. So you are going to be dressed up tomorrow Nora. I will +tell you what—I shall come in for a moment and see you in your fine +feathers. But I have completely forgotten to thank you for a delightful +evening yesterday. + +NORA. +_[gets up, and crosses the stage]_. Well, I don’t think yesterday was +as pleasant as usual. You ought to have come to town a little earlier, +Christine. Certainly Torvald does understand how to make a house dainty +and attractive. + +MRS LINDE. +And so do you, it seems to me; you are not your father’s daughter for +nothing. But tell me, is Doctor Rank always as depressed as he was +yesterday? + +NORA. +No; yesterday it was very noticeable. I must tell you that he suffers +from a very dangerous disease. He has consumption of the spine, poor +creature. His father was a horrible man who committed all sorts of +excesses; and that is why his son was sickly from childhood, do you +understand? + +MRS LINDE. +_[dropping her sewing]_. But, my dearest Nora, how do you know anything +about such things? + +NORA. +_[walking about]_. Pooh! When you have three children, you get visits +now and then from—from married women, who know something of medical +matters, and they talk about one thing and another. + +MRS LINDE. +_[goes on sewing. A short silence]_. Does Doctor Rank come here +everyday? + +NORA. +Everyday regularly. He is Torvald’s most intimate friend, and a great +friend of mine too. He is just like one of the family. + +MRS LINDE. +But tell me this—is he perfectly sincere? I mean, isn’t he the kind of +man that is very anxious to make himself agreeable? + +NORA. +Not in the least. What makes you think that? + +MRS LINDE. +When you introduced him to me yesterday, he declared he had often heard +my name mentioned in this house; but afterwards I noticed that your +husband hadn’t the slightest idea who I was. So how could Doctor Rank—? + +NORA. +That is quite right, Christine. Torvald is so absurdly fond of me that +he wants me absolutely to himself, as he says. At first he used to seem +almost jealous if I mentioned any of the dear folk at home, so +naturally I gave up doing so. But I often talk about such things with +Doctor Rank, because he likes hearing about them. + +MRS LINDE. +Listen to me, Nora. You are still very like a child in many things, and +I am older than you in many ways and have a little more experience. Let +me tell you this—you ought to make an end of it with Doctor Rank. + +NORA. +What ought I to make an end of? + +MRS LINDE. +Of two things, I think. Yesterday you talked some nonsense about a rich +admirer who was to leave you money— + +NORA. +An admirer who doesn’t exist, unfortunately! But what then? + +MRS LINDE. +Is Doctor Rank a man of means? + +NORA. +Yes, he is. + +MRS LINDE. +And has no one to provide for? + +NORA. +No, no one; but— + +MRS LINDE. +And comes here everyday? + +NORA. +Yes, I told you so. + +MRS LINDE. +But how can this well-bred man be so tactless? + +NORA. +I don’t understand you at all. + +MRS LINDE. +Don’t prevaricate, Nora. Do you suppose I don’t guess who lent you the +two hundred and fifty pounds? + +NORA. +Are you out of your senses? How can you think of such a thing! A friend +of ours, who comes here everyday! Do you realise what a horribly +painful position that would be? + +MRS LINDE. +Then it really isn’t he? + +NORA. +No, certainly not. It would never have entered into my head for a +moment. Besides, he had no money to lend then; he came into his money +afterwards. + +MRS LINDE. +Well, I think that was lucky for you, my dear Nora. + +NORA. +No, it would never have come into my head to ask Doctor Rank. Although +I am quite sure that if I had asked him— + +MRS LINDE. +But of course you won’t. + +NORA. +Of course not. I have no reason to think it could possibly be +necessary. But I am quite sure that if I told Doctor Rank— + +MRS LINDE. +Behind your husband’s back? + +NORA. +I must make an end of it with the other one, and that will be behind +his back too. I must make an end of it with him. + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, that is what I told you yesterday, but— + +NORA. +_[walking up and down]_. A man can put a thing like that straight much +easier than a woman— + +MRS LINDE. +One’s husband, yes. + +NORA. +Nonsense! _[Standing still.]_ When you pay off a debt you get your bond +back, don’t you? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, as a matter of course. + +NORA. +And can tear it into a hundred thousand pieces, and burn it up—the +nasty dirty paper! + +MRS LINDE. +_[looks hard at her, lays down her sewing and gets up slowly]_. Nora, +you are concealing something from me. + +NORA. +Do I look as if I were? + +MRS LINDE. +Something has happened to you since yesterday morning. Nora, what is +it? + +NORA. +_[going nearer to her]_. Christine! _[Listens.]_ Hush! there’s Torvald +come home. Do you mind going in to the children for the present? +Torvald can’t bear to see dressmaking going on. Let Anne help you. + +MRS LINDE. +_[gathering some of the things together]_. Certainly—but I am not going +away from here until we have had it out with one another. _[She goes +into the room on the left, as HELMER comes in from the hall.]_ + +NORA. +_[going up to HELMER]_. I have wanted you so much, Torvald dear. + +HELMER. +Was that the dressmaker? + +NORA. +No, it was Christine; she is helping me to put my dress in order. You +will see I shall look quite smart. + +HELMER. +Wasn’t that a happy thought of mine, now? + +NORA. +Splendid! But don’t you think it is nice of me, too, to do as you wish? + +HELMER. +Nice?—because you do as your husband wishes? Well, well, you little +rogue, I am sure you did not mean it in that way. But I am not going to +disturb you; you will want to be trying on your dress, I expect. + +NORA. +I suppose you are going to work. + +HELMER. +Yes. _[Shows her a bundle of papers.]_ Look at that. I have just been +into the bank. _[Turns to go into his room.]_ + +NORA. +Torvald. + +HELMER. +Yes. + +NORA. +If your little squirrel were to ask you for something very, very +prettily—? + +HELMER. +What then? + +NORA. +Would you do it? + +HELMER. +I should like to hear what it is, first. + +NORA. +Your squirrel would run about and do all her tricks if you would be +nice, and do what she wants. + +HELMER. +Speak plainly. + +NORA. +Your skylark would chirp about in every room, with her song rising and +falling— + +HELMER. +Well, my skylark does that anyhow. + +NORA. +I would play the fairy and dance for you in the moonlight, Torvald. + +HELMER. +Nora—you surely don’t mean that request you made to me this morning? + +NORA. +_[going near him]_. Yes, Torvald, I beg you so earnestly— + +HELMER. +Have you really the courage to open up that question again? + +NORA. +Yes, dear, you must do as I ask; you must let Krogstad keep his post in +the bank. + +HELMER. +My dear Nora, it is his post that I have arranged Mrs Linde shall have. + +NORA. +Yes, you have been awfully kind about that; but you could just as well +dismiss some other clerk instead of Krogstad. + +HELMER. +This is simply incredible obstinacy! Because you chose to give him a +thoughtless promise that you would speak for him, I am expected to— + +NORA. +That isn’t the reason, Torvald. It is for your own sake. This fellow +writes in the most scurrilous newspapers; you have told me so yourself. +He can do you an unspeakable amount of harm. I am frightened to death +of him— + +HELMER. +Ah, I understand; it is recollections of the past that scare you. + +NORA. +What do you mean? + +HELMER. +Naturally you are thinking of your father. + +NORA. +Yes—yes, of course. Just recall to your mind what these malicious +creatures wrote in the papers about papa, and how horribly they +slandered him. I believe they would have procured his dismissal if the +Department had not sent you over to inquire into it, and if you had not +been so kindly disposed and helpful to him. + +HELMER. +My little Nora, there is an important difference between your father +and me. Your father’s reputation as a public official was not above +suspicion. Mine is, and I hope it will continue to be so, as long as I +hold my office. + +NORA. +You never can tell what mischief these men may contrive. We ought to be +so well off, so snug and happy here in our peaceful home, and have no +cares—you and I and the children, Torvald! That is why I beg you so +earnestly— + +HELMER. +And it is just by interceding for him that you make it impossible for +me to keep him. It is already known at the Bank that I mean to dismiss +Krogstad. Is it to get about now that the new manager has changed his +mind at his wife’s bidding— + +NORA. +And what if it did? + +HELMER. +Of course!—if only this obstinate little person can get her way! Do you +suppose I am going to make myself ridiculous before my whole staff, to +let people think that I am a man to be swayed by all sorts of outside +influence? I should very soon feel the consequences of it, I can tell +you! And besides, there is one thing that makes it quite impossible for +me to have Krogstad in the Bank as long as I am manager. + +NORA. +Whatever is that? + +HELMER. +His moral failings I might perhaps have overlooked, if necessary— + +NORA. +Yes, you could—couldn’t you? + +HELMER. +And I hear he is a good worker, too. But I knew him when we were boys. +It was one of those rash friendships that so often prove an incubus in +afterlife. I may as well tell you plainly, we were once on very +intimate terms with one another. But this tactless fellow lays no +restraint on himself when other people are present. On the contrary, he +thinks it gives him the right to adopt a familiar tone with me, and +every minute it is “I say, Helmer, old fellow!” and that sort of thing. +I assure you it is extremely painful for me. He would make my position +in the Bank intolerable. + +NORA. +Torvald, I don’t believe you mean that. + +HELMER. +Don’t you? Why not? + +NORA. +Because it is such a narrow-minded way of looking at things. + +HELMER. +What are you saying? Narrow-minded? Do you think I am narrow-minded? + +NORA. +No, just the opposite, dear—and it is exactly for that reason. + +HELMER. +It’s the same thing. You say my point of view is narrow-minded, so I +must be so too. Narrow-minded! Very well—I must put an end to this. +_[Goes to the hall door and calls.]_ Helen! + +NORA. +What are you going to do? + +HELMER. +_[looking among his papers]_. Settle it. _[Enter MAID.]_ Look here; +take this letter and go downstairs with it at once. Find a messenger +and tell him to deliver it, and be quick. The address is on it, and +here is the money. + +MAID. +Very well, sir. _[Exit with the letter.]_ + +HELMER. +_[putting his papers together]_. Now then, little Miss Obstinate. + +NORA. +_[breathlessly]_. Torvald—what was that letter? + +HELMER. +Krogstad’s dismissal. + +NORA. +Call her back, Torvald! There is still time. Oh Torvald, call her back! +Do it for my sake—for your own sake—for the children’s sake! Do you +hear me, Torvald? Call her back! You don’t know what that letter can +bring upon us. + +HELMER. +It’s too late. + +NORA. +Yes, it’s too late. + +HELMER. +My dear Nora, I can forgive the anxiety you are in, although really it +is an insult to me. It is, indeed. Isn’t it an insult to think that I +should be afraid of a starving quill-driver’s vengeance? But I forgive +you nevertheless, because it is such eloquent witness to your great +love for me. _[Takes her in his arms.]_ And that is as it should be, my +own darling Nora. Come what will, you may be sure I shall have both +courage and strength if they be needed. You will see I am man enough to +take everything upon myself. + +NORA. +_[in a horror-stricken voice]_. What do you mean by that? + +HELMER. +Everything, I say— + +NORA. +_[recovering herself]_. You will never have to do that. + +HELMER. +That’s right. Well, we will share it, Nora, as man and wife should. +That is how it shall be. _[Caressing her.]_ Are you content now? There! +There!—not these frightened dove’s eyes! The whole thing is only the +wildest fancy!—Now, you must go and play through the Tarantella and +practise with your tambourine. I shall go into the inner office and +shut the door, and I shall hear nothing; you can make as much noise as +you please. _[Turns back at the door.]_ And when Rank comes, tell him +where he will find me. _[Nods to her, takes his papers and goes into +his room, and shuts the door after him.]_ + +NORA. +_[bewildered with anxiety, stands as if rooted to the spot, and +whispers]_. He was capable of doing it. He will do it. He will do it in +spite of everything.—No, not that! Never, never! Anything rather than +that! Oh, for some help, some way out of it! _[The door-bell rings.]_ +Doctor Rank! Anything rather than that—anything, whatever it is! _[She +puts her hands over her face, pulls herself together, goes to the door +and opens it. RANK is standing without, hanging up his coat. During the +following dialogue it begins to grow dark.]_ + +NORA. +Good day, Doctor Rank. I knew your ring. But you mustn’t go in to +Torvald now; I think he is busy with something. + +RANK. +And you? + +NORA. +_[brings him in and shuts the door after him]_. Oh, you know very well +I always have time for you. + +RANK. +Thank you. I shall make use of as much of it as I can. + +NORA. +What do you mean by that? As much of it as you can? + +RANK. +Well, does that alarm you? + +NORA. +It was such a strange way of putting it. Is anything likely to happen? + +RANK. +Nothing but what I have long been prepared for. But I certainly didn’t +expect it to happen so soon. + +NORA. +_[gripping him by the arm]_. What have you found out? Doctor Rank, you +must tell me. + +RANK. +_[sitting down by the stove]_. It is all up with me. And it can’t be +helped. + +NORA. +_[with a sigh of relief]_. Is it about yourself? + +RANK. +Who else? It is no use lying to one’s self. I am the most wretched of +all my patients, Mrs Helmer. Lately I have been taking stock of my +internal economy. Bankrupt! Probably within a month I shall lie rotting +in the churchyard. + +NORA. +What an ugly thing to say! + +RANK. +The thing itself is cursedly ugly, and the worst of it is that I shall +have to face so much more that is ugly before that. I shall only make +one more examination of myself; when I have done that, I shall know +pretty certainly when it will be that the horrors of dissolution will +begin. There is something I want to tell you. Helmer’s refined nature +gives him an unconquerable disgust at everything that is ugly; I won’t +have him in my sick-room. + +NORA. +Oh, but, Doctor Rank— + +RANK. +I won’t have him there. Not on any account. I bar my door to him. As +soon as I am quite certain that the worst has come, I shall send you my +card with a black cross on it, and then you will know that the +loathsome end has begun. + +NORA. +You are quite absurd today. And I wanted you so much to be in a really +good humour. + +RANK. +With death stalking beside me?—To have to pay this penalty for another +man’s sin? Is there any justice in that? And in every single family, in +one way or another, some such inexorable retribution is being exacted— + +NORA. +_[putting her hands over her ears]_. Rubbish! Do talk of something +cheerful. + +RANK. +Oh, it’s a mere laughing matter, the whole thing. My poor innocent +spine has to suffer for my father’s youthful amusements. + +NORA. +_[sitting at the table on the left]_. I suppose you mean that he was +too partial to asparagus and pate de foie gras, don’t you? + +RANK. +Yes, and to truffles. + +NORA. +Truffles, yes. And oysters too, I suppose? + +RANK. +Oysters, of course, that goes without saying. + +NORA. +And heaps of port and champagne. It is sad that all these nice things +should take their revenge on our bones. + +RANK. +Especially that they should revenge themselves on the unlucky bones of +those who have not had the satisfaction of enjoying them. + +NORA. +Yes, that’s the saddest part of it all. + +RANK. +_[with a searching look at her]_. Hm!— + +NORA. +_[after a short pause]_. Why did you smile? + +RANK. +No, it was you that laughed. + +NORA. +No, it was you that smiled, Doctor Rank! + +RANK. +_[rising]_. You are a greater rascal than I thought. + +NORA. +I am in a silly mood today. + +RANK. +So it seems. + +NORA. +_[putting her hands on his shoulders]_. Dear, dear Doctor Rank, death +mustn’t take you away from Torvald and me. + +RANK. +It is a loss you would easily recover from. Those who are gone are soon +forgotten. + +NORA. +_[looking at him anxiously]_. Do you believe that? + +RANK. +People form new ties, and then— + +NORA. +Who will form new ties? + +RANK. +Both you and Helmer, when I am gone. You yourself are already on the +high road to it, I think. What did that Mrs Linde want here last night? + +NORA. +Oho!—you don’t mean to say you are jealous of poor Christine? + +RANK. +Yes, I am. She will be my successor in this house. When I am done for, +this woman will— + +NORA. +Hush! don’t speak so loud. She is in that room. + +RANK. +Today again. There, you see. + +NORA. +She has only come to sew my dress for me. Bless my soul, how +unreasonable you are! _[Sits down on the sofa.]_ Be nice now, Doctor +Rank, and tomorrow you will see how beautifully I shall dance, and you +can imagine I am doing it all for you—and for Torvald too, of course. +_[Takes various things out of the box.]_ Doctor Rank, come and sit down +here, and I will show you something. + +RANK. +_[sitting down]_. What is it? + +NORA. +Just look at those! + +RANK. +Silk stockings. + +NORA. +Flesh-coloured. Aren’t they lovely? It is so dark here now, but +tomorrow—. No, no, no! you must only look at the feet. Oh well, you may +have leave to look at the legs too. + +RANK. +Hm!— + +NORA. +Why are you looking so critical? Don’t you think they will fit me? + +RANK. +I have no means of forming an opinion about that. + +NORA. +_[looks at him for a moment]_. For shame! _[Hits him lightly on the ear +with the stockings.]_ That’s to punish you. _[Folds them up again.]_ + +RANK. +And what other nice things am I to be allowed to see? + +NORA. +Not a single thing more, for being so naughty. _[She looks among the +things, humming to herself.]_ + +RANK. +_[after a short silence]_. When I am sitting here, talking to you as +intimately as this, I cannot imagine for a moment what would have +become of me if I had never come into this house. + +NORA. +_[smiling]_. I believe you do feel thoroughly at home with us. + +RANK. +_[in a lower voice, looking straight in front of him]_. And to be +obliged to leave it all— + +NORA. +Nonsense, you are not going to leave it. + +RANK. +_[as before]_. And not be able to leave behind one the slightest token +of one’s gratitude, scarcely even a fleeting regret—nothing but an +empty place which the first comer can fill as well as any other. + +NORA. +And if I asked you now for a—? No! + +RANK. +For what? + +NORA. +For a big proof of your friendship— + +RANK. +Yes, yes! + +NORA. +I mean a tremendously big favour— + +RANK. +Would you really make me so happy for once? + +NORA. +Ah, but you don’t know what it is yet. + +RANK. +No—but tell me. + +NORA. +I really can’t, Doctor Rank. It is something out of all reason; it +means advice, and help, and a favour— + +RANK. +The bigger a thing it is the better. I can’t conceive what it is you +mean. Do tell me. Haven’t I your confidence? + +NORA. +More than anyone else. I know you are my truest and best friend, and so +I will tell you what it is. Well, Doctor Rank, it is something you must +help me to prevent. You know how devotedly, how inexpressibly deeply +Torvald loves me; he would never for a moment hesitate to give his life +for me. + +RANK. +_[leaning towards her]_. Nora—do you think he is the only one—? + +NORA. +_[with a slight start]_. The only one—? + +RANK. +The only one who would gladly give his life for your sake. + +NORA. +_[sadly]_. Is that it? + +RANK. +I was determined you should know it before I went away, and there will +never be a better opportunity than this. Now you know it, Nora. And now +you know, too, that you can trust me as you would trust no one else. + +NORA. +_[rises, deliberately and quietly]_. Let me pass. + +RANK. +_[makes room for her to pass him, but sits still]_. Nora! + +NORA. +_[at the hall door]_. Helen, bring in the lamp. _[Goes over to the +stove.]_ Dear Doctor Rank, that was really horrid of you. + +RANK. +To have loved you as much as anyone else does? Was that horrid? + +NORA. +No, but to go and tell me so. There was really no need— + +RANK. +What do you mean? Did you know—? _[MAID enters with lamp, puts it down +on the table, and goes out.]_ Nora—Mrs Helmer—tell me, had you any idea +of this? + +NORA. +Oh, how do I know whether I had or whether I hadn’t? I really can’t +tell you—To think you could be so clumsy, Doctor Rank! We were getting +on so nicely. + +RANK. +Well, at all events you know now that you can command me, body and +soul. So won’t you speak out? + +NORA. +_[looking at him]_. After what happened? + +RANK. +I beg you to let me know what it is. + +NORA. +I can’t tell you anything now. + +RANK. +Yes, yes. You mustn’t punish me in that way. Let me have permission to +do for you whatever a man may do. + +NORA. +You can do nothing for me now. Besides, I really don’t need any help at +all. You will find that the whole thing is merely fancy on my part. It +really is so—of course it is! _[Sits down in the rocking-chair, and +looks at him with a smile.]_ You are a nice sort of man, Doctor +Rank!—don’t you feel ashamed of yourself, now the lamp has come? + +RANK. +Not a bit. But perhaps I had better go—for ever? + +NORA. +No, indeed, you shall not. Of course you must come here just as before. +You know very well Torvald can’t do without you. + +RANK. +Yes, but you? + +NORA. +Oh, I am always tremendously pleased when you come. + +RANK. +It is just that, that put me on the wrong track. You are a riddle to +me. I have often thought that you would almost as soon be in my company +as in Helmer’s. + +NORA. +Yes—you see there are some people one loves best, and others whom one +would almost always rather have as companions. + +RANK. +Yes, there is something in that. + +NORA. +When I was at home, of course I loved papa best. But I always thought +it tremendous fun if I could steal down into the maids’ room, because +they never moralised at all, and talked to each other about such +entertaining things. + +RANK. +I see—it is their place I have taken. + +NORA. +_[jumping up and going to him]_. Oh, dear, nice Doctor Rank, I never +meant that at all. But surely you can understand that being with +Torvald is a little like being with papa—_[Enter MAID from the hall.]_ + +MAID. +If you please, ma’am. _[Whispers and hands her a card.]_ + +NORA. +_[glancing at the card]_. Oh! _[Puts it in her pocket.]_ + +RANK. +Is there anything wrong? + +NORA. +No, no, not in the least. It is only something—it is my new dress— + +RANK. +What? Your dress is lying there. + +NORA. +Oh, yes, that one; but this is another. I ordered it. Torvald mustn’t +know about it— + +RANK. +Oho! Then that was the great secret. + +NORA. +Of course. Just go in to him; he is sitting in the inner room. Keep him +as long as— + +RANK. +Make your mind easy; I won’t let him escape. + +_[Goes into HELMER’S room.]_ + +NORA. +_[to the MAID]_. And he is standing waiting in the kitchen? + +MAID. +Yes; he came up the back stairs. + +NORA. +But didn’t you tell him no one was in? + +MAID. +Yes, but it was no good. + +NORA. +He won’t go away? + +MAID. +No; he says he won’t until he has seen you, ma’am. + +NORA. +Well, let him come in—but quietly. Helen, you mustn’t say anything +about it to anyone. It is a surprise for my husband. + +MAID. +Yes, ma’am, I quite understand. _[Exit.]_ + +NORA. +This dreadful thing is going to happen! It will happen in spite of me! +No, no, no, it can’t happen—it shan’t happen! _[She bolts the door of +HELMER’S room. The MAID opens the hall door for KROGSTAD and shuts it +after him. He is wearing a fur coat, high boots and a fur cap.]_ + +NORA. +_[advancing towards him]_. Speak low—my husband is at home. + +KROGSTAD. +No matter about that. + +NORA. +What do you want of me? + +KROGSTAD. +An explanation of something. + +NORA. +Make haste then. What is it? + +KROGSTAD. +You know, I suppose, that I have got my dismissal. + +NORA. +I couldn’t prevent it, Mr. Krogstad. I fought as hard as I could on +your side, but it was no good. + +KROGSTAD. +Does your husband love you so little, then? He knows what I can expose +you to, and yet he ventures— + +NORA. +How can you suppose that he has any knowledge of the sort? + +KROGSTAD. +I didn’t suppose so at all. It would not be the least like our dear +Torvald Helmer to show so much courage— + +NORA. +Mr. Krogstad, a little respect for my husband, please. + +KROGSTAD. +Certainly—all the respect he deserves. But since you have kept the +matter so carefully to yourself, I make bold to suppose that you have a +little clearer idea, than you had yesterday, of what it actually is +that you have done? + +NORA. +More than you could ever teach me. + +KROGSTAD. +Yes, such a bad lawyer as I am. + +NORA. +What is it you want of me? + +KROGSTAD. +Only to see how you were, Mrs Helmer. I have been thinking about you +all day long. A mere cashier, a quill-driver, a—well, a man like +me—even he has a little of what is called feeling, you know. + +NORA. +Show it, then; think of my little children. + +KROGSTAD. +Have you and your husband thought of mine? But never mind about that. I +only wanted to tell you that you need not take this matter too +seriously. In the first place there will be no accusation made on my +part. + +NORA. +No, of course not; I was sure of that. + +KROGSTAD. +The whole thing can be arranged amicably; there is no reason why anyone +should know anything about it. It will remain a secret between us +three. + +NORA. +My husband must never get to know anything about it. + +KROGSTAD. +How will you be able to prevent it? Am I to understand that you can pay +the balance that is owing? + +NORA. +No, not just at present. + +KROGSTAD. +Or perhaps that you have some expedient for raising the money soon? + +NORA. +No expedient that I mean to make use of. + +KROGSTAD. +Well, in any case, it would have been of no use to you now. If you +stood there with ever so much money in your hand, I would never part +with your bond. + +NORA. +Tell me what purpose you mean to put it to. + +KROGSTAD. +I shall only preserve it—keep it in my possession. No one who is not +concerned in the matter shall have the slightest hint of it. So that if +the thought of it has driven you to any desperate resolution— + +NORA. +It has. + +KROGSTAD. +If you had it in your mind to run away from your home— + +NORA. +I had. + +KROGSTAD. +Or even something worse— + +NORA. +How could you know that? + +KROGSTAD. +Give up the idea. + +NORA. +How did you know I had thought of that? + +KROGSTAD. +Most of us think of that at first. I did, too—but I hadn’t the courage. + +NORA. +_[faintly]_. No more had I. + +KROGSTAD. +_[in a tone of relief]_. No, that’s it, isn’t it—you hadn’t the courage +either? + +NORA. +No, I haven’t—I haven’t. + +KROGSTAD. +Besides, it would have been a great piece of folly. Once the first +storm at home is over—. I have a letter for your husband in my pocket. + +NORA. +Telling him everything? + +KROGSTAD. +In as lenient a manner as I possibly could. + +NORA. +_[quickly]_. He mustn’t get the letter. Tear it up. I will find some +means of getting money. + +KROGSTAD. +Excuse me, Mrs Helmer, but I think I told you just now— + +NORA. +I am not speaking of what I owe you. Tell me what sum you are asking my +husband for, and I will get the money. + +KROGSTAD. +I am not asking your husband for a penny. + +NORA. +What do you want, then? + +KROGSTAD. +I will tell you. I want to rehabilitate myself, Mrs Helmer; I want to +get on; and in that your husband must help me. For the last year and a +half I have not had a hand in anything dishonourable, amid all that +time I have been struggling in most restricted circumstances. I was +content to work my way up step by step. Now I am turned out, and I am +not going to be satisfied with merely being taken into favour again. I +want to get on, I tell you. I want to get into the Bank again, in a +higher position. Your husband must make a place for me— + +NORA. +That he will never do! + +KROGSTAD. +He will; I know him; he dare not protest. And as soon as I am in there +again with him, then you will see! Within a year I shall be the +manager’s right hand. It will be Nils Krogstad and not Torvald Helmer +who manages the Bank. + +NORA. +That’s a thing you will never see! + +KROGSTAD. +Do you mean that you will—? + +NORA. +I have courage enough for it now. + +KROGSTAD. +Oh, you can’t frighten me. A fine, spoilt lady like you— + +NORA. +You will see, you will see. + +KROGSTAD. +Under the ice, perhaps? Down into the cold, coal-black water? And then, +in the spring, to float up to the surface, all horrible and +unrecognisable, with your hair fallen out— + +NORA. +You can’t frighten me. + +KROGSTAD. +Nor you me. People don’t do such things, Mrs Helmer. Besides, what use +would it be? I should have him completely in my power all the same. + +NORA. +Afterwards? When I am no longer— + +KROGSTAD. +Have you forgotten that it is I who have the keeping of your +reputation? _[NORA stands speechlessly looking at him.]_ Well, now, I +have warned you. Do not do anything foolish. When Helmer has had my +letter, I shall expect a message from him. And be sure you remember +that it is your husband himself who has forced me into such ways as +this again. I will never forgive him for that. Goodbye, Mrs Helmer. +_[Exit through the hall.]_ + +NORA. +_[goes to the hall door, opens it slightly and listens.]_ He is going. +He is not putting the letter in the box. Oh no, no! that’s impossible! +_[Opens the door by degrees.]_ What is that? He is standing outside. He +is not going downstairs. Is he hesitating? Can he—? _[A letter drops +into the box; then KROGSTAD’S footsteps are heard, until they die away +as he goes downstairs. NORA utters a stifled cry, and runs across the +room to the table by the sofa. A short pause.]_ + +NORA. +In the letter-box. _[Steals across to the hall door.]_ There it +lies—Torvald, Torvald, there is no hope for us now! + +_[Mrs Linde comes in from the room on the left, carrying the dress.]_ + +MRS LINDE. +There, I can’t see anything more to mend now. Would you like to try it +on—? + +NORA. +_[in a hoarse whisper]_. Christine, come here. + +MRS LINDE. +_[throwing the dress down on the sofa]_. What is the matter with you? +You look so agitated! + +NORA. +Come here. Do you see that letter? There, look—you can see it through +the glass in the letter-box. + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, I see it. + +NORA. +That letter is from Krogstad. + +MRS LINDE. +Nora—it was Krogstad who lent you the money! + +NORA. +Yes, and now Torvald will know all about it. + +MRS LINDE. +Believe me, Nora, that’s the best thing for both of you. + +NORA. +You don’t know all. I forged a name. + +MRS LINDE. +Good heavens—! + +NORA. +I only want to say this to you, Christine—you must be my witness. + +MRS LINDE. +Your witness? What do you mean? What am I to—? + +NORA. +If I should go out of my mind—and it might easily happen— + +MRS LINDE. +Nora! + +NORA. +Or if anything else should happen to me—anything, for instance, that +might prevent my being here— + +MRS LINDE. +Nora! Nora! you are quite out of your mind. + +NORA. +And if it should happen that there were some one who wanted to take all +the responsibility, all the blame, you understand— + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, yes—but how can you suppose—? + +NORA. +Then you must be my witness, that it is not true, Christine. I am not +out of my mind at all; I am in my right senses now, and I tell you no +one else has known anything about it; I, and I alone, did the whole +thing. Remember that. + +MRS LINDE. +I will, indeed. But I don’t understand all this. + +NORA. +How should you understand it? A wonderful thing is going to happen! + +MRS LINDE. +A wonderful thing? + +NORA. +Yes, a wonderful thing!—But it is so terrible, Christine; it mustn’t +happen, not for all the world. + +MRS LINDE. +I will go at once and see Krogstad. + +NORA. +Don’t go to him; he will do you some harm. + +MRS LINDE. +There was a time when he would gladly do anything for my sake. + +NORA. +He? + +MRS LINDE. +Where does he live? + +NORA. +How should I know—? Yes _[feeling in her pocket]_, here is his card. +But the letter, the letter—! + +HELMER. +_[calls from his room, knocking at the door]_. Nora! + +NORA. +_[cries out anxiously]_. Oh, what’s that? What do you want? + +HELMER. +Don’t be so frightened. We are not coming in; you have locked the door. +Are you trying on your dress? + +NORA. +Yes, that’s it. I look so nice, Torvald. + +MRS LINDE. +_[who has read the card]_. I see he lives at the corner here. + +NORA. +Yes, but it’s no use. It is hopeless. The letter is lying there in the +box. + +MRS LINDE. +And your husband keeps the key? + +NORA. +Yes, always. + +MRS LINDE. +Krogstad must ask for his letter back unread, he must find some +pretence— + +NORA. +But it is just at this time that Torvald generally— + +MRS LINDE. +You must delay him. Go in to him in the meantime. I will come back as +soon as I can. _[She goes out hurriedly through the hall door.]_ + +NORA. +_[goes to HELMER’S door, opens it and peeps in]_. Torvald! + +HELMER. +_[from the inner room]_. Well? May I venture at last to come into my +own room again? Come along, Rank, now you will see— _[Halting in the +doorway.]_ But what is this? + +NORA. +What is what, dear? + +HELMER. +Rank led me to expect a splendid transformation. + +RANK. +_[in the doorway]_. I understood so, but evidently I was mistaken. + +NORA. +Yes, nobody is to have the chance of admiring me in my dress until +tomorrow. + +HELMER. +But, my dear Nora, you look so worn out. Have you been practising too +much? + +NORA. +No, I have not practised at all. + +HELMER. +But you will need to— + +NORA. +Yes, indeed I shall, Torvald. But I can’t get on a bit without you to +help me; I have absolutely forgotten the whole thing. + +HELMER. +Oh, we will soon work it up again. + +NORA. +Yes, help me, Torvald. Promise that you will! I am so nervous about +it—all the people—. You must give yourself up to me entirely this +evening. Not the tiniest bit of business—you mustn’t even take a pen in +your hand. Will you promise, Torvald dear? + +HELMER. +I promise. This evening I will be wholly and absolutely at your +service, you helpless little mortal. Ah, by the way, first of all I +will just— _[Goes towards the hall door.]_ + +NORA. +What are you going to do there? + +HELMER. +Only see if any letters have come. + +NORA. +No, no! don’t do that, Torvald! + +HELMER. +Why not? + +NORA. +Torvald, please don’t. There is nothing there. + +HELMER. +Well, let me look. _[Turns to go to the letter-box. NORA, at the piano, +plays the first bars of the Tarantella. HELMER stops in the doorway.]_ +Aha! + +NORA. +I can’t dance tomorrow if I don’t practise with you. + +HELMER. +_[going up to her]_. Are you really so afraid of it, dear? + +NORA. +Yes, so dreadfully afraid of it. Let me practise at once; there is time +now, before we go to dinner. Sit down and play for me, Torvald dear; +criticise me, and correct me as you play. + +HELMER. +With great pleasure, if you wish me to. _[Sits down at the piano.]_ + +NORA. +_[takes out of the box a tambourine and a long variegated shawl. She +hastily drapes the shawl round her. Then she springs to the front of +the stage and calls out]_. Now play for me! I am going to dance! + +_[HELMER plays and NORA dances. RANK stands by the piano behind HELMER, +and looks on.]_ + +HELMER. +_[as he plays]_. Slower, slower! + +NORA. +I can’t do it any other way. + +HELMER. +Not so violently, Nora! + +NORA. +This is the way. + +HELMER. +_[stops playing]_. No, no—that is not a bit right. + +NORA. +_[laughing and swinging the tambourine]_. Didn’t I tell you so? + +RANK. +Let me play for her. + +HELMER. +_[getting up]_. Yes, do. I can correct her better then. + +_[RANK sits down at the piano and plays. NORA dances more and more +wildly. HELMER has taken up a position beside the stove, and during her +dance gives her frequent instructions. She does not seem to hear him; +her hair comes down and falls over her shoulders; she pays no attention +to it, but goes on dancing. Enter Mrs Linde.]_ + +MRS LINDE. +_[standing as if spell-bound in the doorway]_. Oh!— + +NORA. +_[as she dances]_. Such fun, Christine! + +HELMER. +My dear darling Nora, you are dancing as if your life depended on it. + +NORA. +So it does. + +HELMER. +Stop, Rank; this is sheer madness. Stop, I tell you! _[RANK stops +playing, and NORA suddenly stands still. HELMER goes up to her.]_ I +could never have believed it. You have forgotten everything I taught +you. + +NORA. +_[throwing away the tambourine]_. There, you see. + +HELMER. +You will want a lot of coaching. + +NORA. +Yes, you see how much I need it. You must coach me up to the last +minute. Promise me that, Torvald! + +HELMER. +You can depend on me. + +NORA. +You must not think of anything but me, either today or tomorrow; you +mustn’t open a single letter—not even open the letter-box— + +HELMER. +Ah, you are still afraid of that fellow— + +NORA. +Yes, indeed I am. + +HELMER. +Nora, I can tell from your looks that there is a letter from him lying +there. + +NORA. +I don’t know; I think there is; but you must not read anything of that +kind now. Nothing horrid must come between us until this is all over. + +RANK. +_[whispers to HELMER]_. You mustn’t contradict her. + +HELMER. +_[taking her in his arms]_. The child shall have her way. But tomorrow +night, after you have danced— + +NORA. +Then you will be free. _[The MAID appears in the doorway to the +right.]_ + +MAID. +Dinner is served, ma’am. + +NORA. +We will have champagne, Helen. + +MAID. +Very good, ma’am. [Exit. + +HELMER. +Hullo!—are we going to have a banquet? + +NORA. +Yes, a champagne banquet until the small hours. _[Calls out.]_ And a +few macaroons, Helen—lots, just for once! + +HELMER. +Come, come, don’t be so wild and nervous. Be my own little skylark, as +you used. + +NORA. +Yes, dear, I will. But go in now and you too, Doctor Rank. Christine, +you must help me to do up my hair. + +RANK. +_[whispers to HELMER as they go out]_. I suppose there is nothing—she +is not expecting anything? + +HELMER. +Far from it, my dear fellow; it is simply nothing more than this +childish nervousness I was telling you of. _[They go into the +right-hand room.]_ + +NORA. +Well! + +MRS LINDE. +Gone out of town. + +NORA. +I could tell from your face. + +MRS LINDE. +He is coming home tomorrow evening. I wrote a note for him. + +NORA. +You should have let it alone; you must prevent nothing. After all, it +is splendid to be waiting for a wonderful thing to happen. + +MRS LINDE. +What is it that you are waiting for? + +NORA. +Oh, you wouldn’t understand. Go in to them, I will come in a moment. +_[Mrs Linde goes into the dining-room. NORA stands still for a little +while, as if to compose herself. Then she looks at her watch.]_ Five +o’clock. Seven hours until midnight; and then four-and-twenty hours +until the next midnight. Then the Tarantella will be over. Twenty-four +and seven? Thirty-one hours to live. + +HELMER. +_[from the doorway on the right]_. Where’s my little skylark? + +NORA. +_[going to him with her arms outstretched]_. Here she is! + + + + +ACT III + + +_[THE SAME SCENE.—The table has been placed in the middle of the stage, +with chairs around it. A lamp is burning on the table. The door into +the hall stands open. Dance music is heard in the room above. Mrs Linde +is sitting at the table idly turning over the leaves of a book; she +tries to read, but does not seem able to collect her thoughts. Every +now and then she listens intently for a sound at the outer door.]_ + +MRS LINDE. +_[looking at her watch]_. Not yet—and the time is nearly up. If only he +does not—. _[Listens again.]_ Ah, there he is. _[Goes into the hall and +opens the outer door carefully. Light footsteps are heard on the +stairs. She whispers.]_ Come in. There is no one here. + +KROGSTAD. +_[in the doorway]_. I found a note from you at home. What does this +mean? + +MRS LINDE. +It is absolutely necessary that I should have a talk with you. + +KROGSTAD. +Really? And is it absolutely necessary that it should be here? + +MRS LINDE. +It is impossible where I live; there is no private entrance to my +rooms. Come in; we are quite alone. The maid is asleep, and the Helmers +are at the dance upstairs. + +KROGSTAD. +_[coming into the room]_. Are the Helmers really at a dance tonight? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, why not? + +KROGSTAD. +Certainly—why not? + +MRS LINDE. +Now, Nils, let us have a talk. + +KROGSTAD. +Can we two have anything to talk about? + +MRS LINDE. +We have a great deal to talk about. + +KROGSTAD. +I shouldn’t have thought so. + +MRS LINDE. +No, you have never properly understood me. + +KROGSTAD. +Was there anything else to understand except what was obvious to all +the world—a heartless woman jilts a man when a more lucrative chance +turns up? + +MRS LINDE. +Do you believe I am as absolutely heartless as all that? And do you +believe that I did it with a light heart? + +KROGSTAD. +Didn’t you? + +MRS LINDE. +Nils, did you really think that? + +KROGSTAD. +If it were as you say, why did you write to me as you did at the time? + +MRS LINDE. +I could do nothing else. As I had to break with you, it was my duty +also to put an end to all that you felt for me. + +KROGSTAD. +_[wringing his hands]_. So that was it. And all this—only for the sake +of money! + +MRS LINDE. +You must not forget that I had a helpless mother and two little +brothers. We couldn’t wait for you, Nils; your prospects seemed +hopeless then. + +KROGSTAD. +That may be so, but you had no right to throw me over for anyone else’s +sake. + +MRS LINDE. +Indeed I don’t know. Many a time did I ask myself if I had the right to +do it. + +KROGSTAD. +_[more gently]_. When I lost you, it was as if all the solid ground +went from under my feet. Look at me now—I am a shipwrecked man clinging +to a bit of wreckage. + +MRS LINDE. +But help may be near. + +KROGSTAD. +It was near; but then you came and stood in my way. + +MRS LINDE. +Unintentionally, Nils. It was only today that I learned it was your +place I was going to take in the Bank. + +KROGSTAD. +I believe you, if you say so. But now that you know it, are you not +going to give it up to me? + +MRS LINDE. +No, because that would not benefit you in the least. + +KROGSTAD. +Oh, benefit, benefit—I would have done it whether or no. + +MRS LINDE. +I have learned to act prudently. Life, and hard, bitter necessity have +taught me that. + +KROGSTAD. +And life has taught me not to believe in fine speeches. + +MRS LINDE. +Then life has taught you something very reasonable. But deeds you must +believe in? + +KROGSTAD. +What do you mean by that? + +MRS LINDE. +You said you were like a shipwrecked man clinging to some wreckage. + +KROGSTAD. +I had good reason to say so. + +MRS LINDE. +Well, I am like a shipwrecked woman clinging to some wreckage—no one to +mourn for, no one to care for. + +KROGSTAD. +It was your own choice. + +MRS LINDE. +There was no other choice—then. + +KROGSTAD. +Well, what now? + +MRS LINDE. +Nils, how would it be if we two shipwrecked people could join forces? + +KROGSTAD. +What are you saying? + +MRS LINDE. +Two on the same piece of wreckage would stand a better chance than each +on their own. + +KROGSTAD. +Christine I... + +MRS LINDE. +What do you suppose brought me to town? + +KROGSTAD. +Do you mean that you gave me a thought? + +MRS LINDE. +I could not endure life without work. All my life, as long as I can +remember, I have worked, and it has been my greatest and only pleasure. +But now I am quite alone in the world—my life is so dreadfully empty +and I feel so forsaken. There is not the least pleasure in working for +one’s self. Nils, give me someone and something to work for. + +KROGSTAD. +I don’t trust that. It is nothing but a woman’s overstrained sense of +generosity that prompts you to make such an offer of yourself. + +MRS LINDE. +Have you ever noticed anything of the sort in me? + +KROGSTAD. +Could you really do it? Tell me—do you know all about my past life? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes. + +KROGSTAD. +And do you know what they think of me here? + +MRS LINDE. +You seemed to me to imply that with me you might have been quite +another man. + +KROGSTAD. +I am certain of it. + +MRS LINDE. +Is it too late now? + +KROGSTAD. +Christine, are you saying this deliberately? Yes, I am sure you are. I +see it in your face. Have you really the courage, then—? + +MRS LINDE. +I want to be a mother to someone, and your children need a mother. We +two need each other. Nils, I have faith in your real character—I can +dare anything together with you. + +KROGSTAD. +_[grasps her hands]_. Thanks, thanks, Christine! Now I shall find a way +to clear myself in the eyes of the world. Ah, but I forgot— + +MRS LINDE. +_[listening]_. Hush! The Tarantella! Go, go! + +KROGSTAD. +Why? What is it? + +MRS LINDE. +Do you hear them up there? When that is over, we may expect them back. + +KROGSTAD. +Yes, yes—I will go. But it is all no use. Of course you are not aware +what steps I have taken in the matter of the Helmers. + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, I know all about that. + +KROGSTAD. +And in spite of that have you the courage to—? + +MRS LINDE. +I understand very well to what lengths a man like you might be driven +by despair. + +KROGSTAD. +If I could only undo what I have done! + +MRS LINDE. +You cannot. Your letter is lying in the letter-box now. + +KROGSTAD. +Are you sure of that? + +MRS LINDE. +Quite sure, but— + +KROGSTAD. +_[with a searching look at her]_. Is that what it all means?—that you +want to save your friend at any cost? Tell me frankly. Is that it? + +MRS LINDE. +Nils, a woman who has once sold herself for another’s sake, doesn’t do +it a second time. + +KROGSTAD. +I will ask for my letter back. + +MRS LINDE. +No, no. + +KROGSTAD. +Yes, of course I will. I will wait here until Helmer comes; I will tell +him he must give me my letter back—that it only concerns my +dismissal—that he is not to read it— + +MRS LINDE. +No, Nils, you must not recall your letter. + +KROGSTAD. +But, tell me, wasn’t it for that very purpose that you asked me to meet +you here? + +MRS LINDE. +In my first moment of fright, it was. But twenty-four hours have +elapsed since then, and in that time I have witnessed incredible things +in this house. Helmer must know all about it. This unhappy secret must +be disclosed; they must have a complete understanding between them, +which is impossible with all this concealment and falsehood going on. + +KROGSTAD. +Very well, if you will take the responsibility. But there is one thing +I can do in any case, and I shall do it at once. + +MRS LINDE. +_[listening]_. You must be quick and go! The dance is over; we are not +safe a moment longer. + +KROGSTAD. +I will wait for you below. + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, do. You must see me back to my door... + +KROGSTAD. +I have never had such an amazing piece of good fortune in my life! +_[Goes out through the outer door. The door between the room and the +hall remains open.]_ + +MRS LINDE. +_[tidying up the room and laying her hat and cloak ready]_. What a +difference! what a difference! Someone to work for and live for—a home +to bring comfort into. That I will do, indeed. I wish they would be +quick and come—_[Listens.]_ Ah, there they are now. I must put on my +things. _[Takes up her hat and cloak. HELMER’S and NORA’S voices are +heard outside; a key is turned, and HELMER brings NORA almost by force +into the hall. She is in an Italian costume with a large black shawl +around her; he is in evening dress, and a black domino which is flying +open.]_ + +NORA. +_[hanging back in the doorway, and struggling with him]_. No, no, +no!—don’t take me in. I want to go upstairs again; I don’t want to +leave so early. + +HELMER. +But, my dearest Nora— + +NORA. +Please, Torvald dear—please, please—only an hour more. + +HELMER. +Not a single minute, my sweet Nora. You know that was our agreement. +Come along into the room; you are catching cold standing there. _[He +brings her gently into the room, in spite of her resistance.]_ + +MRS LINDE. +Good evening. + +NORA. +Christine! + +HELMER. +You here, so late, Mrs Linde? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, you must excuse me; I was so anxious to see Nora in her dress. + +NORA. +Have you been sitting here waiting for me? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, unfortunately I came too late, you had already gone upstairs; and +I thought I couldn’t go away again without having seen you. + +HELMER. +_[taking off NORA’S shawl]_. Yes, take a good look at her. I think she +is worth looking at. Isn’t she charming, Mrs Linde? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, indeed she is. + +HELMER. +Doesn’t she look remarkably pretty? Everyone thought so at the dance. +But she is terribly self-willed, this sweet little person. What are we +to do with her? You will hardly believe that I had almost to bring her +away by force. + +NORA. +Torvald, you will repent not having let me stay, even if it were only +for half an hour. + +HELMER. +Listen to her, Mrs Linde! She had danced her Tarantella, and it had +been a tremendous success, as it deserved—although possibly the +performance was a trifle too realistic—a little more so, I mean, than +was strictly compatible with the limitations of art. But never mind +about that! The chief thing is, she had made a success—she had made a +tremendous success. Do you think I was going to let her remain there +after that, and spoil the effect? No, indeed! I took my charming little +Capri maiden—my capricious little Capri maiden, I should say—on my arm; +took one quick turn round the room; a curtsey on either side, and, as +they say in novels, the beautiful apparition disappeared. An exit ought +always to be effective, Mrs Linde; but that is what I cannot make Nora +understand. Pooh! this room is hot. _[Throws his domino on a chair, and +opens the door of his room.]_ Hullo! it’s all dark in here. Oh, of +course—excuse me—. _[He goes in, and lights some candles.]_ + +NORA. +_[in a hurried and breathless whisper]_. Well? + +MRS LINDE. +_[in a low voice]_. I have had a talk with him. + +NORA. +Yes, and— + +MRS LINDE. +Nora, you must tell your husband all about it. + +NORA. +_[in an expressionless voice]_. I knew it. + +MRS LINDE. +You have nothing to be afraid of as far as Krogstad is concerned; but +you must tell him. + +NORA. +I won’t tell him. + +MRS LINDE. +Then the letter will. + +NORA. +Thank you, Christine. Now I know what I must do. Hush—! + +HELMER. +_[coming in again]_. Well, Mrs Linde, have you admired her? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, and now I will say goodnight. + +HELMER. +What, already? Is this yours, this knitting? + +MRS LINDE. +_[taking it]_. Yes, thank you, I had very nearly forgotten it. + +HELMER. +So you knit? + +MRS LINDE. +Of course. + +HELMER. +Do you know, you ought to embroider. + +MRS LINDE. +Really? Why? + +HELMER. +Yes, it’s far more becoming. Let me show you. You hold the embroidery +thus in your left hand, and use the needle with the right—like +this—with a long, easy sweep. Do you see? + +MRS LINDE. +Yes, perhaps— + +HELMER. +But in the case of knitting—that can never be anything but ungraceful; +look here—the arms close together, the knitting-needles going up and +down—it has a sort of Chinese effect—. That was really excellent +champagne they gave us. + +MRS LINDE. +Well,—goodnight, Nora, and don’t be self-willed any more. + +HELMER. +That’s right, Mrs Linde. + +MRS LINDE. +Goodnight, Mr. Helmer. + +HELMER. +_[accompanying her to the door]_. Goodnight, goodnight. I hope you will +get home all right. I should be very happy to—but you haven’t any great +distance to go. Goodnight, goodnight. _[She goes out; he shuts the door +after her, and comes in again.]_ Ah!—at last we have got rid of her. +She is a frightful bore, that woman. + +NORA. +Aren’t you very tired, Torvald? + +HELMER. +No, not in the least. + +NORA. +Nor sleepy? + +HELMER. +Not a bit. On the contrary, I feel extraordinarily lively. And you?—you +really look both tired and sleepy. + +NORA. +Yes, I am very tired. I want to go to sleep at once. + +HELMER. +There, you see it was quite right of me not to let you stay there any +longer. + +NORA. +Everything you do is quite right, Torvald. + +HELMER. +_[kissing her on the forehead]_. Now my little skylark is speaking +reasonably. Did you notice what good spirits Rank was in this evening? + +NORA. +Really? Was he? I didn’t speak to him at all. + +HELMER. +And I very little, but I have not for a long time seen him in such good +form. _[Looks for a while at her and then goes nearer to her.]_ It is +delightful to be at home by ourselves again, to be all alone with +you—you fascinating, charming little darling! + +NORA. +Don’t look at me like that, Torvald. + +HELMER. +Why shouldn’t I look at my dearest treasure?—at all the beauty that is +mine, all my very own? + +NORA. +_[going to the other side of the table]_. You mustn’t say things like +that to me tonight. + +HELMER. +_[following her]_. You have still got the Tarantella in your blood, I +see. And it makes you more captivating than ever. Listen—the guests are +beginning to go now. _[In a lower voice.]_ Nora—soon the whole house +will be quiet. + +NORA. +Yes, I hope so. + +HELMER. +Yes, my own darling Nora. Do you know, when I am out at a party with +you like this, why I speak so little to you, keep away from you, and +only send a stolen glance in your direction now and then?—do you know +why I do that? It is because I make believe to myself that we are +secretly in love, and you are my secretly promised bride, and that no +one suspects there is anything between us. + +NORA. +Yes, yes—I know very well your thoughts are with me all the time. + +HELMER. +And when we are leaving, and I am putting the shawl over your beautiful +young shoulders—on your lovely neck—then I imagine that you are my +young bride and that we have just come from the wedding, and I am +bringing you for the first time into our home—to be alone with you for +the first time—quite alone with my shy little darling! All this evening +I have longed for nothing but you. When I watched the seductive figures +of the Tarantella, my blood was on fire; I could endure it no longer, +and that was why I brought you down so early— + +NORA. +Go away, Torvald! You must let me go. I won’t— + +HELMER. +What’s that? You’re joking, my little Nora! You won’t—you won’t? Am I +not your husband—? _[A knock is heard at the outer door.]_ + +NORA. +_[starting]_. Did you hear—? + +HELMER. +_[going into the hall]_. Who is it? + +RANK. +_[outside]_. It is I. May I come in for a moment? + +HELMER. +_[in a fretful whisper]_. Oh, what does he want now? _[Aloud.]_ Wait a +minute! _[Unlocks the door.]_ Come, that’s kind of you not to pass by +our door. + +RANK. +I thought I heard your voice, and felt as if I should like to look in. +_[With a swift glance round.]_ Ah, yes!—these dear familiar rooms. You +are very happy and cosy in here, you two. + +HELMER. +It seems to me that you looked after yourself pretty well upstairs too. + +RANK. +Excellently. Why shouldn’t I? Why shouldn’t one enjoy everything in +this world?—at any rate as much as one can, and as long as one can. The +wine was capital— + +HELMER. +Especially the champagne. + +RANK. +So you noticed that too? It is almost incredible how much I managed to +put away! + +NORA. +Torvald drank a great deal of champagne tonight too. + +RANK. +Did he? + +NORA. +Yes, and he is always in such good spirits afterwards. + +RANK. +Well, why should one not enjoy a merry evening after a well-spent day? + +HELMER. +Well spent? I am afraid I can’t take credit for that. + +RANK. +_[clapping him on the back]_. But I can, you know! + +NORA. +Doctor Rank, you must have been occupied with some scientific +investigation today. + +RANK. +Exactly. + +HELMER. +Just listen!—little Nora talking about scientific investigations! + +NORA. +And may I congratulate you on the result? + +RANK. +Indeed you may. + +NORA. +Was it favourable, then? + +RANK. +The best possible, for both doctor and patient—certainty. + +NORA. +_[quickly and searchingly]_. Certainty? + +RANK. +Absolute certainty. So wasn’t I entitled to make a merry evening of it +after that? + +NORA. +Yes, you certainly were, Doctor Rank. + +HELMER. +I think so too, so long as you don’t have to pay for it in the morning. + +RANK. +Oh well, one can’t have anything in this life without paying for it. + +NORA. +Doctor Rank—are you fond of fancy-dress balls? + +RANK. +Yes, if there is a fine lot of pretty costumes. + +NORA. +Tell me—what shall we two wear at the next? + +HELMER. +Little featherbrain!—are you thinking of the next already? + +RANK. +We two? Yes, I can tell you. You shall go as a good fairy— + +HELMER. +Yes, but what do you suggest as an appropriate costume for that? + +RANK. +Let your wife go dressed just as she is in everyday life. + +HELMER. +That was really very prettily turned. But can’t you tell us what you +will be? + +RANK. +Yes, my dear friend, I have quite made up my mind about that. + +HELMER. +Well? + +RANK. +At the next fancy-dress ball I shall be invisible. + +HELMER. +That’s a good joke! + +RANK. +There is a big black hat—have you never heard of hats that make you +invisible? If you put one on, no one can see you. + +HELMER. +_[suppressing a smile]_. Yes, you are quite right. + +RANK. +But I am clean forgetting what I came for. Helmer, give me a cigar—one +of the dark Havanas. + +HELMER. +With the greatest pleasure. _[Offers him his case.]_ + +RANK. +_[takes a cigar and cuts off the end]_. Thanks. + +NORA. +_[striking a match]_. Let me give you a light. + +RANK. +Thank you. _[She holds the match for him to light his cigar.]_ And now +goodbye! + +HELMER. +Goodbye, goodbye, dear old man! + +NORA. +Sleep well, Doctor Rank. + +RANK. +Thank you for that wish. + +NORA. +Wish me the same. + +RANK. +You? Well, if you want me to sleep well! And thanks for the light. _[He +nods to them both and goes out.]_ + +HELMER. +_[in a subdued voice]_. He has drunk more than he ought. + +NORA. +_[absently]_. Maybe. _[HELMER takes a bunch of keys out of his pocket +and goes into the hall.]_ Torvald! what are you going to do there? + +HELMER. +Emptying the letter-box; it is quite full; there will be no room to put +the newspaper in tomorrow morning. + +NORA. +Are you going to work tonight? + +HELMER. +You know quite well I’m not. What is this? Someone has been at the +lock. + +NORA. +At the lock—? + +HELMER. +Yes, someone has. What can it mean? I should never have thought the +maid—. Here is a broken hairpin. Nora, it is one of yours. + +NORA. +_[quickly]_. Then it must have been the children— + +HELMER. +Then you must get them out of those ways. There, at last I have got it +open. _[Takes out the contents of the letter-box, and calls to the +kitchen.]_ Helen!—Helen, put out the light over the front door. _[Goes +back into the room and shuts the door into the hall. He holds out his +hand full of letters.]_ Look at that—look what a heap of them there +are. _[Turning them over.]_ What on earth is that? + +NORA. +_[at the window]_. The letter—No! Torvald, no! + +HELMER. +Two cards—of Rank’s. + +NORA. +Of Doctor Rank’s? + +HELMER. +_[looking at them]_. Doctor Rank. They were on the top. He must have +put them in when he went out. + +NORA. +Is there anything written on them? + +HELMER. +There is a black cross over the name. Look there—what an uncomfortable +idea! It looks as if he were announcing his own death. + +NORA. +It is just what he is doing. + +HELMER. +What? Do you know anything about it? Has he said anything to you? + +NORA. +Yes. He told me that when the cards came it would be his leave-taking +from us. He means to shut himself up and die. + +HELMER. +My poor old friend! Certainly I knew we should not have him very long +with us. But so soon! And so he hides himself away like a wounded +animal. + +NORA. +If it has to happen, it is best it should be without a word—don’t you +think so, Torvald? + +HELMER. +_[walking up and down]_. He had so grown into our lives. I can’t think +of him as having gone out of them. He, with his sufferings and his +loneliness, was like a cloudy background to our sunlit happiness. Well, +perhaps it is best so. For him, anyway. _[Standing still.]_ And perhaps +for us too, Nora. We two are thrown quite upon each other now. _[Puts +his arms round her.]_ My darling wife, I don’t feel as if I could hold +you tight enough. Do you know, Nora, I have often wished that you might +be threatened by some great danger, so that I might risk my life’s +blood, and everything, for your sake. + +NORA. +_[disengages herself, and says firmly and decidedly]_. Now you must +read your letters, Torvald. + +HELMER. +No, no; not tonight. I want to be with you, my darling wife. + +NORA. +With the thought of your friend’s death— + +HELMER. +You are right, it has affected us both. Something ugly has come between +us—the thought of the horrors of death. We must try and rid our minds +of that. Until then—we will each go to our own room. + +NORA. +_[hanging on his neck]_. Goodnight, Torvald—Goodnight! + +HELMER. +_[kissing her on the forehead]_. Goodnight, my little singing-bird. +Sleep sound, Nora. Now I will read my letters through. _[He takes his +letters and goes into his room, shutting the door after him.]_ + +NORA. +_[gropes distractedly about, seizes HELMER’S domino, throws it round +her, while she says in quick, hoarse, spasmodic whispers]_. Never to +see him again. Never! Never! _[Puts her shawl over her head.]_ Never to +see my children again either—never again. Never! Never!—Ah! the icy, +black water—the unfathomable depths—If only it were over! He has got it +now—now he is reading it. Goodbye, Torvald and my children! _[She is +about to rush out through the hall, when HELMER opens his door +hurriedly and stands with an open letter in his hand.]_ + +HELMER. +Nora! + +NORA. +Ah!— + +HELMER. +What is this? Do you know what is in this letter? + +NORA. +Yes, I know. Let me go! Let me get out! + +HELMER. +_[holding her back]_. Where are you going? + +NORA. +_[trying to get free]_. You shan’t save me, Torvald! + +HELMER. +_[reeling]_. True? Is this true, that I read here? Horrible! No, no—it +is impossible that it can be true. + +NORA. +It is true. I have loved you above everything else in the world. + +HELMER. +Oh, don’t let us have any silly excuses. + +NORA. +_[taking a step towards him]_. Torvald—! + +HELMER. +Miserable creature—what have you done? + +NORA. +Let me go. You shall not suffer for my sake. You shall not take it upon +yourself. + +HELMER. +No tragic airs, please. _[Locks the hall door.]_ Here you shall stay +and give me an explanation. Do you understand what you have done? +Answer me! Do you understand what you have done? + +NORA. +_[looks steadily at him and says with a growing look of coldness in her +face]_. Yes, now I am beginning to understand thoroughly. + +HELMER. +_[walking about the room]_. What a horrible awakening! All these eight +years—she who was my joy and pride—a hypocrite, a liar—worse, worse—a +criminal! The unutterable ugliness of it all!—For shame! For shame! +_[NORA is silent and looks steadily at him. He stops in front of her.]_ +I ought to have suspected that something of the sort would happen. I +ought to have foreseen it. All your father’s want of principle—be +silent!—all your father’s want of principle has come out in you. No +religion, no morality, no sense of duty—. How I am punished for having +winked at what he did! I did it for your sake, and this is how you +repay me. + +NORA. +Yes, that’s just it. + +HELMER. +Now you have destroyed all my happiness. You have ruined all my future. +It is horrible to think of! I am in the power of an unscrupulous man; +he can do what he likes with me, ask anything he likes of me, give me +any orders he pleases—I dare not refuse. And I must sink to such +miserable depths because of a thoughtless woman! + +NORA. +When I am out of the way, you will be free. + +HELMER. +No fine speeches, please. Your father had always plenty of those ready, +too. What good would it be to me if you were out of the way, as you +say? Not the slightest. He can make the affair known everywhere; and if +he does, I may be falsely suspected of having been a party to your +criminal action. Very likely people will think I was behind it all—that +it was I who prompted you! And I have to thank you for all this—you +whom I have cherished during the whole of our married life. Do you +understand now what it is you have done for me? + +NORA. +_[coldly and quietly]_. Yes. + +HELMER. +It is so incredible that I can’t take it in. But we must come to some +understanding. Take off that shawl. Take it off, I tell you. I must try +and appease him some way or another. The matter must be hushed up at +any cost. And as for you and me, it must appear as if everything +between us were just as before—but naturally only in the eyes of the +world. You will still remain in my house, that is a matter of course. +But I shall not allow you to bring up the children; I dare not trust +them to you. To think that I should be obliged to say so to one whom I +have loved so dearly, and whom I still—. No, that is all over. From +this moment happiness is not the question; all that concerns us is to +save the remains, the fragments, the appearance— + +_[A ring is heard at the front-door bell.]_ + +HELMER. +_[with a start]_. What is that? So late! Can the worst—? Can he—? Hide +yourself, Nora. Say you are ill. + +_[NORA stands motionless. HELMER goes and unlocks the hall door.]_ + +MAID. +_[half-dressed, comes to the door]_. A letter for the mistress. + +HELMER. +Give it to me. _[Takes the letter, and shuts the door.]_ Yes, it is +from him. You shall not have it; I will read it myself. + +NORA. +Yes, read it. + +HELMER. +_[standing by the lamp]_. I scarcely have the courage to do it. It may +mean ruin for both of us. No, I must know. _[Tears open the letter, +runs his eye over a few lines, looks at a paper enclosed, and gives a +shout of joy.]_ Nora! _[She looks at him questioningly.]_ Nora!—No, I +must read it once again—. Yes, it is true! I am saved! Nora, I am +saved! + +NORA. +And I? + +HELMER. +You too, of course; we are both saved, both you and I. Look, he sends +you your bond back. He says he regrets and repents—that a happy change +in his life—never mind what he says! We are saved, Nora! No one can do +anything to you. Oh, Nora, Nora!—no, first I must destroy these hateful +things. Let me see—. _[Takes a look at the bond.]_ No, no, I won’t look +at it. The whole thing shall be nothing but a bad dream to me. _[Tears +up the bond and both letters, throws them all into the stove, and +watches them burn.]_ There—now it doesn’t exist any longer. He says +that since Christmas Eve you—. These must have been three dreadful days +for you, Nora. + +NORA. +I have fought a hard fight these three days. + +HELMER. +And suffered agonies, and seen no way out but—. No, we won’t call any +of the horrors to mind. We will only shout with joy, and keep saying, +“It’s all over! It’s all over!” Listen to me, Nora. You don’t seem to +realise that it is all over. What is this?—such a cold, set face! My +poor little Nora, I quite understand; you don’t feel as if you could +believe that I have forgiven you. But it is true, Nora, I swear it; I +have forgiven you everything. I know that what you did, you did out of +love for me. + +NORA. +That is true. + +HELMER. +You have loved me as a wife ought to love her husband. Only you had not +sufficient knowledge to judge of the means you used. But do you suppose +you are any the less dear to me, because you don’t understand how to +act on your own responsibility? No, no; only lean on me; I will advise +you and direct you. I should not be a man if this womanly helplessness +did not just give you a double attractiveness in my eyes. You must not +think anymore about the hard things I said in my first moment of +consternation, when I thought everything was going to overwhelm me. I +have forgiven you, Nora; I swear to you I have forgiven you. + +NORA. +Thank you for your forgiveness. _[She goes out through the door to the +right.]_ + +HELMER. +No, don’t go—. _[Looks in.]_ What are you doing in there? + +NORA. +_[from within]_. Taking off my fancy dress. + +HELMER. +_[standing at the open door]_. Yes, do. Try and calm yourself, and make +your mind easy again, my frightened little singing-bird. Be at rest, +and feel secure; I have broad wings to shelter you under. _[Walks up +and down by the door.]_ How warm and cosy our home is, Nora. Here is +shelter for you; here I will protect you like a hunted dove that I have +saved from a hawk’s claws; I will bring peace to your poor beating +heart. It will come, little by little, Nora, believe me. Tomorrow +morning you will look upon it all quite differently; soon everything +will be just as it was before. Very soon you won’t need me to assure +you that I have forgiven you; you will yourself feel the certainty that +I have done so. Can you suppose I should ever think of such a thing as +repudiating you, or even reproaching you? You have no idea what a true +man’s heart is like, Nora. There is something so indescribably sweet +and satisfying, to a man, in the knowledge that he has forgiven his +wife—forgiven her freely, and with all his heart. It seems as if that +had made her, as it were, doubly his own; he has given her a new life, +so to speak; and she has in a way become both wife and child to him. So +you shall be for me after this, my little scared, helpless darling. +Have no anxiety about anything, Nora; only be frank and open with me, +and I will serve as will and conscience both to you—. What is this? Not +gone to bed? Have you changed your things? + +NORA. +_[in everyday dress]_. Yes, Torvald, I have changed my things now. + +HELMER. +But what for?—so late as this. + +NORA. +I shall not sleep tonight. + +HELMER. +But, my dear Nora— + +NORA. +_[looking at her watch]_. It is not so very late. Sit down here, +Torvald. You and I have much to say to one another. _[She sits down at +one side of the table.]_ + +HELMER. +Nora—what is this?—this cold, set face? + +NORA. +Sit down. It will take some time; I have a lot to talk over with you. + +HELMER. +_[sits down at the opposite side of the table]_. You alarm me, +Nora!—and I don’t understand you. + +NORA. +No, that is just it. You don’t understand me, and I have never +understood you either—before tonight. No, you mustn’t interrupt me. You +must simply listen to what I say. Torvald, this is a settling of +accounts. + +HELMER. +What do you mean by that? + +NORA. +_[after a short silence]_. Isn’t there one thing that strikes you as +strange in our sitting here like this? + +HELMER. +What is that? + +NORA. +We have been married now eight years. Does it not occur to you that +this is the first time we two, you and I, husband and wife, have had a +serious conversation? + +HELMER. +What do you mean by serious? + +NORA. +In all these eight years—longer than that—from the very beginning of +our acquaintance, we have never exchanged a word on any serious +subject. + +HELMER. +Was it likely that I would be continually and forever telling you about +worries that you could not help me to bear? + +NORA. +I am not speaking about business matters. I say that we have never sat +down in earnest together to try and get at the bottom of anything. + +HELMER. +But, dearest Nora, would it have been any good to you? + +NORA. +That is just it; you have never understood me. I have been greatly +wronged, Torvald—first by papa and then by you. + +HELMER. +What! By us two—by us two, who have loved you better than anyone else +in the world? + +NORA. +_[shaking her head]_. You have never loved me. You have only thought it +pleasant to be in love with me. + +HELMER. +Nora, what do I hear you saying? + +NORA. +It is perfectly true, Torvald. When I was at home with papa, he told me +his opinion about everything, and so I had the same opinions; and if I +differed from him I concealed the fact, because he would not have liked +it. He called me his doll-child, and he played with me just as I used +to play with my dolls. And when I came to live with you— + +HELMER. +What sort of an expression is that to use about our marriage? + +NORA. +_[undisturbed]_. I mean that I was simply transferred from papa’s hands +into yours. You arranged everything according to your own taste, and so +I got the same tastes as you—or else I pretended to, I am really not +quite sure which—I think sometimes the one and sometimes the other. +When I look back on it, it seems to me as if I had been living here +like a poor woman—just from hand to mouth. I have existed merely to +perform tricks for you, Torvald. But you would have it so. You and papa +have committed a great sin against me. It is your fault that I have +made nothing of my life. + +HELMER. +How unreasonable and how ungrateful you are, Nora! Have you not been +happy here? + +NORA. +No, I have never been happy. I thought I was, but it has never really +been so. + +HELMER. +Not—not happy! + +NORA. +No, only merry. And you have always been so kind to me. But our home +has been nothing but a playroom. I have been your doll-wife, just as at +home I was papa’s doll-child; and here the children have been my dolls. +I thought it great fun when you played with me, just as they thought it +great fun when I played with them. That is what our marriage has been, +Torvald. + +HELMER. +There is some truth in what you say—exaggerated and strained as your +view of it is. But for the future it shall be different. Playtime shall +be over, and lesson-time shall begin. + +NORA. +Whose lessons? Mine, or the children’s? + +HELMER. +Both yours and the children’s, my darling Nora. + +NORA. +Alas, Torvald, you are not the man to educate me into being a proper +wife for you. + +HELMER. +And you can say that! + +NORA. +And I—how am I fitted to bring up the children? + +HELMER. +Nora! + +NORA. +Didn’t you say so yourself a little while ago—that you dare not trust +me to bring them up? + +HELMER. +In a moment of anger! Why do you pay any heed to that? + +NORA. +Indeed, you were perfectly right. I am not fit for the task. There is +another task I must undertake first. I must try and educate myself—you +are not the man to help me in that. I must do that for myself. And that +is why I am going to leave you now. + +HELMER. +_[springing up]_. What do you say? + +NORA. +I must stand quite alone, if I am to understand myself and everything +about me. It is for that reason that I cannot remain with you any +longer. + +HELMER. +Nora, Nora! + +NORA. +I am going away from here now, at once. I am sure Christine will take +me in for the night— + +HELMER. +You are out of your mind! I won’t allow it! I forbid you! + +NORA. +It is no use forbidding me anything any longer. I will take with me +what belongs to myself. I will take nothing from you, either now or +later. + +HELMER. +What sort of madness is this! + +NORA. +Tomorrow I shall go home—I mean, to my old home. It will be easiest for +me to find something to do there. + +HELMER. +You blind, foolish woman! + +NORA. +I must try and get some sense, Torvald. + +HELMER. +To desert your home, your husband and your children! And you don’t +consider what people will say! + +NORA. +I cannot consider that at all. I only know that it is necessary for me. + +HELMER. +It’s shocking. This is how you would neglect your most sacred duties. + +NORA. +What do you consider my most sacred duties? + +HELMER. +Do I need to tell you that? Are they not your duties to your husband +and your children? + +NORA. +I have other duties just as sacred. + +HELMER. +That you have not. What duties could those be? + +NORA. +Duties to myself. + +HELMER. +Before all else, you are a wife and a mother. + +NORA. +I don’t believe that any longer. I believe that before all else I am a +reasonable human being, just as you are—or, at all events, that I must +try and become one. I know quite well, Torvald, that most people would +think you right, and that views of that kind are to be found in books; +but I can no longer content myself with what most people say, or with +what is found in books. I must think over things for myself and get to +understand them. + +HELMER. +Can you not understand your place in your own home? Have you not a +reliable guide in such matters as that?—have you no religion? + +NORA. +I am afraid, Torvald, I do not exactly know what religion is. + +HELMER. +What are you saying? + +NORA. +I know nothing but what the clergyman said, when I went to be +confirmed. He told us that religion was this, and that, and the other. +When I am away from all this, and am alone, I will look into that +matter too. I will see if what the clergyman said is true, or at all +events if it is true for me. + +HELMER. +This is unheard of in a girl of your age! But if religion cannot lead +you aright, let me try and awaken your conscience. I suppose you have +some moral sense? Or—answer me—am I to think you have none? + +NORA. +I assure you, Torvald, that is not an easy question to answer. I really +don’t know. The thing perplexes me altogether. I only know that you and +I look at it in quite a different light. I am learning, too, that the +law is quite another thing from what I supposed; but I find it +impossible to convince myself that the law is right. According to it a +woman has no right to spare her old dying father, or to save her +husband’s life. I can’t believe that. + +HELMER. +You talk like a child. You don’t understand the conditions of the world +in which you live. + +NORA. +No, I don’t. But now I am going to try. I am going to see if I can make +out who is right, the world or I. + +HELMER. +You are ill, Nora; you are delirious; I almost think you are out of +your mind. + +NORA. +I have never felt my mind so clear and certain as tonight. + +HELMER. +And is it with a clear and certain mind that you forsake your husband +and your children? + +NORA. +Yes, it is. + +HELMER. +Then there is only one possible explanation. + +NORA. +What is that? + +HELMER. +You do not love me anymore. + +NORA. +No, that is just it. + +HELMER. +Nora!—and you can say that? + +NORA. +It gives me great pain, Torvald, for you have always been so kind to +me, but I cannot help it. I do not love you any more. + +HELMER. +_[regaining his composure]_. Is that a clear and certain conviction +too? + +NORA. +Yes, absolutely clear and certain. That is the reason why I will not +stay here any longer. + +HELMER. +And can you tell me what I have done to forfeit your love? + +NORA. +Yes, indeed I can. It was tonight, when the wonderful thing did not +happen; then I saw you were not the man I had thought you were. + +HELMER. +Explain yourself better. I don’t understand you. + +NORA. +I have waited so patiently for eight years; for, goodness knows, I knew +very well that wonderful things don’t happen every day. Then this +horrible misfortune came upon me; and then I felt quite certain that +the wonderful thing was going to happen at last. When Krogstad’s letter +was lying out there, never for a moment did I imagine that you would +consent to accept this man’s conditions. I was so absolutely certain +that you would say to him: Publish the thing to the whole world. And +when that was done— + +HELMER. +Yes, what then?—when I had exposed my wife to shame and disgrace? + +NORA. +When that was done, I was so absolutely certain, you would come forward +and take everything upon yourself, and say: I am the guilty one. + +HELMER. +Nora—! + +NORA. +You mean that I would never have accepted such a sacrifice on your +part? No, of course not. But what would my assurances have been worth +against yours? That was the wonderful thing which I hoped for and +feared; and it was to prevent that, that I wanted to kill myself. + +HELMER. +I would gladly work night and day for you, Nora—bear sorrow and want +for your sake. But no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he +loves. + +NORA. +It is a thing hundreds of thousands of women have done. + +HELMER. +Oh, you think and talk like a heedless child. + +NORA. +Maybe. But you neither think nor talk like the man I could bind myself +to. As soon as your fear was over—and it was not fear for what +threatened me, but for what might happen to you—when the whole thing +was past, as far as you were concerned it was exactly as if nothing at +all had happened. Exactly as before, I was your little skylark, your +doll, which you would in future treat with doubly gentle care, because +it was so brittle and fragile. _[Getting up.]_ Torvald—it was then it +dawned upon me that for eight years I had been living here with a +strange man, and had borne him three children—. Oh, I can’t bear to +think of it! I could tear myself into little bits! + +HELMER. +_[sadly]_. I see, I see. An abyss has opened between us—there is no +denying it. But, Nora, would it not be possible to fill it up? + +NORA. +As I am now, I am no wife for you. + +HELMER. +I have it in me to become a different man. + +NORA. +Perhaps—if your doll is taken away from you. + +HELMER. +But to part!—to part from you! No, no, Nora, I can’t understand that +idea. + +NORA. +_[going out to the right]_. That makes it all the more certain that it +must be done. _[She comes back with her cloak and hat and a small bag +which she puts on a chair by the table.]_ + +HELMER. +Nora, Nora, not now! Wait until tomorrow. + +NORA. +_[putting on her cloak]_. I cannot spend the night in a strange man’s +room. + +HELMER. +But can’t we live here like brother and sister—? + +NORA. +_[putting on her hat]_. You know very well that would not last long. +_[Puts the shawl round her.]_ Goodbye, Torvald. I won’t see the little +ones. I know they are in better hands than mine. As I am now, I can be +of no use to them. + +HELMER. +But some day, Nora—some day? + +NORA. +How can I tell? I have no idea what is going to become of me. + +HELMER. +But you are my wife, whatever becomes of you. + +NORA. +Listen, Torvald. I have heard that when a wife deserts her husband’s +house, as I am doing now, he is legally freed from all obligations +towards her. In any case, I set you free from all your obligations. You +are not to feel yourself bound in the slightest way, any more than I +shall. There must be perfect freedom on both sides. See, here is your +ring back. Give me mine. + +HELMER. +That too? + +NORA. +That too. + +HELMER. +Here it is. + +NORA. +That’s right. Now it is all over. I have put the keys here. The maids +know all about everything in the house—better than I do. Tomorrow, +after I have left her, Christine will come here and pack up my own +things that I brought with me from home. I will have them sent after +me. + +HELMER. +All over! All over!—Nora, shall you never think of me again? + +NORA. +I know I shall often think of you, the children, and this house. + +HELMER. +May I write to you, Nora? + +NORA. +No—never. You must not do that. + +HELMER. +But at least let me send you— + +NORA. +Nothing—nothing— + +HELMER. +Let me help you if you are in want. + +NORA. +No. I can receive nothing from a stranger. + +HELMER. +Nora—can I never be anything more than a stranger to you? + +NORA. +_[taking her bag]_. Ah, Torvald, the most wonderful thing of all would +have to happen. + +HELMER. +Tell me what that would be! + +NORA. +Both you and I would have to be so changed that—. Oh, Torvald, I don’t +believe any longer in wonderful things happening. + +HELMER. +But I will believe in it. Tell me! So changed that—? + +NORA. +That our life together would be a real wedlock. Goodbye. _[She goes out +through the hall.]_ + +HELMER. +_[sinks down on a chair at the door and buries his face in his hands]_. +Nora! Nora! _[Looks round, and rises.]_ Empty. She is gone. _[A hope +flashes across his mind.]_ The most wonderful thing of all—? + +_[The sound of a door shutting is heard from below.]_ |